Fresco Fay was born Jaffe Jawanza Cropper on August 1, 1991 in New Orleans, Louisiana. For most of his childhood he lived in Algiers on the West Bank of New Orleans and was raised by his grandmother, who was a major influence in his life. One of the most important musical influences was his dad, who was a local rapper and was one of the reasons Fresco became interested in making music. When Fresco Fay was 11 years old, he, his dad and his younger brother wrote and recorded his first song, which was for his grandmother’s birthday. Since then he has written and recorded many songs but has yet to release a full project.

In middle school he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where his mom was located. He stayed there until the end of his freshmen year of high school when he got in trouble with the police and was sent to boarding school in Mississippi. Fresco graduated from the boarding school in 2009 and attended the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. He studied there for the summer and fall semesters before going to France to study abroad. While studying in France, Fresco also visited Italy and Greece. Traveling through these European countries was a major influence on his music especially his debut album, “The Louvre”, to be released in early 2013. After returning to the United States he realized that he no longer wanted to attend the University of Southern Mississippi and transferred to Louisiana State University. At LSU he and another artist named Nique created a group, New Era, and recorded 8 tracks but split up due to Nique realizing he did not want a career in music. This was an important time in Fresco’s career because it was when he got his name Fresco Fay. He had always been called Fay but one night while freestyling him and Nique came across the word Fresco which meant artistic expression. Once the group broke up, Fresco was at a roadblock in his life where he was trying to find his identity. That night of freestyling and the mention of the word Fresco brought flashbacks of being in Paris at The Louvre and that’s when he decided that the name Fresco Fay fit his identity.

After a semester at LSU Fresco Fay realized that which school he attended was not the issue but that college was not the place for him at this time in his life. Although this disappointed some family members he knew it was a decision he had to make in order to make himself happy, instead of graduating from college in order to make others happy. Fresco then went to spend some time with his dad who had just moved from L.A. to Houston. While out in Houston Fresco continued to write and improve his skills but did not know what the next step in his career would be. Since his father had done music in the past he suggested that Fresco go to a recording school like he had done. After looking at multiple recording schools Fresco Fay decided to attend the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Arizona.

Since a young age, music has meant a lot to Fresco Fay because it’s the only way he know hows to express himself to the world. This was especially true since he has always been a shy person but when it’s him and the mic, he no longer feels shy, he feels invincible. Fresco has only done 2 live performances, a local open mic at LSU and performed a song at Club Afterlife in Arizona. The reason he has done such few live shows was due to his shyness and being uncomfortable but he has overcome this and plans to do many shows in the future.

Influences growing up: Dwayne Washington (his dad), Lil Wayne, B.G., Juvenile, all of Cash Money Records, Master P., Lil Romeo, all of No Limit Records, DMX, Ja Rule and Lil Bow Wow.
Present influences music wise: 2pac, Mos Def, Nas, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Wale, J. Cole, R. Kelly and Old School RnB in general.

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