Jae-Killa

Mississippi Gulf Coast musical sensation Jae-Killa is a man of many faces. After being caught on the other side of the law two times in a row, serving four years in the United States Army and helping to form one of the most rapidly rising rap labels in the region Renegade Records, this 24-year-old hard-nosed rap hustler has lived far more than his barely legal age suggests. He reveals every side to his multi-dimensional personality with poetic ghetto prose on his street-approved mix tape Go Hard Or Go Home, which he released last year just months before Hurricane Katrina touched down.
Neither the 175 mile-per-hour wind gusts nor catastrophic twisters that left miles of land in ruin or tons of waters that swallowed parts of his home could stop the reign of Jae. Letting nothing hold him down, Jae returns to the booth to deliver another menacing musical murder spree Stackin Chips. And just because his seething lead single “Gangsta Gangsta” has been Down South streets with his gritty, gut-wrenching vocals and trunk rattling production, don’t think that all Jae can do is buss heads.
“I don’t consider myself just a street cat. I’m not one dimensional. I done did my thing in the streets,” Jae contends. “I can get fly; I can be a pretty boy, jump in the club and talk to women. I can be smart and do schoolwork with smart dudes. I can talk business with business types. I feel like I’m a bunch of people in one. And that’s what my CD represents.”
Born in the sleepy community of Bradenton, Fla., Jae moved to Gulfport, MS with his family when he was only 11 years old. The family settled in the Orange Grove section of the Crooked Letta State’s second largest city. It was during this same time that Jae began rapping. As fate would have it, so did one of his closest homeboys, now label mate Fugitive. Instantly, the two teamed up and started a movement that would last over the next decade.
Their biggest problems, though, for getting their dreams off the ground were finances. Studio time, equipment and promotional materials all cost money- more money than either of them had between the two. So to get his chips up, Jae started selling dime bags of weed. His hustle came to an end, however, when he was caught with an ounce and a half of individually bagged ganja.
“I caught two charges for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute,” he remembers. “I got caught the first time, got out on bail and got caught again for the same thing about a week later.”
Keeping himself from a cold, draft jail cell, Jae joined the army as part of his probation. But while Uncle Sam owned his body for the time being, rap music owned his heart. So as soon as he was handed his discharge papers in 2003, he headed home in search of his childhood rhyme partner Fugitive.
“I met (label CEO) Tyme and told him I was looking for my homeboy Fugitive,” Jae recalls. “He said ‘that’s my homeboy too. I already rap with him.’ So we all cliqued up like that.”
Since their reuniting, they have made quite a name for themselves- opening up for the likes of multi-platinum artist TI, underground king Webbie, Lil Boosie and ATL duo Youngbloodz. And they have had their region on lock with local classics like the braggadocios “It’s Like That.” Atop a shrill horn section, mesmerizing chimes and bottomless bass drops, Jae visually describes his big body toy sitting high on 23-inch rims.
Over hypnotizing synths and playful keyboard chords, Jae explains why money is his mission on the stark, mid-tempo riding track “Str8 Drop.” And Jae invites you to his world on the graphically stark “What I See.”
Perfectly balanced with just enough uncut dope for the hood and soft enough for the suburbs, Jae-Killa’s addictive rap verses are strong enough to have us all strung out on his potent hip hop prose of Stackin Chips.
“It represents the streets. It represents being a player. It represents going to school. It represents all aspects of life,” says Jae about his album. “It’s got songs about your girl cheating on you. It got songs about you hitting the block. It got songs about somebody talking shit to you. It got songs about the facts of life.” Preach on.