Jonathan King (born February 6, 1990), better known by his stage name Sap (sometimes stylized SAP) is an American hip hop record producer, rapper and entrepreneur. SAP is an acronym for “Sound of A Pioneer”. He works closely with producers Cool & Dre , but is currently independent and not signed by a label. Sap has produced for artists such as Mac Miller, The Game, Schoolboy Q, Tyga, Chris Webby, Juicy J, Juelz Santana, Fat Joe, Freddie Gibbs, and Meek Mill among others. He is best known for producing Mac Miller’s Platinum single “Donald Trump” and “Watching Movies”, and The Game’s “Celebration”. As a rapper he is the leader of the group The Pioneer Crew.

Musical career

Sap was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, but moved to Newark, Delaware at a very young age. Sap first begun making hip hop instrumentals on FL Studio at the age of 15, putting his beats on MySpace. He went to Christiana High School in Newark. Around 2007 to 2008, he began producing for local rappers such as Joey Jihad and Reed Dollaz. Then in 2008 he received what he considers his first big beat placement, producing “In My Bag” by Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill. Around the same time he also produced Cyssero’s “In the Air” and “Swag Me Out”, which were in local club rotation. By January 2009, he confirmed working with rappers such as Juelz Santana, Freeway, Gillie Da Kid, Lloyd Banks and Beanie Sigel. After two more years he had worked with Cassidy and Jadakiss among many others.

After producing Mac Miller’s hit single “Donald Trump”, he linked up with known producers Cool & Dre in early 2011 through DJ Young Legend. Then in July 2011, Complex named Sap one of the “15 New Producers To Watch Out For”. On February 12, 2012, he announced that he had signed to producers Cool & Dre, Epidemic Records label as a producer and artist, along with Cash Money Records as a producer. Following that he worked with more high-profile artists such as Rick Ross, Game, Wiz Khalifa, Busta Rhymes, Nicki Minaj, Birdman on their upcoming albums. Following that announcement, five days later he released his first mixtape as a rapper, Surprise, Surprise,which was primarily produced by himself, on February 17, 2012. Following its release he announced that he wanted to release another mixtape titled The Invite featuring him as a rapper, with production coming from other producers such as Cool & Dre, Jahlil Beats, The Beat Bully and himself.

On October 16, 2012, Sap released his second instrumental mixtape Sound of a Pioneer, which featured his most known instrumentals among other new tracks. On March 19, 2013, “Donald Trump” was certified Platinum by the RIAA. In May 2013, he was in the studio playing instrumentals for Kendrick Lamar, who he linked up with after producing “She Like” for Black Hippy cohort Schoolboy Q. He also produced three songs on The Game’s October 2013 mixtape Operation Kill Everything.

Discography

Production discography

Singles produced