Jelleestone

Early life

Originally from the Rexdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Carty spent his childhood living in both Toronto and New York City.

Career

He began performing as a rapper with the local Toronto rap groups PNP and ORB, before contributing the solo track "When You're Hot, You're Hot" to the Rudimental compilation in 1997.

He subsequently recorded his debut album Jelleestone Thirteen, which was produced by Jon Levine of The Philosopher Kings. He was preparing to release the album on his own independent label Rex Entertainment, but began attracting label interest in the United States after Nelly Furtado, who had the same manager, began talking about his work in media interviews. Signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2000, he released Jelleestone Thirteen on the label in 2001. The album's single, "Money (Part 1)", was a top 40 hit in Canada and reached #75 on Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart.

He garnered two nominations at the Juno Awards of 2002, for Best New Solo Artist and Best Rap Recording.

In June 2003, Carty and his cousin David Gayle were arrested outside The Money nightclub in downtown Toronto, after an altercation in which he was alleged to have threatened another man, during which Gayle was discovered to have a gun hidden in his shoe. Testimony during the trial revealed that the plaintiff, not Carty, had initiated the incident after he felt "brushed off" by Carty, and that Carty had no knowledge of Gayle's gun. Gayle was sentenced to 15 months in jail, while the charges against Carty were dropped.

He won a MuchMusic Video Award for Best Rap Video in 2004 for "Who Dat", a collaboration with Jamaican musician Elephant Man. The track was featured on his second album, The Hood Is Here, released in 2005. The album also featured "Friendamine", a collaboration with Furtado.

In the same year, he also collaborated with Esthero on the song "Fastlane", from her album Wikked Lil' Grrrls.