Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, and Akon all agree on one thing, Verse Simmonds is the future of music. 

The 31 year-old Virgin Islands native has proved to be a Renaissance Man, displaying an uncanny acumen for rapping, singing, song writing and producing. In just the past 18 months, Verse (short for Versatile) has been lava hot, crafting hits for himself as well as a wide array of megastars. Verse is definitely music’s most in demand and explosive commodity.   

Simmonds current single is the sexy “Boo Thang” featuring Kelly Rowland, which is a track off of his mixtape The Sextape Chronicles 2. “It was fun working with Kelly,” Verse described. “She’s a legend. She has an amazing tone, and I thought she would really add a winning ingredient to this record.” 

As an artist signed to Interscope records, Simmonds dropped a smash right out the gate, in 2009 with the chart topper “Buy You A Round.” Later that year, he released the first Sextape Chronicles mixtape to critical acclaim. He’s been touring ever since. “I gave people my own genre,” Verse explained. “It ain’t R&B music. It ain’t really rap. I call my style ‘Island-B.’ It’s hip-hop with Caribbean and Rhythm and Blues influences. 

A third STC is due in February, making for a trilogy. 2011 however, has proved to be a pivotal year for Verse. He aligned himself with brothers Akon and Bu Thiam, inking a brand new recording contract with BuVision/ Konlive/ Def Jam. The Grammy Award winning Akon was starting up a new record with a fresh roster and chose Verse to be the cornerstone act. Akon saw the same star potential in Simmonds that he saw in some of the other acts he signed such as T-Pain and most notably Lady Gaga. 

Verse was born in his mother’s homeland of Puerto Rico, but moved to his dad’s place of origin, The Virgin Islands, as a child. Growing up, he would perform in plays and talent shows. The radio station in V.I. was a hodge-podge of rap, reggae, calypso and R&B which is explains Verse’s diverse style. His early musical influences were greats such as Bob Marley, Jay-Z, Nas and Babyface. At 20 years old, he moved from the Virgin Island to Florida where he met Sak Pase. In 2008, Simmonds was discovered by production heavyweight Rodney Jerkins and embarked on a solo career as an artist. 

As fruitful as his career as an artist has been, Verse has flourished even more as a producer and songwriter. As one half the team the Jugganauts with partner Sham “Sak Pase” Joseph, Simmonds has introduced some of the world’s biggest chart toppers to a brand new sound. Of late, they’ve produced the blockbuster “Man Down’ for Rihanna as well as two cuts on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s classic Watch The Throne LP, “Who Gon Stop Me” and “Made In America.” The duo have also worked on Busta Rhymes’ new single “Why Stop Now”