Originally born in Queens, rap artist ENJ moved around a few times before finally settling in Roosevelt, Long Island. He eventually assimilated onto the rap battle scene, learning more as he watched and more as he spat free styling rhymes. A resident since fourth grade, he has helped shape the beats across Long Island, grow the underground rap scene, and innovate rap battles.
After a rap battle controversy with rapper Nyckz in 2006 that went viral on Youtube, ENJ says he has moved on from it. “That’s old news,” he says, “it’s over and done with. I’ve moved on.” He goes on to say that he and Nyckz have a mutual understanding of each other, but have no contact.
Listening to a large variety of artists growing up, he doesn’t look up to past artists for inspiration, as he believes they have shaped him into who he is and it’s his job to take it from there. Instead, inspiration comes from whatever is on his mind, especially on his children. At rap battles, he pays close attention to battles, trying to see what he can do differently with his own style and how he can innovate the scene.
It’s well known that Long Island artists have a difficult time breaking out of the underground rap scene, as it’s so close to the five boroughs but nothing like Queens or New York. When I asked him if he feels Long Island holds him back from entering the mainstream, he said Long Island can seem like a “black hole” and a lot of rappers get discouraged by the underground scene, but it’s encouraging to see artists, like L.L. Cool J, make it off of the island.
In fact, ENJ seems to be dedicated to making Long Island home to a well-developed underground scene. He hosts rap battles all across
Nassau and Suffolk counties, everywhere and anywhere that opens their homes or businesses and welcomes his battles.
ENJ has no bully dogs of his own, so he had a blast playing with them at the photo shoot with Bully Girl, and a good time hanging with the Bully Girl crew. ENJ believes Bully Girl Magazine is a great “outlet for a lot of original artists,” calling the feature on Al Fliction (of issue #32) educational. It’s a good magazine with a lot of variety, and he looks forward to watching it branch out.
