J Pvpi
Emerging
Music: Contemporary Performance
Magnolia
"My vision as an artist is to continue growing my audience and the overall quality of my music."
Work Samples
About the Artist
Written by Gail Obenreder
Rapper Jonathan Rivera grew up in a Queens, New York family filled with singers and rappers. His father worked as a DJ before he was born, and Rivera listened to “a lot of old-school hip-hop” when he was growing up. So it’s no surprise that Rivera began creating that music at a very young age. By the time he was fourteen, he was writing and recording his own works, and “fast forward fifteen years … I’m still striving to fulfill my dream.”
The Magnolia resident has lived and worked in The First State for the past eighteen years. Rivera is part of a group of other artists, engineers, and producers that have banded together to form “a dedicated team called The Laboratory Boys.” They meet weekly at a studio, working side by side to fulfill their shared and individual musical goals.
As well as his father, early on Rivera was influenced by artists such as J Cole, Lil Wayne, and Drake, all of whom inspired him to pursue his career choice. And today he’s encouraged by working with “my team, The Laboratory Boys,” as their creativity and craft “continue to push each other to get better each and every week.”
Rivera faces one of the hurdles for many young artists and musicians – financial challenges. He works to find the time and resources to fund his own career, which includes booking studio time, marketing and merchandising, mixing and mastering, making music videos, and the very everyday “wear and tear on my vehicle.” In the past several years, he has “taken my career a lot more seriously,” making and scheduling new content and releasing music on major platforms such as Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
He has also been performing solo and with a team, and Rivera is rewarded when people react to his music, giving him the “positive feedback I get when someone hears [it] for the first time.” He’s also finding that as his career unfolds, he’s pleased to be recognized by those who have heard or seen his work. When he’s not in the studio, Rivera collects Pokémon and sports cards and memorabilia, and he also loves anime and reads manga in his spare time.
The Division’s award “means everything to me.” It will help Rivera to move forward in his career, enabling him to perform more widely and release his music to a widening audience. “It feels great to be acknowledged for my hard work and [the] consistency that I put into my craft.”