J. Dash’s contribution to pop culture is perfectly summed up by him on his 2012 song “Fresh”:

I’m the same dude who made the whole world WOP

Born Jameyel Ontonio Johnson in Jacksonville, Florida on September 3, 1984, J. Dash discovered his gift for music at an early age when he began teaching himself to play piano by ear at only five years old. His musical interests would further expand by the time he was a preteen and found himself playing in a blues band.

After high school, he attended the University of Florida, majoring in Computer Science. During his time there, he would put out his earliest projects, The Odyssey of a Corporate Looney Tune in 2006, and Something Else: Music For The Color Blind in 2007. The original version of “WOP” would appear on the latter and slowly began to catch on from there.

Following his graduation from college, J. Dash continued to see the rising popularity of “WOP” as many created their own dance videos to it and shared them on YouTube. After being discovered and signed to independent label StereoFame Records by its founder Ken Underwood, J. Dash pulled “WOP” from the internet to release the official version on December 25, 2010. This version would serve as a single for his debut album, Tabloid Truth.

In addition to his career as a recording artist and a record producer, J. Dash is also CEO of his own multimedia company SlapDash Productions, he is a public speaker, and he’s still heavily involved in the computer science field—providing website functionality services for both big and small businesses.