My name is Jonathan Devereueawax but I go by J. Dev as you can tell. I got interested in making beats back in 2008 after hearing one of the joints that Portis did, it was a hot beat that had a Gladys Knight and the Pips sample behind it. I remember listening to it a bunch of times thinking to myself, “I want to make something like that.” I was always a fan of the Heatmakerz and Just Blaze from listening to a lot of the Diplomats and Jay-Z back in my middle school and high school days that had those intense samples behind them.
Sometime back in 2009 I decided that I was going to give it a shot with making beats. By this time Q and Portis had already been making beats for a while but were keeping most of their work under wraps. They both showed me how to use FL Studio one night and I made my first beat, a real garbage beat with a Babyface sample which I still have to this day. As time went on I kept at it in my spare time and was progressively getting better. After I would make a beat I’d send it to Portis and Q and vice versa, and we’d give each other feedback. They had already come up with the name Basement Boyz for themselves and I was just doing my own thing because I wasn’t on their level yet.
As time went on we kept working on beats and sending them to each other, almost making it like a friendly competition. They’d send a beat and then I’d immediately have to go make one and send it right back. Then in 2010 we decided to work on a summer music project together and just pooled all our resources together and started making beats under the name Basement Boyz, and that’s how I was just added as the final member to the group.
My musical influences come from many producers including Kanye, Just Blaze, 9th wonder, RZA, No ID, Heatmakerz, and one of my favorites Charles Hamilton. Most of the beats I do are conceptual which comes from the samples I’m using at the time and what I think I would rap about on the track if I was a rapper. When I get the concepts I also throw in other types of audio whether from a movie or show to back up the concept. This is a hobby for me, something I love to do and put a lot of hard work into. I hope you appreciate and like what you hear.
