The journey to greatness began for Ras Fraser Jr. with the birth name of Jhemel Fraser coming from Maroon ancestry. Jhemel was born in the Greenwich Farms neighborhood of West Kingston, Jamaica. Greenwich Farms borders on the infamous garrison of Tivoli Gardens where Jhemel spent much of his youth. He is the son of the living Reggae legend Phillip Fraser, and the grandson of a member of the Ska group Sparky And Pluggy. With this great family history in music one might say Reggae is in his blood. 

 

          Fraser’s musical career began at the ripe age of 7 years old. The youngster would travel with his father Phillip and perform alongside him as well as warming audiences up for the show. They started in his local community, and soon began travelling further from his home to perform with his father.  Fraser’s early years as a youth were a very exciting and wonderful time for him to say the least. In addition to singing and performing Fraser took to the Football field where he played on his school’s team from primary through high school. In his teenage years his family moved to Portmore, however Fraser continued to spend most of his time back in the city in Tivoli.

 

          At the age of 19 Fraser began to follow in his father’s footsteps in both recording music and following the traditions and faith of the Rastafarians. His first single was recorded at that time and was entitled “No Escape” on Razor Sound, his father’s label, and he adopted the name Ras Fraser Jr. At first Ras Fraser established himself as an entertainer and a Rasta in Tivoli Gardens where he started to create a buzz and become known as an artist. When the people came from Portmore to the city to see stage shows they were very surprised to see Ras Fraser performing. This caused a chain reaction which called him in demand to perform in his now hometown of Portmore.

 

          It didn’t take long until Ras Fraser at the age of 20 began taking many a trip to Bull Bay and spending time at the epicenter of the Bobo Shanti sect of Rastafari on the famed Bobo Hill. At the same time Ras Fraser Jr. and Phillip Fraser put out an album as a father and son duo called “Roots Man Time”. After the release of “Roots Man Time” recording started to really take off for Ras Fraser and he recorded countless amounts of singles for producers both local and abroad outside of Jamaica.

 

          Skipping forward to 2012 at the age of 28, Ras Fraser was sought out by a Swedish artist visiting Jamaica by the name of Money Brother who was on the island to record a song with Ras for his upcoming album. Ras Fraser was very eager to work with Money Brother because his vibe was very humble for a 2 time Grammy winning Rock star and seemed to have a very kind heart and a great energy about him. The song they recorded is called “Nervous Reaction”, and was put on Money Brother’s new album. The release of the album and the song becoming a hit kicked off touring for Fraser around Sweden and Europe. While touring in Europe Ras Fraser met the Swedish female Pop artist Elliphant and the two immediately became great friends and are still close till this day. It was only natural for them to record a song together and their track “Music Is Life” became a huge international hit.

 

          In 2013 when Ras Fraser Jr. was 29, he convinced Elliphant to come to his native Jamaica so the artists could record the colorful video for their hit “Music Is Life”. The music video was shot in Tivoli Gardens, Portland, and at Hot Mondays in Uptown Kingston. Today it has over 3.6 million views on Youtube and was also used in a television commercial in the USA for the cell phone service provider SPRINT in collaboration with Spotify. Ras Fraser Jr. performed at many concerts with Elliphant including the very popular and still running Swedish TV show Sommarkrysset. It only made sense for the duo to record a second song aptly titled “More Fire”. Once returning to Jamaica, Ras continued to record with many Reggae and Dancehall producers such as Small Axe Entertainment.

 

          Although Ras Fraser Jr. continues to travel back to Jamaica often, he relocated in 2014 to Atlanta, Georgia in the United States where he currently lives with his wife. 2015 was a great year for Fraser. He spent much of that time on the road touring the East Coast of America. While on the road Ras Fraser was introduced to Rebel Sound Records based out of New York and Florida and was immediately signed for both management and publishing. Following his signing Jr. spent extensive time in New York City every 6 months or so heavily recording music, performing at shows, shooting videos and making appearances at radio stations including SiriusXM.

 

          Back in his now hometown of Atlanta, Ras Fraser Jr. quickly rose in the local Reggae ranks and became one of the town’s favorite performers. With his electrifying high energy style of performing with jumping and high kicks as well as being able to croon with lovers rock ballads he became a must have household name on all of the Reggae shows passing through Atlanta thanks to his fans, DJ’s, promoters and media outlets. In Atlanta and abroad Ras Fraser Jr. has shared the stage with many artists including Capleton, Charley Blacks, I Wayne, Sizzla, Aidonia, Busy Signal, Frisco Kid, E.N Young, The Zebulonites, Chezidek, Dexta Daps, Mighty Mystic, Jr. Reid and has even performed on a Cruise Ship with Fortunate Youth. Along with recording and performing with fellow Jamaican artist and producer Delly Ranks who also lives in Atlanta now as well. And the list goes on and on.

 

          In March of 2018 Ras Fraser Jr. released his first solo album titled “Journey To Greatness” which was mastered by his friend E.N Young at Imperial Sound Recording Studios in San Diego, California. With the release of his first solo album it was time for the artist to celebrate and premier it with a sold out release party that he threw himself. In addition to his songs with Elliphant and Money Brother Fraser has also collaborated making music with artists near and far. Adele Omar from Pakistan, Ben Barbic and Bobby Hustle from the West coast of the USA, and fellow Jamaicans Perfect Giddimani and Fyahkin just to name a few. The work he has done with different producers has been on a global scale as well, including Hugo Wolf from Germany, Zack Reed from New York and E.N Young from California, and Perfect from Jamaica for just a few quick references. Fraser also is a ghostwriter for many artists of notable stature including Skatta from Inner Circle.

 

          As the borders of musical genres ever expand Fraser has shown his versatility and kept listeners on their toes with not only Reggae and Dancehall, but also outside of the community with creating wonderful works of art in the genres of Rock and Roll, Pop, Jazz, Dance, Electronica, Ska, and Hip Hop.

 

          One of the highlights of Ras Fraser’s musical journey was definitely the use of his song “Fire Man” in the internationally acclaimed television show Criminal Minds. The episode revolved around a recording artist going to Jamaica to create and record a song. However the song was never finished as the artist was murdered before being able to complete the track and get it right. Then investigation pursued. The song the artist was recording was Ras Fraser’s Dancehall hit “Fire Man”!

 

          2019 was a busy year for Ras Fraser. Continuing to record and perform he also manifested his Dancehall persona of the Bad Breed Bobo, which he is also known as. Keeping with an ever positive vibe started the Bad Breed Nation, which is a name taken by much of the Bad Breed Bobo’s fan base and released the hit Dancehall single “Bad Breed Bobo”. To meet the demand of his fans Fraser launched the Ras Fraser Jr. and the Bad Breed Bobo merch lines, which are sold at his shows and online. Staying with keeping you on your toes Fraser also started his own label called Wide Awake Music, Engineering and producing music for himself as well as for other fellow Reggae artists from all walks of life.

 

          Since Covid 19 has hit us world wide in 2020, Fraser has not let it slow down his works despite not being able to tour or perform at shows. The workhorse has been hard at work in the studio creating an endless barrage of music and has 4 albums on deck and in the sights of being released in the near future. Being on a mission Ras Fraser Jr. won’t stop creating art and sending a message of positivity to continue uplifting the people for years to come. And his Journey To Greatness continues.