Jay Smooth facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jay Smooth
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Jay Smooth at the Giant Steps conference
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John Randolph
1972 (age 52–53) New York City, U.S.
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| Occupation | Writer, DJ, radio personality, blogger |
John Randolph, known to many as Jay Smooth, was born in 1972. He is a writer, DJ, and blogger from New York City. He is famous for his Ill Doctrine video blog, where he shares his thoughts on different topics. Jay Smooth also started one of New York City's longest-running hip hop radio shows, called Underground Railroad, on WBAI radio.
Early Life and Name
Jay Smooth grew up in New York City. His mother was Jewish and his father was Black. He went to the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. When he was a teenager, he started his radio show. He chose the name "Jay Smooth" as his pseudonym, which is a made-up name someone uses instead of their real name.
Jay Smooth's Career
Jay Smooth began his work in media when he was 18 years old. He created his radio show, The Underground Railroad, on WBAI in New York. At that time, there weren't many popular radio stations playing hip hop music. Jay Smooth interviewed many important hip hop artists on his show, like TLC and The Fugees. He also helped create one of the very first hip hop websites in the world, called hiphopmusic.com.
Ill Doctrine Video Blog
Today, Jay Smooth makes video blogs on his own website, Ill Doctrine. In these videos, he shares his ideas about hip hop music, politics, and fairness in society. One of his well-known videos is "Soulja Boy Presidential Debate Remix." He also sometimes talks about music on NPR, which is a big radio network.
Jay Smooth became very well-known in 2008. He released a video on YouTube called "How to Tell Somebody they Sound Racist." This video has been watched over a million times!
In 2018, he hosted a series of videos on the YouTube channel Crash Course. These videos helped people learn how to understand and think critically about the media they see and hear.
Leaving the Radio Show
In July 2018, Jay Smooth decided to leave his radio show, The Underground Railroad. This was just before his 30th anniversary of being on WBAI.
