	When an artist trades in their name and identity for A Nome de plume, appearances can be skewed, especially in today's pseudo reality, celebrity crazed industry. But what happens when there's no name change necessary?
When the artist is blessed with the name, the talent and the background to back it up. Introducing, Jesse James Figueroa.

	Jesse James Figueroa was born in East Harlem in the summer of 1981. The son of a musician, growing up in East Harlem "El Barrio" helped him acquired a taste for music at a young age. As a  man Jess and his family moved to The Bronx. Hip-hop had begun to cross into the mainstream around that time and Jess was ready to make his mark.                                           When he was 12, Jess was already spitting and by 17 he was producing beats. In the summer of 1997 his mother was murdered in his grandmothers project building in East Harlem. Jesse dropped out of high school and lived, worked and ate the street life. His new surroundings taught him that there is only one way to survive: hustling.
	Times were rough and life was never kind. Jesse became "Jess Jamez" and earned his name on the street for his wild and loose ways. His talent combined with his street smarts gave him the ability to translate his "real" life into music. Despite growing up and living in a drug-hustling family, Jess thrived on making his way out.
"Everyone's intuition is to do what they love. It's all about finding inspiration", says Jess about his music and his past. Since winning the EOW MC Challenge in '04, Jess has been at the core of the End of the Weak movement, as an MC, Producer, Engineer and now as the newest host of the longest running weekly open mic in New York City.


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