[★FEATURE] The 10 Year Journey from Jessica H.O to Lucky J’s Jessi

Lucky J’s Jessi, who is now featuring in Mnet’s Unpretty Rapstar, started her career as a singer in 2005 and also worked as the guest member of Uptown in 2006.

The female rapper Jessi, also the lead female singer of the band Lucky J, is gaining back her popularity through Mnet’s new rap competition show Unpretty Rapster. Now she is better known as the female member of Lucky J who can also rap – however Jessi is not a new rookie. The rapper and singer made her debut in 2005, nearly 10 years ago.

In 2003, Jessica H.O had chance to audition for Doremi Media’s project in the United States and was cast in it. The singer, born in New York and raised in New Jersey, had to move to Korea at the age of 15 for two years of training and preparation for her debut. Later in 2005, Jessica H.O. released her first single album Get Up and burst onto the Korea’s music market.

While keeping her status as a solo artist, Jessica H.O. joined a Korean hip hop band Uptown as a guest member for their 5th album. Uptown changed its members many times and Jessica took Yoon Mi Rae’s (known as Tasha at the time) place in 2006.

Becoming more popular as Jessica H.O. of Uptown, she tried to change her name to Jessica, without her last name “H.O.” Then in 2009, Jessica came back as a soloist releasing the new album The Rebirth with the song, Life is Good. The audience still recognized Jessica as Jessica H.O. and greeted her with love. After finishing her activities with the song, Jessica went on a very long hiatus, not making public appearances. Sometimes pictures uploaded on her SNS went viral and made her fans miss her a lot.

After 5 years of hiatus, in summer of 2014, Jessica came back as a group Lucky J with rapper J’Kyun and vocalist J-Yo. This time, Jessica changed her name to Jessi, which she is now known by. Lucky J released their digital single Can You Hear Me and made appearances on television shows including KBS’s Immortal Song 2. The group also released the soundtrack for SBS drama Temptation, making their presence clear to the fans.

In December of last year, Jessi featured in a a special 2014 MBC Gayo Daejejun special performance with SISTAR’s Hyorin and Ailee. Her amazing rap and good figure made fans go wild and the stage further established her position as a female rapper.

Now, Jessi is featuring in Mnet’s Unpretty Rapstar as one of eight participants fighting for each track of the compilation hip hop album. While making dramas in the latest episodes, Jessi is proving her outstanding rap skills among the participants.

Source: Newsen via Jessica H.O. Naver blog and Hankooki