J-vibe
Encyclopedia
J-vibe is a composer and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 that is known for his prolific original compositions. He is an important part of the underground West Coast rap
West Coast hip hop
West Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music that originates in the westernmost region of the United States, as opposed to East Coast hip hop, based originally in New York alone...

 and dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

 scene. He has also been a computer software programmer since he was 13 years old.

J-vibe's ability to compose music in a large range of styles is one of his best known traits. Considering his many hip-hop and electronica productions, he credits his major musical influences to Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...

, Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...

, Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...

, John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...

, Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

 and the ethnic music of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. He lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend Hsky who is an abstract painter.

The 1980s

J-vibe's productions started as early as 1982 when he designed and built his first synthesizer. Professionally, his career started in 1987 when he collaborated with Sammy Hernandez from JDC Records
JDC Records
JDC Records was an important record distributor during the golden years of dance music . It was originally located in San Pedro, California and owned by Jim and Dale Callon The company name came from their initials, JDC. They distributed world-wide and carried many independent labels...

 in San Pedro, California. His first rap production was Jonny Chinga's "Mini Truck Lover" in 1987 on Billionaire Records. In 1988, he produced the classic Electrofunk record titled "Velocity, Speed and Force" under the group name VSF on Dunk Yer Funk Records
Dunk Yer Funk Records
Dunk Yer Funk Records was a sub-label of record distributor JDC Records, active in San Pedro, California from 1985 - 1988. With the growing popularity of rap music and electrofunk, Jim Callon decided to form a sub-label. This would keep his JDC Records music catalog focused on dance music and...

. That same year, he was given a cassette tape of a track titled "RoboCop" by the Sleeze Boys. J-vibe wanted to release it on his own label, but Sam Hernandez passed it on to Sheik Records. The year 1989 brought a release with Mexican-Samoan rapper Renegade MC (Chris Dominguez). The rap titled "Wabbit" (The Roger Dance) was released on Dunk Yer Funk. It was a tribute to the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. During 1989, he was mainly a studio session musician and also touched on Freestyle music
Freestyle music
Freestyle or Latin freestyle, sometimes referred to as Latin hip hop, is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1980s. Mostly popular during the mid 80s to the early 90s...

, but didn't release any in this genre until 1991.

The 1990s

In 1990, he started Base 12 Records which was distributed through JDC Records in San Pedro, California. In 1991, he recorded with Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...

 rapper MC No Shame. The track "We Got Latino Power" and "Shake Your Hips" were local party favorites. J-vibe contributed to the Freestyle music
Freestyle music
Freestyle or Latin freestyle, sometimes referred to as Latin hip hop, is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1980s. Mostly popular during the mid 80s to the early 90s...

 movement this same year with a singer named Marisol. In 1992, he released a white label
White label
White label records are vinyl records with adhesive plain white labels affixed. Test pressings, usually with Test Pressing written on the label, with catalogue number, artist and recording time or date, are produced in small quantities to evaluate the quality of the disc production...

 vinyl record titled "Norman Bass" on which he rapped. It was a play on Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

's Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...

 character Norman Bates
Norman Bates
Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho, and portrayed by Anthony Perkins as the main antagonist of the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock...

. During these years, he also developed several software programs between and sold them on Compuserve
CompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...

.

The year 1993 brought a change when J-vibe started recording and releasing House music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

, Techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

, early Trance music
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...

 and dance mixes. His releases such as "DJ Stoned" (filtered house), "Celestial Teahouse" (nrg) and "Toi Noi Tieng Viet" (trance) with Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

 were quite new for their time. Electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 in a New wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 form was in production for 1994. He recorded and produced tracks for Microcosm which was a cross between Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...

 and Fad Gadget
Fad Gadget
Fad Gadget is the stage name of Francis John Tovey , a British avant-garde electronic musician and vocalist. He was a proponent of both New Wave and early Industrial music....

. In 1995, J-vibe teamed up with Big Ron (related to Warren G.
Warren G
Warren G , is an American West Coast rapper and hip hop producer. He is also Dr. Dre's half-brother.His biggest hit is the song "Regulate" with Nate Dogg released in 1994...

) who he met in Long Beach, California. Together, they attempted to release several hip-hop tracks, but were unable to come to an agreement.

In the late 90s, he had a track called "Funk Me Out" on Richard "Humpty" Vission
Richard Vission
Richard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....

's 1997 "Drop That Beat" mix. Many positive reviews of the track were made including the then famous DJ Rhythms website.
That same year, Anonthy Larme who ran a tribute site to the Sierra
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...

 video game Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria (computer game)
Phantasmagoria was a notable outing for designer Roberta Williams, best known for her family games like the King's Quest series. Featuring graphic gore, violence, and a rape scene, the game stirred controversy over age restrictions and target audiences in the maturing game industry. It was banned...

 requested community support to obtain MIDI files from the game. J-vibe, successfully extracted the MIDI music by using an ingenious method that did violate the software. According to the documentation in the tribute site, he used two computers and a Roland MC-303
Roland MC-303
The Roland MC-303 is the first of a series of musical instruments known as a Groovebox. It combines a simple sound module with a sequencer to record and store notation, along with controls aimed at encouraging the musician to improvise the music while it is playing...

. In 1998, he placed his house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 production "Freak Funk Mofo Mama Pie" to be included in Carl Cox
Carl Cox
Carl Cox is a British techno and house music DJ.-Biography:Cox grew up in Oldham, Lancashire, before attending Glastonbury High Boys secondary modern school on Glastonbury Road in Morden. Cox began his career as a hardcore and rave DJ in the mid 1980s...

's "Non Stop 98/01" CD on London Records
London Records
London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....

. During 1997 - 1999, J-vibe teamed with Frankie Fusion Medina and released over a dozen other house music singles on Soundshaft Music, Moody Records, V-Wax and Antler Subway in Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...

. In 1998, he was venturing in the Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

ese music market. He had contacted Vietnamese singer Ly Ly after hearing her singing on Henry Chuc's "TechnoRap" album. In 1999, after the passing of his father, J-vibe went into a darker side of music. He developed a group called Vampirus Sceleratum which included his brother Santiago. They created dark ambient music. The music involved a lot of aspects of evil, the Catholic Church and darkness. One track that many referred to was titled "The Exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...

" which included the "Prayer to St. Michael."

The 2000s

In 2000, J-vibe composed and produced for the Spanish Rock group "La Razon." His compositions were inspired and made to the style of Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....

, Classix Nouveaux
Classix Nouveaux
Classix Nouveaux were an English 1980s new wave band. They had number one hits in Poland, Portugal, the former Yugoslavia, Israel, Iceland, and other countries...

 and Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...

. Between 2000 and 2002, J-vibe worked with R&B singer Val C (Valerie Ceballos). Together with his brother Santiago Jimenez (Smax), they composed tracks for her including "Solamente Tu", "El Ritmo", "Crazy Boy" and "I Got My Own Way." It was in 2002 that Hsky joined the label. Her abstract artwork started appearing in all of their releases. In 2003, J-vibe started working with La Movida Records, which was part owned by rappers Crooked Stilo
Crooked Stilo
-Early years:The duo spent their early years in El Salvador, a Central American nation that was torn apart by civil war. In their youth, they immigrated with their parents to the United States in search of a new beginning and a better future...

.

While there, he composed and produced an entire album for Brown Town Looters which were recording under the name Pueblo Cafe. The album was a production of Hurban hip-hop
Hurban
Hurban is a relatively new radio programming format from radio chain giant Clear Channel Communications and Senior VP Alfredo Alonso. Hurban radio stations target young Hispanics in the United States, primarily consisting of reggaeton, hip-hop, and dance music...

 that utilized a live Banda
Banda music
Banda is a brass-based form of traditional music. Bandas play a wide variety of songs, including rancheras, corridos, cumbias, baladas, and boleros. Bandas are most widely known for their rancheras, but they also play modern Mexican pop, rock, and cumbias...

. Music was composed by J-vibe in his home studio and then recreated by the live band at the larger studio. It was released on Musart Records
Musart Records
Musart Records is the name of several different record labels that have issued records at various times in the 20th century.#The name is also known as Discos Musart in Mexico and is a Mexican label. It is known for releasing traditional Mexican folk music as well as international releases licensed...

 and a music exists. In 2003, Hsky suggested they start an Asian hip-hop label called Dragon Mob Records. Several rapper auditioned, but none followed-up. J-vibe then started working with South Central Los Angeles rappers Loyalty and Honor. Their first release was an album titled "World Coast" released in 2004. It was a plethora of music styles and even included guests musicians such as Cheryl Cooley from the 80s group Klymaxx
Klymaxx
Klymaxx is a female Pop/R&B band from Los Angeles, California.-Biography:Klymaxx was conceived and formed by Bernadette Cooper, who also chose the name. The dream of an all girl band became a quest she pursued after leaving college...

 and Citric from Pubelo Cafe.

In 2005, a track from the "World Coast" album titled "Como Las Noticias" was included in the movie "Dirty"
Dirty (film)
Dirty is a 2005 crime–drama film, directed by Chris Fisher. It stars Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Clifton Collins, Jr.. The film had a limited release in 2005.-Plot:...

 starring Cuba Gooding Jr.  For the year 2007, J-vibe created a hip-hop track for Loyalty and Honor that includes special guest rapper Don Dinero
Don Dinero
Jose Manuel Guitian, popularly known as Don Dinero, is an American-born Cuban Rapper.-Biography:Dinero was born in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. Don Dinero is the son of Cuban exiles who arrived in the United States at the beginning of the 1960s.In the late 1990s he and his older...

 from Block Royal. J-vibe and Frankie Medina return to working on house music after a seven year absence.

Singles

  • 1987: Jonny Chingas - "Mini Truck Lover"(Spanglish rap-credited as computer wizard, but he created the track)
  • 1988: VSF - "Velocity, Speed and Force" (composer/producer)
  • 1989: Renegade MC - "Wabbit" (The Roger Dance) includes House music
    House music
    House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

    version (composer/producer)
  • 1991: Marisol - "High Strung" (composer/producer)
  • 1991: Marisol - "The Wind" (composer/producer)
  • 1991: MC No Shame - "We Got Latino Power" (composer/producer)
  • 1991: MC No Shame - "Shake Your Hips" (composer/producer)
  • 1991: Los Iram - "Got Got Money" (producer)
  • 1992: Norman Bass - "Norman Bass" (composer/producer/rapper)
  • 1992: Jonny Chingas - "L.A.P.D." (composer/producer)
  • 1993: DJ Stoned - "Manzuri" (producer)
  • 1993: J-vibe - "Celestial Teahouse" (composer/producer)
  • 1993: J-vibe featuring Nga Tran- "Toi Noi Tieng Viet (Trance Nam Mix)" (composer/producer)
  • 1993: Jonny Chingas - "Too Much Work, Too Little Sex" (producer)
  • 1994: Microcosm - "It Doesn't Matter" (composer/producer)
  • 1994: Microcosm - "Worship His Shrine" (composer/producer)
  • 1994: Microcosm - "I Drive My Cha-dong-cha" (composer/producer)
  • 1994: Microcosm - "Lost and Disappeared" (composer/producer)
  • 1995: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "Whipcreme (Uganda Mix)" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1995: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "Theme From Soundshaft" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1996: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "Desert Aura" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1996: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez featuring Gabby - "Take Me Now" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1996: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "Aquasol" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1997: Stereo Pimps - "Funk Me Out" (composer/producer)
  • 1997: Stereo Pimps - "Funkastyislic" (composer/producer)
  • 1997: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "I'm Hot For You" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1998: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez feat, Donna Cristy - "Hold Me Close" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1998: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "Gotta Get High" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1998: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "Freak Funk Mofo Mama Pie" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1998: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez - "Latinique" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1998: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez featuring Ron Perkov - "Funky" (composer/co-producer)
  • 1998: Frankie Medina & Jose "Jr" Jimenez featuring Donna Wilson - "Never Ending" (co-composer/co-producer)

  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "The Horse Carriage" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "The Excorcism" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "Pony Express" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "Alone, Without Love" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "I Am A DJ" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "The Basement" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "Ouija" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "Air Waves" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "Alone in Madagascar" (composer/producer)
  • 1999: Vampirus Sceleratum - "The Fall of Kalid" (composer/producer)
  • 2000: 128 bit Bboy - "Everybody, Everyone" (composer/producer)
  • 2000: 128 bit Bboy - "On The Stereo" (composer/producer)
  • 2000: 128 bit Bboy - "In Da Mix" (composer/producer)
  • 2000: 128 bit Bboy - "B-Girl (Asia One Mix)" (composer/producer)
  • 2000: 128 bit Bboy - "I Want To Be The Same" (composer/producer)
  • 2000: 128 bit Bboy - "Shaolin 1015 A.D." (composer/producer)
  • 2000: 128 bit Bboy - "Skylab Toddlers" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: Val-C - "El Ritmo" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: Val-C - "Solamente Tu" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: Val-C - "Crazy Boy" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: Val-C - "I Got My Own Way" (co-composer/co-producer)
  • 2001: Yasmin Davidds feat. Val-C - "Latina Queen" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "Un Planeta" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "No Hables Mas" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "Polve En El Viento" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "Abuso De Mi Fe" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "No Tengo Por Que" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "Falsas Lagrimas" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "No Hay Amor" (composer/producer)
  • 2001: La Razon - "Tu Eres Mia" (composer/producer)

EPs

  • 2001: La Razon - "Un Planeta" (composer/producer)
  • 2007: Loyalty and Honor - "On The Rise" (composer/producer)

Albums

  • 2003: Pueblo Cafe - "Busca Oro" (composer/producer)
  • 2004: Loyalty and Honor - "World Coast" (composer/producer)

External links

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