Hi, I’m J Boogie

Hi, my name is Justin Boland (aka J Boogie) and I’m the hip hop curator at Pandora. I’m a music fiend who has been selecting tunes and sharing them with my friends and fans for over 20 years. I have a soft spot for soul and reggae too, so you can find me digging into several genres for the music you hear on Pandora. My job is to make sure we have the best music library for you, no matter what you like. From well known to emerging artists, I spend all my time thinking about acquiring music and programming new genre stations. I also help write our blog and social media posts, interact with artists when they visit our Oakland office and get lost listening to anything I can get my hands on. Before I joined the team at Pandora, I worked at a radio station, record store, night club, record label and one of the first internet radio services, Spinner.com.

I started young as an open-minded listener, making pause tapes from college radio stations. Having been obsessed with radio since then, I got my feet wet interning at KUSF when I moved to San Francisco back in ‘91. Once on air, I helped produce a hip hop radio show called Beatsauce for over 15 years. This entailed meeting artists like Mobb Deep, KRS-One and Outkast back when they first dropped. I remember bouncing around CMJ and The Gavin Convention, listening to freestyles from Cypress Hill, Dru Down, Black Moon and Souls Of Mischief before they all blew up. Right now I’m a big fan of HBK Gang and the Soulection crew, bumping artists like Nef the Pharaoh, Sage the Gemini, Sango, KAYTRANADA, Esta, J-Louis and Goldlink. My favorite moment in any musical piece is when genres are blurred and unexpected things happen.

During my off time, I stay busy as a professional DJ and producer. I travel to nightclubs and music festivals performing as J Boogie, alongside Deejay Theory as Brother in Arms, or with my band Dubtronic Science (on Om Records). I have a few albums, mixtapes and remixes floating out there, so find me on Pandora and have a listen!