JessB

JessB knows her way around a party tune, but she also knows how to bury deeper messages of sadness, loss and dislocation inside club riddims, earworm melodies and tongue-twisting rhyme schemes. Born in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa, to a Kenyan father and a Pākehā mother, her music explores authenticity, personal growth, and connection, with the stamina of a professional athlete, the sensitivity of a textbook cancer sign, and the unfettered creativity of an artist who embraces change. The co-founder of the storied Tamaki Makaurau QTPOC club night FILTH, JessB, has spent the last seven years traversing Aotearoa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and the UK, through the shared global cultures that connect hip-hop, R&B, dancehall, ragga and afrobeats. Along the way, she’s shared stages with Kehlani, recorded with Kranium, Sister Nancy, Sampa The Great and Gold Fang, and headlined her own tours. In her hands, music and joy become something more radical than entertainment alone, infusing resistance and solidarity into every song and show.