A.J. Throwback (née Joseph Lawrence Goings) is a music producer, hip hop recording artist, songwriter, journalist, media personality and music experience facilitator originally from Washington, D.C., currently residing in Brooklyn Park, Maryland.  He is the founder & CEO of Balancing Act Music & Media (BAMM!) LLC, an independent multimedia company.  Initially concentrating on R&B songwriting and production, he fuses his melodic roots with traditional hip hop approaches.  His influences as a recording artist include JAY-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas and Common and his production influences include Gamble & Huff, Just Blaze, RZA, 9th Wonder and The Neptunes.

 

Throwback has been professionally producing since 2003, crafting tracks for K-MOB (including solo releases for Klutch Da Rapper), "The Healacist" HipHopMomma Princess Best, Ransom Rellic, BIGGA BRIXX, Livefreerize, DH MVJOR, Lady Cee, Debo Wayne, Mic Mountain, Anaymous Touch and Night Train 357.  Among his most notable work, he remixed Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop" and Teyana Taylor's "Google Me" (which has remained the most popular song on his SoundCloud page for the last decade) for Remix Kingz Music Group in 2008.  He released his debut instrumental album series, I Kinda Miss Southeast (2018) and I Kinda Miss Southeast 2 (2019).  This year, he released Love on Rewind, his third instrumental album inspired by late 80s and 90s R&B, which features the singles "Something New", "Fluent in My Language", "Resilient", and "Rewind".  Curated around the 80s R&B energy of and featuring "Fluent in My Language" as the first song, fellow Fresh Tribe member Jayinthamix released a mix of 80s R&B classics and long-lost gems entitled Fluent in My Mixology via SoundCloud.

 

As a primary recording artist, A.J. independently released his first two mixtapes: Legend of the Fall (2009) and The 8-Track Bandit (2010).  While promoting The 8-Track Bandit, his music was featured on DCMumboSauce.com (hosted by DJ Heat) and ForTheDMVOnly.com (hosted by Judah).  Throwback released his debut single, “Proof of ID” featuring fellow "Brothers Of Sound" HËS (fka PATH P) & BIGGA BRIXX, in 2017.  In 2022, he released his long-awaited debut EP series, The Late Bloomer and The Late Bloomer 2, and launched The Maximum Sentence---a web series digging deeper into the lyrics of his songs as well as the verses from featured artists.  In 2023, he was nominated twice in the "Best Hip Hop Song" category for "Jason's Lyric" and "Hustle & Motivate" (with DJ Shane) in the 35th Annual Wammie Awards.  As a featured artist, he has collaborated with K-MOB, Klutch Da Rapper, Gladiator, Ransom Rellic, Prodigal, Sly Dee, BIGGA BRIXX, Kavah King, Zone Out, Pyro the Lyricist, Shan Major, Rated R the Mac, Folkz, HËS, Tabou TMF, DJ Nate Geezie, DJ Shane, the R2BB Cypha Crew assembled by Re'Gideon Peoplez, Lloyd 7 Attah, Swift, Phocuz, Hell Yeeeeah and QuanDon. 

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After making his foray back into radio on Breakout Kings Radio with Coach Taylor, Ransom Rellic and Gangsta B (2017 - 2018), A.J. created, produced, co-hosted & deejayed for The Balancing Act Radio Show (BARS) with Ramsey Brown (2018 - 2021).  The show blended talk about music and entertainment, politics and social issues, relationships, entrepreneurship, sports, etc., with music from the best urban contemporary indie artists from the DMV and beyond.  A.J. and Ramsey also expanded the BARS brand to several web series including the BARS On the Road extended profile series (2019-2021), the BARS: The Breakdown review series (2019 - 2021) and The Independence Avenue Drive at Five mix show series (2021).  After ending the platform, BARS was nominated for "Best Radio Show/Podcast of the Year" in the 2022 Southern Entertainment Awards (SEA).

 

He's a regular judge on Friday Night Fights (2021 - present), a music matchup series hosted by DJ Shane, J. Jorae and Radio Rick which airs every other Friday at 7:30 p.m. also on The Underground Lab Radio.  He co-hosted Turntable Thursdays (2022 - 2023) along with show creator/co-host DJ Shane and fellow Fresh Tribe member Ryan Lucas on The Underground Lab Radio (who has also been nominated in the "Music Media Award" category in the 35th Annual Wammie Awards).  Along with R2BB Cypha Crew organizer & producer Re'Gideon Peoplez, he co-hosted The Return 2 Black Broadway Podcast (2022 - 2023)--a platform centered around unifying the "DMV" region (D.C., Maryland & Virginia) and celebrating its culture rooted and grounded in the spirit of Northwest D.C.'s historic U Street corridor--on the Return 2 Black Broadway YouTube channel.  He currently hosts #FlowersFriday, a monthly series built to celebrate how people positively influence our lives, via his Instagram page.  To coincide with his Love on Rewind album, he launched Bring Back the Love Conversations--a limited-run podcast series about love, romance and R&B--via his YouTube channel.

 

Other notable accomplishments included his role in 2021 as the official DJ for The New Royal Family, a community service and homeless outreach organization based in the DMV.  In March 2022, he was named Music Director for WINDCRadio and also opened his online clothing & merchandise store called batch. (Balancing Act Trinkets & Clothing House).