JIMMY POINDEXTERWiki

Early life and education

Career

2013 – 2017: Career Beginnings

2018 – 2021: Prism Tribe, Welcome To Darkness and GNARLY

2022 – Present: *GHETTOLAND, DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY and SHAZAM

Jimmy Deon Poindexter (born February 13, 1998), known professionally as Jimmy Poindexter, is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. He is one of the founding members of American hip-hop collective Prism Tribe.

JIMMY POINDEXTER

Poindexter in 2024

Background information

Birth name

Jimmy Deon Poindexter

Also known as

JIMMY • Jimmy Luna • Saber Nebula • JUSTLUNA

Born

February 13, 1998 (age 26)

Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.

Genres

Hip hop • Jazz rap • R&B • Neo soul • Funk • Jazz • Pop • Dance • Rock

Occupation(s)

Rapper • Singer • Songwriter • Record Producer • Director

Years active

2013 – present

Labels

THEDUALITY • Prism Tribe Records

Member of

Prism Tribe

Spouse(s)

Tiffany Eve Poindexter

Website

jimmypoindexter.com

Signature

Poindexter's full-length LP *GHETTOLAND gained rapid attention on social media as a result of his self-produced promotional rollout. The album gained over 1 million views and streams across social media and music streaming platforms since the release. The album was reviewed by American music critic Anthony Fantano.

Jimmy is known for his DIY approach, as he writes, produces, performs, mixes, and masters all of his own music, as well as plans, films, directs, and acts in all of his own videos. As a visual artist, Poindexter designs all of his own graphics, cover arts, merchandise, and websites.

Early life and education

Jimmy Deon Poindexter was born on February 13, 1998 in Las Vegas, Nevada and is of African-American descent. Jimmy primarily grew up in North Long Beach, California with his father and stepmother.[1] However, in 2013, he moved in with his mother who lived in East Las Vegas, Nevada after his father was no longer able to take care of him financially.[1] Growing up, his family would play everything from oldies, to west coast rap, early 2000s pop and hip hop around him, which served as his introduction to music and culture.[1]

His parents split apart when he was young and his father brought him to live with him in North Long Beach, California before he began 1st grade. He lived there until 2013.[1] He attended school in Paramount, California. Poindexter completed his freshman year of high school at Paramount High School West Campus. He completed the rest of high school at Sunrise Mountain High School.[1] During most of his middle school and high school years, he participated in organized sports such as football and track & field. In football, he played quarterback, defensive back and safety positions.

At the age of 15, Poindexter taught himself how to use Adobe Photoshop, FL Studio and Adobe Premiere after watching his older brother make music and score films for his assignments from LA Film School.[1] He began writing songs to instrumentals from mixtapes on Datpiff and YouTube "type beats." As a sophomore in high school, he began writing & producing full length albums. He watched interviews, vlogs and documentaries of Blog Era artists like Odd Future, A$AP Mob, Pro Era, Donald Glover and more for inspiration on how to approach his career early on.[1]

Career

2013 – 2017: Career Beginnings

Poindexter began his music career in high school releasing several projects from his bedroom, which gained local buzz.[1] In 2014, he began posting his first songs and beats to Soundcloud under the artist name Jimmy Luna also using Saber Nebula as a production credit.[1] Poindexter founded the alternative hip hop collective Prism Tribe in June 2014, alongside Chozin, SckSolo, Casey Frizzell, Jesusontherocks, Prismatic Parker and Ash Sekito.[1] While in high school, Prism Tribe performed an opening set for Drake Bell and performed a set at House of Blues Las Vegas as part of the House of Blues Foundation's New Artist showcase in 2016. Jimmy attended college at University of Colorado Denver for two semesters before dropping out in May 2017 to pursue music full time.[1]

2018 – 2021: Prism Tribe, Welcome To Darkness and GNARLY

On March 16, 2018, Prism Tribe released PTWW$$EW Vol. I, their debut project as a collective. In 2019, Poindexter released a trilogy of EPs within four months, dubbed the Welcome To Darkness series as well as two music videos for "Freedom!" and "Pink!" directed by Ben Escobar. Prism Tribe released their second project DOG DAYS on August 28, 2020.[5] Poindexter produced, mixed and mastered the entirety of the project as well as managed the collective's promotional efforts.

On July 20, 2021, he released his full-length LP GNARLY. The project did not gain much success despite Poindexter promoting the album with physical & digital ads, putting up two billboards in Los Angeles, getting a plane banner over Fairfax & Melrose Ave, performing a concert in Los Angeles, and launching consistent social media campaigns. Poindexter shared that "he almost quit" after not receiving the results he hoped for on his Instagram page.

2022 – Present: *GHETTOLAND, DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY and SHAZAM

Since GNARLY did not produce the results Poindexter hoped for, he began sharing a string of promotional singles & mixtapes at the start of 2022 in promotion of his album *GHETTOLAND. In April 2022, he launched a fundraiser to fund the album that ended with just 5 donors contributing. In May 2022, Poindexter shared "fake" interviews and freestyles to his YouTube account using established press outlets names and formats to promote his music and gain an engaged audience. On August 18, 2022, he shared ROAD TO *GHETTOLAND EP to gain buzz online before releasing the upcoming LP.

On October 28, 2022, Jimmy shared the first single from the *GHETTOLAND album "*TWENTY." Shortly after, it was announced by him on November 22, 2022 that the album along with a docu-series TV show of the same title would be releasing December 2, 2022 via a trailer and image on his Instagram page. On December 30, 2022, American music critic Anthony Fantano shared the link to the music video for "*UNCULTURED," track three from *GHETTOLAND on his Twitter page.[6] Fantano shared a review of the album on February 4, 2023.[4] On February 25, 2023, Jimmy released the fourth and final episode of the *GHETTOLAND TV series.

On March 23, 2023, Jimmy announced his third full length LP DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY via a trailer on YouTube. With the announcement trailer, Jimmy shared a link to "DOWHATMAKESYOUHAPPY.TODAY" where fans could share what makes them happy along with their dreams. Following the trailer, he appeared in an interview with Tall Skeleton's Zane Berry on YouTube. On March 30, 2023, Jimmy shared the first single from the album "LOVED ONES."

On April 4, 2023, he revealed the cover art and release date for DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY for April 14, 2023. Shortly after announcing, Jimmy tweeted "a good amount of folks are surprised i'm sharin' more music so soon— I promoted *GL for a year before it dropped, it's been almost 5 months since it's release and i'm still poor and unknown so the grind must continue." He also named the albums that influenced his own. On April 8, 2023, Jimmy shared the second single "SAVE THE CHILDREN via YouTube." On the day before the album release, he shared a mini documentary on YouTube sharing background on his own life, insight on his career and his goals for the future. On April 19, 2023, Jimmy shared a review of DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY on his own website inspired by Pitchfork's review series. On April 28, 2023, he shared the third and final music video for "SUPERSTAR," which was a collage of the activities/hobbies/dreams that fans shared with Jimmy at the beginning of the rollout. On April 30, 2023, Jimmy shared a tour poster along with a statement and a list of venues with the corresponding talent booker encouraging fans to tag them and let them know they want him to perform in their city. On May 6, 2023, Jimmy announced that the album reached over 150k streams within the first month of it's release. It was also announced that *GHETTOLAND also reached over 1.5 million streams since it's December 2022 release.

On May 14, 2023, Jimmy announced that he was working on a variety comedy series titled "The JIMMY Show." On May 28, 2023, Jimmy's first concert in two years was announced for June 29, 2023 at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, CA. On June 2, 2023, Jimmy shared a live performance of "LONE SOLDIER" on YouTube. From June to July 2023, Jimmy shared five new singles, including a remix of Kendrick Lamar & Baby Keem's "THE HILLBILLIES," referred by him as the "GENERATIONAL TALENT" era.

On August 22, 2023, Jimmy shared that he was working on a streaming & social platform via THEDUALITY. Shortly after, he shared that a beta test would be "launching soon" for the platform. On September 5, 2023, Jimmy shared a promotional trailer for a new streaming & social media platform named Zulak, named after a previous project he made named "Evergreen Zulak." In the trailer, he revealed the subscription price was $5 a month and that subscribers could access his older music that was taken off DSPs as well as future films & TV series.

On September 8, 2023, Jimmy announced that he was working on a new album. On September 15, 2023, he shared a promotional trailer for a new reality series version of "The JIMMY Show." In the trailer, it was also revealed that he would be sharing the behind-the-scenes process of creating the upcoming album. On September 22, Jimmy shared episode one of "The JIMMY Show" on Zulak. In the first episode, it was revealed the variety comedy series that was initially planned was cancelled due to lack of funds & commitment from participating actors.

On October 28, 2023, Jimmy announced that he would be quitting music indefinitely via X (formerly Twitter) marking the start of the SHAZAM rollout. Two days later, fans began finding flyers in cities across Southern California advertising the toll-free number 833-3SHAZAM & Jimmy as a “magician for hire” for 13/hr. Fans called the number finding they could book Jimmy for a magic show, leave a voicemail review for it or “press 2 for a clue.” The clue being a voice saying “11/10” before playing a short snippet of music. Over 300 hundred voicemails left on the number can be found via an Untitled app link. It was later confirmed by Jimmy via his Instagram story that the rumors were true and that he quit music to become a full-time magician. Shortly after the news broke, fans began leaking footage of his performances at birthday parties, workshops and events going wrong because the magician wasn’t good at magic tricks and would get booed out the events.

After the footage leaked, fans found a game of Hangman and a password module hidden on the back of the interactive map on Jimmy’s official website with clues hidden on the front. Winning the game revealed the passcode “JIMBOLINISMAGIC.” After entering the passcode into the module, fans found a secret website with a timer on it set to end by November 10th, 2023. On November 10th, Jimmy shared a new trailer introducing The Great Jimbolini, a once mediocre, now world-class magician under the hypnosis & aid of Eve Centeno, his wife & creative partner. After the timer ended, visitors were given access to a “main menu” where visitors can find Jimmy’s socials, merch & more and a “story mode” featuring an interactive experience that explains a 7-part summary of the lore. The story explained there are the same events that took place in front of fans up until that point. On November 15th 2023, Jimmy shared lead single “BEIN' MYSELF” to positive reception from listeners. On November 17th, 2023, Jimmy shared 4 cover artworks & announced SHAZAM with a release date of November 24th for Zulak and December 1st for all other stores via his Instagram.

On November 21, 2023, Jimmy shared the second single "FIGURE IT OUT" via his YouTube channel. One day later, he shared three tracklists with different sets of guest features & track names telling fans to find the correct one. None of the tracklists were real as they were a distraction from the real tracklist that was already available on Apple Music with 3 tracks already available. On November 28, 2023, Jimmy shared the third single "JUNEBUG" via YouTube. The day the album released, he invited fans to speak to him on a livestream conversation via YouTube, Discord, Twitter & Instagram. SHAZAM reached over 10k streams within the first 24 hours reaching over 150k streams within a month of it's release.

On December 14, 2023, Jimmy announced Act II of the SHAZAM rollout across his social media profiles. On December 27, 2023, Jimmy shared the "DIFFREN'" music video via YouTube. On December 30, 2023, Jimmy revealed that his song "*UNCULTURED" been placed on his first official editorial playlist on YouTube Music. On January 4, 2024, he shared episode two of "The JIMMY Show' on Zulak, revealing the process of completing SHAZAM. On February 6, 2024, he shared a mini documentary sharing his journey leading up to the album titled I'd Rather Be Myself in reference to the hook found on "BEIN' MYSELF." On February 10, 2024, Jimmy shared the second and final music video of the SHAZAM rollout "ENCORE." Anthony Fantano of TheNeedleDrop shared the video on X.

On February 25, 2024, Jimmy shared that he reached out to the teams of Vince Staples, Charlie Wilson, Thundercat, Zack Fox and more in regards to collaboration for his next album via THEDUALITY. On March 1, 2024, he shared that he reached out to A&Rs from nearly ever record label, including RCA Records, in regards to funding his next album. On March 4, 2023, he announced in a video that he officially changed his professional name JIMMY (stylized in all capital letters) to his real full name Jimmy Poindexter.