It’s always a kick when there’s a success story about a young Hudson Valley artist to rave about in this space. So, right here, Chronogram would like to extend
a hearty hand of congratulations to music producer and Kingston native Jewlz (sometimes stylized as “J3WLZ”), whose remix of rapper Zeddy Will’s song “Can’t Go Broke” became a viral TikTok hit this summer, surpassing 88,000 posts and gaining Billboard-hit recognition.
Born in Kingston, Jewlz AKA Robert Patterson-Brown, Jr. graduated from Kingston High School and studied music production at BOCES before going on to major in
business at the University of Albany, where he’s presently enrolled. Raised in
Kingston and the Bronx, Jewlz learned to play drums on his grandfather’s set
and at age eight played snare drum in the Kingston Cetner for Creative Education’s percussion orchestra; he also tried piano and saxophone the Kingston High School band. He began posting his homemade beats on YouTube while he was in junior high school and quickly started to gain followers.
Between his college-study time in Albany last spring Jewlz decided to try remixing “Can’t Go Broke,” altering the tune’s arrangement and speeding up its tempo. From there he uploaded the track to TikTok, where it rapidly raked in more than 1.8 million streams in the US and went to number 27 on Billboard’s Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Since his mix of “Can’t Go Broke” went viral, the rapidly rising young producer has collaborated further with Zeddy Will and with rappers like Kyle Richh and Jenn Carter of Brooklyn-based hip-hop group 41. “Now, I have to go all out with it,” he told the Albany Times-Union. “I just really enjoyed making beats and songs,
making stuff that just comes to my head.”
This article appears in August 2025.
