Biography
JP REYNOLDS (born Rodney Jeremiah Reynolds) is a recording artist, interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and founder. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, JP holds a B.A. in African-American Studies from Yale University and a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. He is the founder of Studio NINE23, a Brooklyn-based creative production house, and its nonprofit arm, The Peace and Power Foundation. His work spans music, design, live experience, and cultural strategy — rooted in the conviction that art and movement are inextricably linked, and that creative infrastructure is a form of community care.
EARLY LIFE
JP Reynolds was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Rodney J. Reynolds and Rev. Dr. Lillian F. Reynolds. After doctors warned his parents he might be born brain dead due to oxygen deprivation, he survived and was given the middle name Jeremiah, after the prophet. Like his biblical namesake, JP would grow into a storyteller and a man of deep faith.
He spent his early years in Cleveland, raised in the Baptist church and surrounded by family. Music found him early: in the choir, in the school jazz band, and on stages. When he was eight, his family relocated to Mount Vernon, New York, where he continued to develop as a musician and student. At thirteen, his Aunt Ree introduced him to Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill — an album JP describes as "music that touches your soul like you're in church." It became one of his formative creative touchstones.
In his teenage years, JP attended Rye Country Day School, a prestigious college preparatory institution, commuting daily from a predominantly Black, middle-class community into a predominantly white and upper-class environment. The experience sharpened his understanding of code-switching, identity, and the power of music as an anchor. His headphones carried Jay-Z, OutKast, Kanye West, and the Ruff Ryders — hip-hop that he would later fuse with jazz, funk, gospel, and soul into what he calls "rap gumbo."
COLLEGE AND GRADUATE YEARS
JP Reynolds attended Yale University, where he earned a B.A. in African-American Studies in 2010. While at Yale, he was a member of the 2006 Ivy League Championship football team, serving as a running back for four years. He was a charter member and president of the Yale Black Men's Union and became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
His senior essay, written under the advisement of poet and scholar Elizabeth Alexander, was awarded the 2010 William Pickens Prize — Yale's highest distinction in African-American Studies. Entitled "I Know of No Better Way to Express the Struggle of Our People: King, Hughes, and the Poetics of the Civil Rights Movement," the paper drew on previously unpublished correspondence between Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Langston Hughes held in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, surfacing the rich reciprocal relationship between Black poetry and the Civil Rights Movement — and quietly announcing a thesis JP has been living ever since: that art and movement are not separate forces. They define each other.
He went on to earn a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 2013, where he was a Sullivan Scholar and received his license to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. During this period, he began recording under the moniker "J Prophet" and performed at platforms including Bobby Jones Presents in Nashville and the 50th Anniversary March on Washington.
MUSIC AND ARTISTIC PRACTICE
JP Reynolds is the creator of an evolving body of original music that blends hip-hop cadence with jazz, funk, gospel, and soul. He describes his artistic lineage as prophetic, poetic, and deeply performative — drawing on John Coltrane's cadence, Gordon Parks' eye, and Tina Turner's electricity.
His discography includes Guavamatic Space Dream(2016),Rap Gumbo(2019), Stir Crazy (2020, with producer BACHTROY), Soul Raps (2022), and Peace and Power Planet (2024) — the debut album with The PEACEANDPOWER Band, which he formed with music director and bassist Criston Oates in 2017. Each project was independently released and community-funded, with multiple albums supported through crowdfunding campaigns that drew on a loyal base of early believers.
In 2021, JP produced and hosted the Stir Crazy Podcast, featuring 33 conversations with leaders across fields during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. His Kitchen Sessions — an intimate, house-concert touring model — launched in 2019 and returned in 2023 for a 10-stop national run through 9 cities and 7 states, with sponsorship from Ten To One Rum.
His forthcoming music project, REVIVAL, is a 21-song offering delivered across five thematic EPs exploring healing, ego death, reckoning, human connection, and homecoming. It is his most autobiographical and expansive artistic statement to date.
PEACE AND POWER MEDIA
In 2016, JP quietly founded Peace and Power Media, a creative consulting practice offering websites, brand packages, pitch decks, and experiential activations to mission-driven clients. Over the course of a decade, Peace and Power Media served more than 50 clients — including the Apollo Theater, WarnerMedia, Tarana Burke, Misa Hylton, and Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. — building a reputation for what clients described as "soul, story, and strategy."
Peace and Power Media's chapter is now complete. The decade of relationships, craft, and vision it built is the foundation on which JP founded Studio NINE23.
STUDIO NINE23
On March 5, 2026, JP Reynolds founded Studio NINE23: a Brooklyn-based creative production house offering experiences, music, and design for artists, leaders, and organizations. Studio NINE23 is not a rebrand of what came before. It is something new – an entity built on the conviction that creative infrastructure is not a luxury but a necessity, and that the people most called to heal their communities deserve a permanent home from which to do that work.
Studio NINE23's nonprofit arm, The Peace and Power Foundation (501(c)(3) in formation), is designed to structurally expand access to studio infrastructure for artists and communities who have historically been excluded from it.
JP is currently assembling advisors, collaborators, and early supporters as Studio NINE23 builds toward a permanent physical studio and cultural space in New York City — a premium hybrid venue designed to generate revenue, embed equity, and serve as infrastructure for the next generation of culture workers, healers, and storytellers.
COMMUNITY WORK AND PARTNERSHIPS
Since 2010, JP Reynolds has supported young people in pursuing passion and purpose through partnerships with organizations including the Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools, Harlem Children's Zone, The Future Project, Dream Defenders NYC, Queens Public Library, the Renaissance Project, and Fedcap Youth Network. He has served as a youth minister, program coordinator, communications lead, creative coach, and Dream Director, consistently working at the intersection of faith, creativity, and justice.
In addition to his independent work, JP serves as Chief Creative Officer of ALN Productions, a family multimedia company developing films, documentaries, television, and short-form content.
PERSONAL LIFE
JP Reynolds is a father and a man of faith. His spiritual life is not background to his work – it is the ground from which it flows. He approaches his creative practice as a steward: devoted, not hustling; presenting, not proving.