This rapper is FAMU-made – The Famuan

Building a supportive community that shares the drive to pursue creative endeavors is crucial to the success and growth of a musician. 

This axiom is true for Florida A&M University graduate Bronson ‘“Israel” Jones, who continues to make music with the friends he made at FAMU. 

After graduating in December 2023, Jones returned to Gainesville, his hometown, to focus on his career as a full-time independent artist.  At an early age, the sounds of Prince, John Mayer and Kanye West filling his childhood home inspired Jones to become a musician. “What inspired me was my father and the music he used to play growing up. I started recording my first tracks when I was 13, but once I got to college, that’s when I really found out I wanted to make music and do this for the rest of my life,” Jones said. 

Today, Jones whose stage name is Israel Jones, is a rapper, songwriter and record producer known for his distinct Southern style that blends introspective raps and masterful storytelling. Jones developed this style while attending FAMU to earn his bachelor’s in English. In 2018, Jones joined Voices Poetry Group, an on-campus organization centered on connecting poets. 

In 2021, Jones became the president of Voices Poetry Group, where he met Giahni Bosquet, a skillful producer and wordsmith who would later introduce Jones to Derrick Taylor and Trent “BOMA” Cintron. The quartet quickly became friends and bonded over their shared interest in hip-hop. When Cintron, an emerging rapper, and Taylor, a passionate creative director, met Jones and Bosquet, the four began collaborating on creative projects. Their desire to create music led them to co-found Brick Road Records — a record label built on friendship and a yearning to produce art that would positively impact their community. Taylor appreciates the deep connection he shares with his collaborators over music. “Being around people who respect music as much as I do is rare, I run into a lot of people who are surface-level music listeners and I listen to everything and everything inspires everything. You can hear in their music they are not just hip-hop heads they are music lovers,” Taylor Said. 

As the four worked closely to create songs and music videos, their belief in each other’s musical talents cemented their friendship. 

“I trust them all with my feelings, my emotions, and just being stand up people. It makes it easier to go into the studio and trust them musically to pour into them and believe they are going to execute their visions properly, because I see them execute other things properly in their day to day lives as well,” Jones said. 

Jones and his label mates allow themselves to be vulnerable with each other to maintain an authentic atmosphere to create art.    

“We have those moments where our walls break down and no one is judging the other. We all uplift and help each other stay on our own paths and i’d say they are some of the only guy friends that I’m able to just truly be me around,” Cintron said.

 This dynamic is new for the group of composers, who are used to superficial male friendships that lack sensitivity and an understanding of how the art they consume and make affects them.  

“What is different in this friendship, there is no need to be a man and what I mean by that I can be sensitive I can like say my emotions, my feelings,” Jones said. “It is very refreshing to be able to like have a conversation with someone and they actually care about my day and actually gives me solid advice instead saying you will be OK or thug it out that is something I have had before but not to this extent.”