Grammys recognition for Lincoln producer who worked on Mary J. Blige album

A Lincoln-based producer has earned multiple Grammy nominations, including the prestigious Album of the Year, for his work on the latest Mary J. Blige project.

Jamie Hurton, 31, is better known by his music moniker of Hostile Beatz, and he started his music journey way back in 2011 – progressing from beat making to local artists to selling his instrumentals online.

Despite living in Lincoln his whole life, an area not notoriously known for an emerging music scene, he has progressed all the way to signing a record label deal with Epidemic Music, thanks to the recognition of American producer/songwriter duo Cool & Dre.

Hostile Beatz has been a consistent hit maker for numerous emerging rappers across the pond, including the late Pop Smoke, Jay Gwuapo and Nolay – who British people may know best as Mandy in Netflix show Top Boy.

His most recent accomplishment comes in the form of production credits on legendary R&B artist Mary J. Blige’s 2022 album Good Morning Gorgeous – released on February 11, just two days before she rocked the Super Bowl stage at the iconic half-time show.

It has earned May J. Blige a series of nominations at the music industry’s most prestigious awards show of the year: The Grammys.

Good Morning Gorgeous is up for Best R&B Album, Record of the Year, Traditional R&B Performance, and the Recording Academy’s most sought after prize – Album of the Year. It will be up against the likes of Adele’s 30, ABBA’s Voyage, Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

Jamie’s contribution to the album was making the beat for one of its singles, On Top, featuring up-and-coming rapper and Kanye West collaborator Fivio Foreign.

This means that he will be listed in the credits for two of Mary J Blige’s awards this year – and will find out if he can become a Grammy winner at the ceremony on February 5, 2023.

Through making beats at his home studio here in Lincoln, Hostile Beatz is now a Grammy nominated artist for the first time in his career.

Speaking of his nominations, Jamie said: “Firstly to be recognised is indeed itself an honour after years of hard work, dedication and determination, to have something of this magnitude is truly a blessing.

“I was watching the Grammy nominations live as millions around the world were, and when I saw my name pop up in the categories of Best R&B Album and Album of the Year, it was a little surreal and overwhelming to the point I had to pinch myself.

“With me living in the UK and being signed to an American record label, unfortunately I did not get to meet Mary J. Blige in person.

“However the record label sent me over a reaction video as she first heard the beat I made for her album Good Morning Gorgeous, which in itself was amazing to see her reaction to something I created from my home studio in Lincoln.”

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The journey

Jamie’s musical development began back in 2011 with his childhood friend and now-business partner Chris Middleton, aka YC Beatz.

As he began making beats and creating songs for local artists to perform at live shows, Hostile Beatz progressed through creating sound packs and selling instrumentals online.

A break came in America some years later, as he was contacted by a stateside artist called Cryptic Wisdom, asking Jamie for some production work.

A beat was made with live guitars and additional vocals were added by a Lincoln-based singer called Lauren Mai. The Death Bed – Coffee For Your Head remix was released in 2020 and it has amassed over 1.3 million Spotify streams.

The life of Hostile Beatz changed forever later that year when his producer idols, Cool & Dre, were doing a beat review on Instagram live and inviting followers to submit their best productions.

“We decided to submit some beats and with little expectation of being played we continued our game until we heard our names mentioned from their live”, he said.

“This became a weekly occurrence, over the period of 8 months of sending beats to Cool & Dre they personally reached out after hearing one particular beat that caught their attention.

“YC and I were invited onto a video call which lead to the announcement of my next and YC’s first major placement, with American artists Pop Smoke & Jay Gwuapo.

“After the release of Black Mask by Pop Smoke & Jay Gwuapo, Cool & Dre then offered myself and YC a record label deal.”

When asked what the future holds, Hostile told us: “There is always more to come and those who know me well know I do not announce, I just pop up with the results.”

You can keep up to date with Hostile Beatz’s career by following his Facebook and Instagram pages, and check out some of his work over on his YouTube channel.