Z Saj
Z Saj (pronounced Z Sage) – she/they – aka Jasmine Martin is a recording artist, songwriter, visionary, educator, leader, and advocate for social justice. Hailing from the Westside of Chicago, she was born at St. Luke’s Hospital, now Rush Presbyterian Hospital. She grew up in a close-knit family, raised in a single-family household with her mother, a schoolteacher, and her older sister in the East Garfield neighborhood.
Z Saj attended Morton Career Academy (Morton School of Excellence) for kindergarten but got into so many fights her mother decided to send her to Polaris Charter Academy, where she excelled. However, not happy with the curriculum, her mother enrolled her back into Morton where she finished her elementary school years. She was a good student and athlete, playing basketball and volleyball, but would still get into trouble on occasion for talking too much; having finished her assigned work she would become distracted and start to tell jokes that led to detentions and suspensions.
Z Saj’s love for entertainment and music began at an early age when she took part in her church’s children’s choir and was a Praise dancer. She even acted in grade school, where she was cast in Romeo and Juliet, playing the part of Balthazar (Romeo’s cousin), and in the Wiz where she was cast to play Aunt Em and Evilene. She also garnered inspiration from aunts “The Franklin Sisters” who sang gospel, and an uncle who rapped for a short while. Her love for music was also fueled by the music she listened to growing up such as T.I., Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Tierra Marie, Ray J, Ciara, and Beyoncé. In fact, Z Saj states that she was mostly inspired by the rappers, but emotionally connected with the singers.
A graduated of Whitney Young Magnet High School, where Z Saj began her advocacy for social justice and peaceful protest, where she led a gun violence protest and walk out. Z Saj went on to attend Clark Atlanta University for one year, where she studied Business Administration, before being sent home due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It was at this time that she began to take music seriously, and due to the lockdown and confined indoors, she was inspired to record “Stir Cray.” And after being a part of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests, she recorded her first mixtape “RiOT 1”
Life happens, and Z Saj started battling mental health and alcohol abuse, which she overcame with therapy and self-belief. This was brought on due to the loss of her grandfather from illness, a close friend being killed from gun violence, and a flare up of Hidradenitis Suppurativa, a painful and inflammatory skin condition she has experienced from childhood. Z Saj turned to her creativity and dropped “Insoluble” in 2020, and then started a social media promotion she called “#31daysofSaj”, which was thirty-one days of fan selected remixes on Instagram. In 2022, Z Saj would receive the LGBTQ+ emerging artist award from Music Forward Foundation. The accolade from Music Forward provided validation and a connection to Music to Life, where she became a Juried artist. Music to Life provides training, mentorship and monetary support to socially conscious musicians and educators.
In 2023, Z Saj musical career continued to shine, she released the notable “Double Goddess” EP and was able to perform at Lollapalooza as a finalist in the Teens in the Park Fest through the John Walt Foundation. Z Saj also performed at Joes Pub in New York. In November of 2023, she started her entertainment company, The Missing Piece Ent., to legitimize her artist development program, while she collaborated with other emerging artists. In 2024, Z. Saj received an invitation to open for Siena Liggins and Daisha McBride for the Floozy Tour at Schubas Tavern in Chicago.
Z Saj, who currently works has a video editor at True Star Media, also taught a music production course at Barton Elementary school for the nonprofit Lead with Love, an organization that combats social injustices youth face, relating to mental health, physical health, and education. She was also a community member with Healthy Hood, a community based, non-profit organization that is partnered with the Youth Health Service Corps. Z. Saj also taught a summer program at Northwestern University as a regular guest for composing digital music.
Z Saj currently has several projects in the works, she is dropping the “Riot 2.3” mixtape, June 2024, and a collaboration with rapper DLow better known as iAmDLOW this summer, entitled “Where Was You?”. She also expects to release the “Double Goddess Deluxe” the album version of the Ep by the same name in the fall of 2024.
For more information, interviews and bookings visit: www.zsaj.org – or follow her on social media via https://www.instagram.com/zsaj_/ https://www.tiktok.com/@thezsaj and https://www.facebook.com/TheZSaj/