Jordan Cian Christie, better known by his stage nameJ Rick, is a London-based musician and producer best known for producing Octavian’s breakthrough singles "Party Here", "Hands" and "Lightning", the last of which was also featured in the video game FIFA 19. Noisey described "Party Here" as "a defining track in the cross-genre melange that makes up forward-thinking, left-leaning modern UK rap." J Rick is also the official DJ for Octavian's live shows, and performed together with him at Field Day, All Points East, Eurosonic and at Octavian's European tour, which included a sold-out Kentish Town Forum show where they brought out Skepta and AJ Tracey on stage. J Rick has since gone to release his own music and accompanying music videos. Each music video so far has been directed solely by Armin Druzanovic, with the only exception being the video for the single 'Gone', which was co-directed by Barney Clark. Rick's latest single 'Close' features Eritian-born singer Rimon, the first collaborator on a J Rick single. Like all of Rick's previous singles, the video for the single was uploaded to the Views TV YouTube channel. All of J Rick's singles have been released by Warner Records UK. Rick's uncle and one of his biggest inspirations is the late professional boxerErrol Christie, also known for his book How I Put The Black In The Union Jack. J Rick has tattooed Errol Christie's mantra "No retreat, no surrender" on his skin.
''No Retreat No Surrender''
On 27 September 2019, Rick released his debut mixtape No Retreat No Surrender in commemoration of his uncle Errol Christie. Rick said of the project that "This record means a lot to me; its my first solo project release and is commemoration of my uncle Errol Christie who died in June 2017. It’s mad important for me to put out my own project cause I was working on this before I even started working with other people." The release came alongside the single 'Want', which features fellow Essie Gang member Octavian. Aside from Octavian, the mixtape features Obongjayar on the song 'Surprise' and Rimon on the mixtape's third song 'Close'. It was described by Mixmag as having 'shades of grime, garage and hip hop and suggests Christie’s trademark spacious productions could come to dominate UK rap for years to come'.
