About Me
Born in La Paz, Mexico to a Mexican Father and Turkish Mother, Maya Jupiter grew up in Sydney, Australia where she first fell in love with Hip Hop. Signing to an all female hip hop label (Mother Tongues) at 20 years old, she released her first solo album in 2003. Her love of hip hop led her into the world of radio and television, becoming a music television host/producer at Channel [V] and the host/producer of ‘triple j’s hip hop show’ on the ABC Network.
Now raising a family in Los Angeles, Maya released her third solo album produced by Grammy Award winner Quetzal Flores titled Never Said Yes, named after her song about affirmative consent. The album also features Madre Tierra where she paints Woman as Mother Earth, drawing on various current and historical references of women who have had a significant impact on the world and in critical thought. Crumble addresses the existence of the school to prison pipeline in the United States and Inshallah is a song about hope and love that Maya experienced while pregnant with her first child.
Maya has held song writing workshops with youth since the early 2000’s as a tool for self expression and self empowerment. She believes in the power of collective songwriting as a method of healing and has visited juvenile detention centers both in Sydney and Los Angeles. Maya has also mentored young artists through Music Forward Foundation’s Open Mic program.
Maya is on the advisory board at Peace Over Violence and was a spokesperson for their Denim Day Campaign for 10 years, and was recognized with their Voice Over Violence Humanitarian Award in 2014. In 2017, she received Tiyya’s Owliya Community Leadership Award and was honored by the Justice For My Sister Collective.
In 2018 she was the recipient of East LA Community Corporation’s Mujer Guerrera Award and in 2020 Maya was the co-recipient of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Social Justice Fighter Award along with her husband Aloe Blacc.
In 2013 Maya co-founded Artivist Entertainment alongside Aloe Blacc, Quetzal Flores, Alberto Lopez and Veronica Gonzalez to support artists who create positive social transformation through art. They have produced events including ‘Artivista’ a line up of 12 BIPOC women collaborating on stage while sharing a band, ‘CharLa’ - a series of community based talks, featuring Melina Abdullah, Gina Belafonte, Ron Finley amongst other Artist / Activists.
In 2024, Maya released “Kites" with Toronto based Iraqi Singer Nova Emad, a song about peace, a single with Brazilian Hip Hop Artist, Xuxo Na Voz titled “Força” and an EP with Tongva, Chumash artist Jessa Calderon.