J1 Presents Jeezy With the Sirius XM/Pandora Hip Hop 50 Pioneer Award | J1, Jeezy and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens Talk Hip Hop, Politics and Atlanta

Grammy-nominated artist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and now New York Times best-selling author Jeezy, sat down with Sirius XM/Pandora Vice President of Music Programming Josh “J1” Raiford and special guest Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.

The trio discussed Jeezy’s new book Adversity for Sale Ya Gotta Believe, 50 Years of hip-hop, and politics. During the event, Jeezy discloses a conversation he had with T.I. nearly 20 years ago where T.I. told the Snowman, “You can’t do music and be in the streets.”

In the video, Jeezy discusses the ability to utilize hip-hop music as a tool to grow personally and professionally. Andre Dickens stated that hip-hop means freedom and how a person can transfer ideas and ambition into a physical result.

At the night's end, J1 presented Jeezy with the Sirius XM/Pandora Hip Hop 50 Pioneer Award. “I’ve known Jeezy for 15 years. He’s as solid and genuine as they come. I’ve witnessed his evolution and how he’s expanded beyond music into business, politics, philanthropy, and now a New York Times best-selling author," said J1, "He is a trailblazer on so many levels so it was only right to present him the pioneer award.”

Attendees included DJs, college students, fans of Sirius XM and Pandora Now, social media influencers, and brand company representatives.

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Joshua ‘J1’ Raiford was born and raised in Harlem, NY. He was highly influenced by the ‘Bad Boy’ movement and closely followed labels like OutKast and Death Row Records. At the age of 14 years old, he interned at a small record label and knew he wanted to work in the industry from that point forward. In July 2020, J1 successfully helped program and launch “Uninterrupted Radio” on Pandora in partnership with LeBron James and Maverick Carter and was promoted to Director of Hip Hop Curation & Content. He was named on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players List in 2021 and 2022. He’s the current Program Director for Pandora NOW on SiriusXM. Follow him @posterchildj1.