A lifelong fan of hip-hop, TDJ (also known as Tone Deaf to his friends, or sometimes Jeff, or Jefe), has always dabbled in art in some form.

He wrote his first rap in third grade, and started learning guitar at 13. At 16, he bought his first guitar and became interested in DJing shortly after. He started performing at open mics while attending USU between 2008-2013.

In 2016, TDJ won 2nd place at SLC Comic Con’s Nerd Poetry Slam for performing his Wizard rap.