Florida native Jalawrence Minus got started in music at the age of 9, writing rhymes and singing in church. “Music has always been my passion,” he said, noting his inspiration comes from the music of Michael Jackson, Lil Wayne and the Notorious B.I.G. He spent part of his younger days in Duluth, moved back to Florida, then returned to Duluth in 2017. “For a while finding people to take me seriously with my music was hard,” he said, “but now I have a wonderful team behind me that believes in me.” A handful of Bigbabyjay singles dropped in 2020 and 2021, but 2022 was a breakout year with an EP and two full-length albums — Latto World in February, A Mile in My Shoes in June and What it Takes to be King, a collaboration with Loc Da Realist, in July.