James JT Thompson
Founder and Chairman of The Hip Hop Hall of Fame, Inc Chairman of Hip Hop Global Media & Entertainment LLC Chairman of Thompson International Professionals
J.T. Thompson, is a Brooklyn Born, Queens, and Harlem raised Hip Hop Connoisseur, transplanted to Los Angeles in his early years where he excelled as a two sport star athlete at Manual Arts HS. After being a National Business Delegate selection of Junior Achievement, JT went on to serve in the Armed Forces for the US Army excelling in operations and leadership on and off the Basketball court, and earned full college scholarship after Honorable Discharge. JT was selected to play on the AIA Jr National Basketball team that played Internationally in Moscow, Russia, Germany, former Yugoslavia, Kiev Ukraine, and in the Baltic States. After college and exploring free-agent professional basketball in the US and overseas, he entered the music and entertainment business as a concert promoter and television producer as a guest of former MCA/Universal artists Pebbles, and the R&B Group the Deele, that featured multi-Grammy Award winning artists/producers BabyFace, and current Island-Def Jam, now Sony Head L.A. Ried. JT is a third generation music and entertainment luminary, as his grand-uncle Carl Frye played with Harlem Renaissance greats Billie Holiday, Count Bassie, Bennie Goodman, and Louis Armstrong.
In the 1990s legends Eazy E, Ice Cube, Yo Yo and Publicist Lynn Jeter, gave J.T. his big break in promotions and productions, as he went on to emerge as a major force in the “Hip Hop Fight the Power Leadership” era of the early 90’s, even joining with Sister Souljah in the UCLA Student Leadership Conference. As the founder of the R.O.Y.A.L. Alliance of Student and University Representatives, he became one of the main Co-Founders of the historical L.A. Gang Truce Alliance, during the 1992 Uprising Riots. J.T., took the lead in empowering Community, Private, and Public economic development partnerships including, rebuilding the Sears store in Hollywood with minority contractors and former gang-members, serving as an Advisory Board Member on RebuildLA, and also helped push for the National Empowerment Zones from Los Angeles, that led to partnerships across America like the new Harlem USA projects.
His story was highlighted in the movie “Redemption” starring Oscar winner Jamie Foxx. The Hip Hop Hall of Fame and J.T. have produced numerous albums, movies, concerts, step shows, sports events, special events from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, Atlanta's Georgia Dome, and New York City including The Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards show and Hip Hop TV Networks. Originally created in 1992, the award show was the first independently produced Hip Hop awards show on the BET Network Syndication arm in 1995. Today the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards TV Show returns to national television in 2013, while the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum is now a full fledge development project in NYC that will employ over 200 people, see 1,000,000 visitors and patrons per year, and generate a $350M socio-economic impact on New York City tourism and business to business vendor growth when it is completed.
The future is International as JT has also just launched, Hip Hop Global Media & Entertainment LLC, a Broadcasting, Marketing, and Infastructure company in NYC, and Thompson International Professionals, a Real Estate Development and Consulting firm for Global Development and Investment opportunities.