Washington born MC Njena Jarvis started her musical endeavors by recording disses on a tape recorder with her brother at age 10. Fast forward to 2012 and Njena was persuaded to spit a few bars on a beat for fabulous Zebra Katz. Then substituting the tape-recorder for a laptop, Njena laid down a verse on ‘Ima Read’, a recording which was later picked up and released by Diplo’s label Mad Decent. It also provided the soundtrack for the launch of fashion designer Rick Owens’ winter collection, causing fervor across music and fashion blogs alike and cementing the track as one of the year’s underground cult anthems.
She decided to tour Europe together with Zebra Katz, performing for crowds in the thousands at festivals such as Glastonbury. The energy of these crowds further cultivating her signature acrobatic style of stage performance. But it is in her solo work where Njena truly excels.
Early releases such as Dominos, Jackie Brown and Needful Things see Njena in an all out attack, combining combative verses with an infectious flow. Raw and unadulterated sounds contrasting smooth, fluid vocals with playfully aggressive lyrics, carrying an old-school ‘rap-battle’ feel with them.
And while she resists falling into the clichéd hip-hop trap of listing influences and inspirations, her early days spent listening to Wu Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers and dissing her brother on tape may go some way in explaining her no-holds-barred attitude on the mic and the playfulness of her performance.
After a brief break in 2014 Njena and producer Jepordise currently started working on new tracks again and a video is in the making as well
https://soundcloud.com/njena-reddd-foxxx/nt-1?in=njena-reddd-foxxx/sets/needful-things-nrf-jepordise