About Jez Dior
Hometown
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Born
June 12, 1992
Genre
Hip-Hop/Rap
Bringing elements of millennial rap, Skid Row decadence, and influences that ranged from Kurt to Kanye, Jez Dior melded his smooth, languid flow with a rock & roll aesthetic, complete with eyeliner, leather, and nail polish. A self-proclaimed "grunge rap" artist from Los Angeles, he embodied both that city's gritty sleaze and created an entirely refreshing sound on early EPs like 2016's Youthanasia.
Jez Dior was born the son of British musician Steve Dior (associate of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls), who informed much of his flavor by exposing him to a wide range of music at an early age. On his 2013 mixtape Scarlett Sage, Dior let all his influences in. He sampled Daughter, Marina and the Diamonds, and Lana Del Rey, spit hard and fast, and created an album's worth of exciting genre-bending alt-rap. With a golden flow and fluid drawl, Dior mashed alternative, indie, and even some dubstep on highlights that included "Candles," "Hide," and "Blue" (featuring an inspired Eiffel 65 sample). In 2014 he released the track "Who Drank My Whiskey?," which finally brought that grunge element to the forefront, with a Cobain-esque scream-chorus and thrumming '90s riffs. "Whiskey" was the sonic precursor to the Funeral EP, a full realization of his vision. Over seven hard-hitting tracks, he proclaimed his varied influences (50 Cent, Eminem, Biggie, Kurt) and poured out his emotions in confessional lyrics fit for a therapist's chair. Beyond the drugs and debauchery, a pain and honesty usually reserved for the raw emotion of indie rock seeped through the Auto-Tune. A pair of singles released in 2015 ("Parachutes" and "The Line") continued his sound evolution, smoothing the harder edges out in a style more reminiscent of the Weeknd, Miguel, or Drake. His Youthanasia EP arrived in 2016. The next several years found Dior focusing on singles that would lead up to the release of his full-length studio debut. Songs like "Sober," "Late Night," "Cocaine," and "Please Don't Go" all arrived between 2017 and 2019. Some of these songs were included on the album Handle with Care, which saw release in the fall of 2019. The album was a hybrid of dark pop and rap sounds, and featured guest performances from Goody Grace and Jackson Guthy. ~ Neil Z. Yeung
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