jadakiss

Interest in rap

Jadakiss became a popular freestyler, engaging in competitions by the time he was twelve. He and some of his early friends were given the opportunity to compete in the Jack the Rapper Competition in Florida, where Jadakiss was noticed for his battle rap ability. He met Dee and Wah of the Ruff Ryders, then a management company, and began hanging out and battling outside of the Ruff Ryders' studio where artists like DMX made their first hits.

Early career

Kiss formed the rap group the Warlox in 1994 with friends Sheek Louch and Styles P. The trio signed to Bad Boy Entertainment later on, where it was suggested they change their name simply to the LOX, which came to stand for Living Off eXperience. They made their first appearance on The Main Source's 1994 LP "Fuck What You Think" on the track "Set it Off"

The group, especially Jadakiss, developed a close relationship with The Notorious B.I.G., during which time Jadakiss was taken under B.I.G.'s wing. Thus, after Biggie's shooting death, the group released their first multi-platinum hit in the tribute "We'll Always Love Big Poppa" (the B-side to Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You") in 1997. In 1998, the LOX released Money, Power, Respect, and Bitches. Following this album, they left Bad Boy Records.

Albums

Jada's debut solo album, Kiss the Game Goodbye, was released in August of 2001 under the Ruff Ryders/Interscope label. The album featured popular guests and producers such as Snoop Dogg and Swizz Beatz, but was written off as repetitive and uninspired.

His second album, Kiss of Death, was released in June of 2004. Before the release, Kiss asked advice of his fans in the form a poll; most claimed the rapper wasn't personal enough in his lyrical stylings, and he released a single with the purpose of bearing his inner thoughts. The song, "Why?", became one of the biggest hits of that year, spawning a remix featuring Styles P, Common, Nas, and Anthony Hamilton.

Kiss of Death did not reflect the popularity of its lead single, and though it was better-received than his first effort, did not see excessive sales. His next album, supposedly titled Kiss My Ass, is rumored to be coming out later this year.^{citation needed]}

Controversy

Bill O'Reilly

Jadakiss attracted some controversy and condemnation from well-known commentator Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly labeled him a "smear merchant" due to the song "Why?", specifically lyrics stating Jada's belief that George W. Bush coordinated the September 11, 2001 attacks. O'Reilly took the position that the President should be allowed to sue Jadakiss for slander. The track was eventually banned on some radio stations or played, with the lyrics in question censored. ^[1]

In 2005, the song was remixed with Immortal Technique and DJ Green Lantern's "Bin Laden".

Beanie Sigel and Jay-Z

In the early 2000s, Jadakiss was drawn into a beef with Roc-a-Fella Records artist Beanie Sigel when he made comments about artists from Sigel's hometown of Philadelphia. "Beans", as many refer to him, took exception to this and the two began trading disses, even getting the rest of the LOX and Jay-Z involved.

Eventually, Jay-Z apologized to Jada and backed out of the beef; Russell Simmons created an enforced truce between the two artists, which was broken when Sigel started contesting that he won the beef. Kiss dissed back, and the beef was back on until Sigel released "Put Ya Hands Up", after which disses finally stopped. Shortly before Beans went to jail, he and Kiss made up definitively, performing together at a show; after his release from jail, the two did a remix of a Sheek Louch song and appeared on a track on DJ Khaled's album.

Ras Kass

When Ras Kass was recording his album Van Gogh, he enlisted the help of infamous hip-hop producer The Alchemist. Ras Kass recorded the song "Home Sweet Home," produced by The Alchemist. However, when Jadakiss began recording Kiss Tha Game Goodbye, the Alchemist sold Jadakiss the same beat that Ras Kass had already used to record his single, "Home Sweet Home." Priority Records, Ras Kass' then record label, failed to act on this conflict and Jadakiss was able to release the Kiss Tha Game Goodbye album. Ras Kass was bitter about being double-crossed by the Alchemist, and released a few diss tracks, but the conflict was soon squashed.

P. Diddy

When they left Bad Boy Records, the group's and each of its members' publication was still owned by label head P. Diddy. The group fought with him over royalties, debt issues and other things until 2005 when they briefly put their differences aside to perform with Jay-Z at his I Declare War concert. Afterward, they went on New York radio station Hot 97 to plead for their publication, which was given to them by Diddy.

G-Unit

In 2005, Jada was featured on a song by rapper Ja Rule called "New York", along with fellow New York rapper Fat Joe. Shortly after, 50 Cent - an enemy of Ja Rule - began to diss both of them. Jada retaliated, and the beef has expanded to include all of D-Block and G-Unit. 50 Cent mocked Jadakiss in the music video for his song "Piggy Bank", suggesting that Jadakiss resembles a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Soon after, Jadakiss released the song "Checkmate", a song using the same beat that 50 Cent used on the song "I'm An Animal". 50 Cent then replied with the song "I Run New York" featuring Tony Yayo. After this, Jadakiss and fellow L.O.X. member Styles P released the song "I'm Sorry Ms. Jackson", (using Outkast's original "Ms. Jackson" beat) which is a play on 50 Cent's government name, Curtis Jackson. Jadakiss has also made mention of 50 Cent in subsequent songs, which has convinced fellow G-Unit member, Lloyd Banks, to release the diss song "Death Wish" on his upcoming album "Rotten Apple". After a year or so since the feud between 50 Cent and Jadakiss began, it is still continuing. Jadakiss's Beef with 50 Cent is also mentioned on the diss song "MC Burial" (Don't Body Ya'self) by veteran rapper Nas

On April 6, 2006, a song called "Shots Fired" which was originally meant for release on Time is Money was leaked on to the internet. The song features Jadakiss and Styles P rapping back and forth and is a diss song against 50 Cent and G-Unit. It is rumored that the song will not be featured on Time is Money because of the attacks on Interscope labelmates G-Unit.

Technique

Jadakiss has been known most for his gritty subject matter, such as selling drugs and robbing, much like that of the Notorious B.I.G. He also is known for his ongoing tendency to draw similarities between the color of his vehicles and random objects, such as dandruff ("Made You Look" remix), pink lemonade ("Sexy"), pecans ("Why"), hot sauce ("Hot Sauce To Go"), Pepsi Blue ("Time's Up"), eggnog ("Carry Your Casket"), milk ("Calmate (Calm Down)") and Heineken beer bottles ("Bring You Down"). He gained acclaim early on with his propensity for punchlines with a two-bar setup line and delivery line structure, and usually involves a three-syllable rhyme scheme wherein only three syllables of a line will rhyme with three syllables of the next one (usually the end syllables):

Yo, If I miss your head and your neck, I'll hurt your chest

if you from the streets betrayal is worse than death

and I'm known for gettin money, not known for wildin

but I'm real I could rock both phones in the island

Jadakiss has a distinctive, raspy voice that he exhibits with a trademark cough-laugh "Ahaah!" sound at the beginning of his verses.

Discography

Solo

Though he has never been able to hit platinum, he's come notably close with "Kiss Tha Game Goodbye", selling roughly 900,000 copies

• 2001: Kiss Tha Game Goodbye Certified Gold
• 2004: Kiss Of Death Certified Platinum
• 2007: Kiss My Ass

The Lox

• 1998: Money, Power & Respect Certified Platinum
• 2000: We Are The Streets Certified Gold

Remixes

• "Bin Laden" with Immortal Technique and DJ Green Lantern

See also

• List of hip hop musicians
• D-Block (hip hop)

References

1. ^ [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] videoYouTube

External links

• Jadakiss Official Site
• Jadakiss Lyrics