JoogSZN

About

The Story

Leimert Park-raised. Self-taught — selling ringtones and mixed CDs in high school before most kids knew what a producer was.

Co-founded HitMob — his producer collective — with AceTheFace and RonRon in 2015. Built the blueprint for what the world now calls Traffic Music — woozy, paranoid, cinematic. The sound you've been hearing.

Breakout: "Vintage & Adventurous" with Conradfrmdaaves. Then Thank You For Using GTL — Drakeo The Ruler rapping through a jail phone, Joog on the other end building history. Pitchfork 8.5. Washington Post. NPR All Things Considered.

2022: debut album Where's Joog? on HitMob. E-40, Earl Sweatshirt, Gunna, 03 Greedo, OHGEESY. All-star lineup. All on Joog's beats.

Producer Engineer Artist HitMob Traffic Music Leimert Park Worldwide

What Is Traffic Music

Music for the car ride.

California spends hours going somewhere. Traffic Music is what makes the subs shake and the ride feel right — woozy, paranoid, cinematic. Built in HitMob, exported worldwide.

Production Credits

Credits

Key Records

Vintage & Adventurous

Conradfrmdaaves · Produced by JoogSzn · Underground Classic

Breakout

Musty

Shoreline Mafia · RIAA 2x Platinum · ShorelineDoThatShit · Atlantic Records

2x Platinum

Spaceship

Shoreline Mafia · Co-prod w/ RonRon · ShorelineDoThatShit · Atlantic

RIAA Gold

Tricc on Just Anybody

03 Greedo · Co-produced by JoogSzn & BeatBoy · First Night Out

Classic

Ion Rap Beef (Remix)

Drakeo The Ruler · 03 Greedo · Earl Sweatshirt · Produced by JoogSzn

Classic

Tell You the Truth

Drakeo The Ruler · JoogSzn · Thank You For Using GTL

GTL

Shopping For Dior

Baby Smoove · Fenix Flexin · Talibando · Produced by JoogSzn · Where's Joog?

Hit

She's From Stockton

Big Sad 1900 · 03 Greedo · Co-produced by JoogSzn

Collab

The Homie

Wiz Khalifa · Quadwoofer & JoogSZN · See Ya · 2023

Collab

Fuck It

MoneySign $uede · Rucci · Produced by JoogSzn · Where's Joog?

Single

Got an 8.5 on Pitchfork. Outdid Future, Bad Bunny — it was up there with Run the Jewels.

— JoogSZN, on Thank You For Using GTL · NPR All Things Considered

Recognition

Press & Features

Washington Post · June 2020

"The Most Urgent Rap Album of the Year"

WaPo called GTL the most urgent rap album of 2020 — covering JoogSzn's unprecedented jail-phone recording method.

washingtonpost.com ↗

NPR / All Things Considered · Aug 2020

Prison Telecom Indicted By a Rap Album Recorded in Jail

NPR placed GTL on Top 25 Albums of H1 2020. Aired the Joog + Drakeo story nationally to millions of listeners.

npr.org ↗

Okayplayer · 2022–2024

Behind the Beat: JoogSZN on Drakeo as One of the LA Greats

Profiled as a fellow architect of Traffic Music who altered the sonic template of West Coast rap.

okayplayer.com ↗

The FADER · June 2022

JoogSzn Drops Debut Album, Where's Joog?

FADER profiled the transition from go-to producer to solo artist — on his own terms, on his own label.

thefader.com ↗

Knock LA · April 2024

One of LA's Most Influential Music Producers

Deep profile — Crenshaw roots, HitMob founding, GTL recording sessions, and why cops still harass one of LA's most important producers.

knock-la.com ↗

Passion of the Weiss · June 2020

"The Best Jail Rap Album Ever"

Every song astonishing and humbling — Joog's icy minimal beats pumped through a prison phone for something miraculous.

passionweiss.com ↗

Spectrum Culture · June 2020

A Testament to the Irrepressible Power of Art

JoogSZN's stripped-down beats called the perfect pedestal for Drakeo's scratchy jail-phone takes. Unimpeachable.

spectrumculture.com ↗

Flypaper / Soundfly · 2020

Recording Drakeo The Ruler Over the Phone from Jail

The full story — 36 hours of jail phone sessions, weeks of mixing, Joog's vision to turn injustice into rap history.

flypaper.soundfly.com ↗

Projects

Vintage & Adventurous

Where's Joog?

Thank You For Using GTL

ShorelineDoThatShit

The Track Record.

The Story

Credits

Press & Features

Get on a Beat

Streaming Playlists

Links