3Bubble & J. Gray are a promising music duo with music influences from the old-school hip hop of the late eighties and early nineties era, but also combining many music genres into their songs, such as EDM, Funk, Soul and Pop. Both based in Houston, Texas, they first met a few years ago through a mutual friend, when J.Gray went to a music gig that 3Bubble was performing at that time.
The two artists immediately connected with each other, and after their acquaintance, it didn’t take long for both artists to start collaboration. It came natural to both of them, to just go to the studio and begin working on their debut album Live From The Pentagon, which they released earlier this year.
On this new EP, they both worked hard, supplementing each other and contributing equally to the songwriting, music creation and the production of the record. They both have similar ideas about how to work, so it was easy to collaborate and have a good time in the studio at the same time, which is very important for every artist. So they were full of positive creativity and with a productive urge to eventually release their own, fresh and unique music project.
Life From The Pentagon is a great album, which reminds us the vintage hip hop scene, when A Tribe called Quest and Outkast among others were creating the hip hop foundations of today’s hip hop music era. But also this album is modern, updated with different elements such as funk and even sometimes jazz sounds.
The first track of the album entitled “The Life” has jamming rhymes and is tuneful, happy and uplifting, just a mood changer to make your day start with powerful dynamics. On other songs, they are keeping their hip hop energy, but they also having tracks on the album like “Hands Up” featuring DJ Baby Roo, which is full of EDM music sounds.
Before 3Bubble and J. Gray got together, they both had good music resumes as individual artists. Cleon Solomon III aka 3Bubble was aiming to succeed in music, with a lot of determination, by having a tough stomach and never giving up his dream, he managed to have already released two solo albums, Stresswork (2007) and The Fresh Entrepreneur (2010), before he met and hooked up with J.Gray.
Justin Andrew Gray aka J. Gray also got involved with music from a young age, attending The High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, and with his love for music, he started performing and getting more intimate, particularly with Rap music. Having participated in many music showcases through the years, when he met 3Bubble, he realized that they could have a great music future together.
Nowadays it is common for many hip hop artists to rhyme about drugs, undermining women and fast cars. 3Bubble and J.Gray are different; they want to sing about reality, and about values and issues that truly concern everyday people. With the music they’re making, they are always decent with themselves and with their audience, with every lyric and track made with a lot of respect for their fans and their music. That is the real essence that they want their music to be about.
They are not afraid to experiment with different sounds either. They are cool, up and coming, and very talented, with something to say, filled with thought-provoking lyrics, but are also able to have fun, and that is something that stands out on many of their songs.
They both already have the experience under their belt individually, and they are always evolving their music creations, so 3Bubble and J. Gray are definitely here to stay and they have all the music quality that is needed to just connect to people and always create beautiful music! Purchase their latest album Live From The Pentagon on iTunes here.
Words by Nancy Chalkopoulou
