Freshman Producer on the Rise

Maurice "Reese Jones" Jones, the up and coming music producer featured in WHBC's 2011 Howard Hottest is making success outside of Howard. The freshman psychology major from Virginia Beach, Va. has teamed up with Atlanta rapper J. Nolan to produce a five track EP entitled "The Archetype" set to be released on Jan. 16.

"I wouldn't call it [Archetype] gritty, but it's some real conscious type hip-hop, very lyrical, the artist J. Nolan is very lyrical," Jones said of his latest project.

Jones teamed up J. Nolan for the first time about a year and a half ago for the Atlanta-based rapper's mixtape "Chaos Theory" and the relationship grew from there.

Jones started producing in high school when he and his friends formed a rap group for fun, and without the intent to pay anyone for beats, they started to create their own.

But the freshman producer doesn't limit his production solely to hip-hop.

"I try not to have one particular sound because I don't want to limit myself as far the people I can work with. Like I want to be able to do this sound, like real hip-hop, ‘90s style with this person and then comeback with someone else and do some contemporary stuff," Jones said.

In his short time of producing, Jones has been featured in Hypebeast, on multiple tracks, on an EP with Jimmy Astro, and on a track produced for Franchise of the Comeup Boys. "I don't consider too many things accomplishment but I plan to do a lot within the next six months," Jones said.

Jones has been influenced by Pharell and 9^th Wonder, and he said Danny Brown, J. Nolan and Jimmy Astro are some of his favorite artists out right now.

When it comes to school, the producer said he's honestly here to buy him time because music is his main interest, but he wouldn't mind if he ended up with a career in psychology. "I'm still interested in my major…I want to be like a family psychologist," Jones said.

Jones acknowledges that while he enjoys working with artists off campus, it was his goal to work with Howard artists when he arrived in the fall, but nothing has worked out. "I'm not pressed, I'm pretty patient, something will come along eventually," Jones said.