Jason Aaron Mills (born May 24, 1992), professionally known as IDK (also known as Jay IDK; a backronym for Ignorantly Delivering Knowledge),[2] is a British-American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer.[3][4][5][6]
IDK | |
|---|---|
 IDK in May 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jason Aaron Mills |
| Also known as |
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| Born | May 24, 1992 London, England |
| Origin | Prince George's County, Maryland, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2012–present |
| Labels | |
| Signature | |
 | |
Early life
editJason Aaron Mills was born on May 24, 1992, in London, England to parents of Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian descent. He was raised in Prince George's County, Maryland, where he later started to make music initially under the moniker Jay IDK.[1]
Career
editIn August 2015, Mills released his second mixtape, titled SubTrap.[7] The name stands for Suburban Trap or "trap music with substance".[8] The album features the singles "The Plug,"[9] "God Said Trap (King Trappy III)"[10] and "Cookie Addiction" featuring BJ the Chicago Kid.[11] It features production from Skhye Hutch, was mixed by Lo Mein, Tim Webberson, Matt Weiss, and Delbert Bowers.[7] Project management for Subtrap was overseen by Blade Thornton, David Kuti, Clayton Barmore, Quinelle Holder, and Ryan Booth.[12] Mills' style of rapping has been compared to the early work of Kendrick Lamar, especially Lamar's 2011 album Section.80.[13]
On June 22, 2016, Mills was announced as one of the performers at the 2016 Trillectro Music Festival.[14][15] On September 9, 2016, Mills released his third mixtape Empty Bank and premiered it on Forbes.[16] Mills opened for Isaiah Rashad on his "The Lil Sunny" tour which started in January 2017.[17]
On October 13, 2017, Mills released his fourth mixtape IWasVeryBad, which was released for free in collaboration with Adult Swim.[18] Mills later released the first six songs of the album as a series on Noisey.[19] This series gave the album visuals and a new story. The first six songs were part of the first season, with the second season going unreleased, which assumingly would've included the last six songs.
On November 9, 2018, Mills released his first EP IDK & Friends :).[20]
On September 4, 2019, Mills released his debut studio album, Is He Real, including features from Pusha T, DMX, JID, Tyler, the Creator, Burna Boy, and GLC.[21]
On June 26, 2020, Mills released his second EP IDK & Friends 2, which was used as the soundtrack for Kevin Durant's Basketball County Documentary.[22]
On July 9, 2021, Mills released his second studio album, USee4Yourself, including features from Young Thug, Offset, Westside Gunn, MF Doom, Jay Electronica, Lucky Daye, SiR, T-Pain, The Neptunes, Swae Lee, Rico Nasty, Slick Rick, Sevyn Streeter, and more.[23]
On April 29, 2022, Mills opened for Zedd at Washington University in St. Louis as part of WILD.
On May 1, 2022, Mills performed at Swarthmore College as part of Worthstock.
On May 6, 2022, Mills released his third studio album, Simple, which included features from Denzel Curry and Mike Dimes, and was executively produced by Kaytranada.[24]
On May 5, 2023, Mills released his fourth studio album, F65, including features from Fat Trel, NLE Choppa, Jucee Froot, Saucy Santana, Tay Iwar, Musiq Soulchild, Rich The Kid, Snoop Dogg and Benny the Butcher.[25]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US [26] | ||
| Is He Real |
|
— |
| USee4Yourself |
|
164 |
| Simple. |
|
— |
| F65 |
|
— |
| Bravado + Intimo[27] |
|
— |
Mixtapes
edit| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Sex, Drugs & Homework (as Jay IDK) |
|
| SubTrap (as Jay IDK) |
|
| Empty Bank (as Jay IDK) |
|
| IWasVeryBad |
|
| IDK & Friends :) |
|
| IDK & Friends 2 (Basketball County soundtrack) |
|
Singles
edit| Title | Single details |
|---|---|
| "Blame My Friends (The Gang)" |
|
| "OMW" |
|
| "No Wave" (featuring Denzel Curry) |
|
| "Lil Arrogant" (featuring Joey Badass and Russ) |
|
| "Star" |
|
| "Trippie Redd's Freestyle" |
|
| "Electric" (featuring Q Da Fool) |
|
| "Trigger Happy" |
|
| "In My White Tee" |
|
| "Coal" |
Released as an Apple Music exclusive for Carols Covered 2021.[28] Mills later rereleased the song on other platforms on December 1, 2022.[29] |
| "W13" |
|
| "Monsieur Dior" |
|
| "Denim" (featuring Joey Badass) |
|
| "Tiffany" (featuring Gunna) |
|
Guest appearances
edit| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Kristi YamaGucci" | 2018 | ASAP Ferg, Denzel Curry, NickNack | — |
| "Uh Huh" | Denzel Curry | ||
| "I Don't Sell Dope" | Lil Gnar | GNAR Lif3 | |
| "No Time" | Party Thieves | — | |
| "Beautiful Smile" | Saba | ||
| "And You" | Token, Bas | Between Somewhere | |
| "Beautiful Oblivion" | The Neighbourhood | Hard to Imagine the Neighbourhood Ever Changing | |
| "MINIMIZYA" | 2019 | City Morgue | CITY MORGUE VOL 2: AS GOOD AS DEAD |
| "Al Pacino" | 2020 | Izi | RIOT |
| "Burnin Bridges / Long Day" | 2021 | Quadeca | From Me to You |
| "FREE SMOKE" | 2021 | Jerm | Ultraviolet |
| "Uber Music" | 2021 | Diz Live, Bino Rideaux | Uber Music |
| "Trials" | 2022 | NGHTMRE | DRMVRSE |
| "Psychedelic Views" | 2022 | Sad Night Dynamite | Volume II |
References
edit- ^ a b "IDK launches new label Clue, shares "Digital" video". The Fader.
- ^ "IDK". Genius. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
- ^ Krzeczowski, Jake. "The Break Presents: Jay IDK". XXL. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
- ^ Skelton, Eric. "LISTEN TO TWO EXPLOSIVE NEW SINGLES FROM JAY IDK". Pigeons & Planes. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ Ju, Shirley. "Jay IDK Drops "Mentality" & "Somebody"". HipHopDX. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ Kyles, Yohance (April 14, 2016). "#DMVOnTheMove: Jay IDK Is Expanding His Tribe Of Supporters By Ignorantly Delivering Knowledge". AllHipHop. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
- ^ a b Frydenlund, Zach. "Premiere: Stream IDK's 'Subtrap' Project". Complex. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ^ Martinez, Adrian. "Premier: Jay IDK "God Said Trap" FT. Ash Riser". Mass Appeal. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
- ^ Leight, Elias. "Vent Your Frustrations With Jay IDK's "Metro"". The Fader. Retrieved May 12, 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lewis, Brittany (April 14, 2016). "Jay IDK & Deniro Farrar "Trust Nobody" (NEW MUSIC)". Global Grind. Interactive One. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ Belassen, Lorenzo. "Jay IDK Recruits BJ The Chicago Kid forKid". 2DOPEBOYZ. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ "Jay IDK – SubTrap". discogs. August 25, 2015.
- ^ Krzeczowski, Jake. "The Break Presents: Jay IDK". XXL.
- ^ Case, Wesley. "Kid Cudi, Rae Sremmurd to headline 5th Trillectro Music Festival at Merriweather". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ Hartleb, Ellie (June 23, 2016). "Trillectro 2016 Lineup Announced". NBC Washington. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
- ^ Setaro, Shawn. "Rapper Jay IDK Gets Real About Money On 'Empty Bank'". Forbes. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
- ^ Morris, Hannah. "jayidkfan.weebly.com". Weebly.
- ^ adult swim [@adultswim] (September 29, 2017). "New album IWASVERYBAD from @IDK is live now https://t.co/pzO0AFLSLA" (Tweet). Retrieved May 12, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ NOISEY [@NoiseyMusic] (October 16, 2018). "PREMIERE: @idk reenacts the real-life events that led to his incarceration at 17-years-old in his IWasVeryBad album visual https://t.co/2WrAnINfMy https://t.co/4WtLHXuKmr" (Tweet). Retrieved May 12, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ McKrell, Aaron (November 20, 2018). "Review: IDK Finds Good Company on 'IDK & Friends'". HipHopDX. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
- ^ "IDK Recruits Tyler, the Creator, Pusha T, DMX and More for Star-Studded Is He Real? Album: Stream it Now". Billboard.
- ^ "Listen to IDK's IDK & Friends 2, the Soundtrack to Kevin Durant's 'Basketball County: In the Water'". Complex Networks.
- ^ "IDK – 'USEE4YOURSELF' album review: Multi-faceted rap from Maryland's brightest star". NME. July 7, 2021.
- ^ "IDK Releases Kaytranada-Produced EP Simple f/ Denzel Curry and Mike Dimes". Complex Networks.
- ^ IDK [@IDK] (April 19, 2023). ".Since y'all wanna leak shit fuck it. I guess I'm somewhat flattered. Pre save F65 here https://t.co/0iWGsFIzHz Rich The Kid Fat Trel Benny The Butcher Snoop Dogg NLE Choppa Tay Iwar Musiq Soulchild Saucy Santana Jucee Froot Goldie #F65 https://t.co/sCmjV9cwvm https://t.co/mmSyAeAwD7" (Tweet). Retrieved May 12, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ billboard charts [@billboardcharts] (July 19, 2021). "Debuts on this week's #Billboard200: #21, @vincestaples Vince Staples #24, @snohaalegra Temporary Highs In The Violet #64, @BIABIA For Certain #164, @IDK USee4Yourself #183, @TheWallflowers Exit Wounds" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ Horvath, Zachary (September 14, 2024). "IDK Raps With Confidence & Hunger On "KiCKIN"". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
- ^ "Tate McRae, Ari Lennox, IDK and More Light up Apple Music's 2021 'Carols Covered' Playlist". Variety.com. November 18, 2021.
- ^ "IDK's 'Coal' is finally available for all this Christmas season". Attacktheculture.com. December 2022.