Musical career[edit]

In 2007, Fauntleroy wrote five tracks for Chris Brown's second album Exclusive (2007).^[2]


In 2009, James Fauntleroy co-wrote six tracks on Rihanna's fourth album Rated R (2009).^[3]


In 2011, Fauntleroy provided vocals for five songs on Common's The Dreamer/The Believer album. He appeared on "Dreamer (feat. Maya Angelou)", "Gold," "Cloth", "Celebrate", and "Windows". In 2012, he contributed vocals to Kanye West's first G.O.O.D. Music collaborative album, Cruel Summer. He appears on "Clique", "Higher", "Sin City", and "The One".^[4]


In 2013, Fauntleroy also made high-profile appearances on Drake's "Girls Love Beyonce", Nipsey Hussle's Crenshaw, Travis Scott's Owl Pharaoh, J. Cole's Born Sinner and Big Sean's Hall of Fame.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} He also contributed writing and additional vocals to New Kids on the Block's 10 (2013) and Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013).^[10] Fauntleroy also performed at the 2013 Soul Train Music Awards.^[11] On November 15, 2013, Timbaland released "Know Bout Me", the first single from his album Textbook Timbo featuring Fauntleroy, Drake and Jay-Z. However, Timbaland looks to have shelved the project for the time being, instead focusing on his new album Opera Noir.^[12][13] He also co-wrote every song on Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience (2013) and twelve further tracks on the follow-up The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 (2013).^[3][14]


In 2014, Fauntleroy won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for co-writing "Pusher Love Girl", for Justin Timberlake's highly successful third studio album The 20/20 Experience (2013).^[15]


In 2015, Fauntleroy wrote on 4 tracks on Rihanna's eighth studio album Anti and appeared on Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp a Butterfly, which was nominated for Album of the Year at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.^[16]


In 2016, Fauntleroy co-wrote 7 tracks on Bruno Mars' third studio album 24K Magic.