Timothy Elpadaro Thedford (born September 19, 1976), better known by his stage name
Jay Electronica, is an American
hip hop recording artist and record producer from
New Orleans. Electronica first gained significant attention after the release of the musical composition
Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), which was made available on a
MySpace page in 2007. It is fifteen continuous minutes of music, without drums, built from
Jon Brion's
soundtrack to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In late 2009 he released two singles, both produced by
Just Blaze, "
Exhibit A" and "
Exhibit C", the latter of which won a
Sucker Free Summit Award for Instant Classic. In November 2010, it was announced Jay Electronica had signed to hip hop mogul
Jay-Z's
Roc Nation record label.