D-Block

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Yonkers bred rap lyricist Jadakiss is in a hurry. As he preps to drop his sophomore album, Kiss of Death the follow up to his near platinum debut Kiss Tha Game Goodbye, he has his thoughts firmly placed on the business of delivering his new album, with an eye towards the future. “This is the one right here. I know everybody says that, but I don’t plan on really doing this that much longer. I’m trying to go behind the scenes,” says Jadakiss.However, while his thoughts allude to calling it a career (doubtful), his actions speak to the contrary. The past year has found Jadakiss continually in rap listener’s ears via a slew of stand out, cameo verses. With rap fans notoriously impatient when artists have long hiatus between albums, the importance of a rapper staying on the radar between albums is essential. “No matter what budget is being opened or what’s going on in the office, you gotta keep your head above water in the street,” explains Jadakiss. “You always gotta find out what’s coming out, hop on the hot R&B song or a remix or even do a hot featuring with another rapper.”Whether it’s on mixtapes, appearing on The LOX brethren’s solo album or guest spots, the streets never have to hunt very far for the next scorching Jadakiss verse. The past year alone has found him riding shotgun and spitting alongside rap heavyweights that include Nas (“Made You Look (Remix)”), Jennifer Lopez (“Jenny from the Block”), Ghostface (“Run”) and Gang Starr (“Rite Where You Stand”). Besides the stand out verses, Jada also caught the acting bug appearing in the feature film Honey with Mekhi Phifer and Jessica Alba, the BET film Ryde or Die with Vivica Fox and Duane Martin as well as appearing on label mates hit TV show EVE (UPN).An exhaustive portfolio but it’s all old hat for Jadakiss, after all, he is a rap veteran in all definitions of the word. In the mid-nineties he was a member of the Bad Boy Records family with his group The LOX, formerly The Warlocks. When the relationship eventually soured, the grade school buddies Jadakiss (Jason Phillips), Styles (David Styles) and Sheek (Sean Jacobs), in a sense, returned home to become part of the Ruff Ryders Records family. Besides stellar contributions to three Ruff Ryders compilations, the group released an album We Are The Streets, as well as solo offerings from Jadakiss (Kiss Tha Game Goodbye) and Styles (A Gangster and a Gentleman). Now, the focus is another album from Jadakiss, which the streets have been screaming for. “If anybody ever followed my career, I was always categorized as one of the top spitters, my rough voice, and my delivery set me aside from everyone else. It just seemed like it was always something missing…But this time I’m going to make sure all the chips are in place.”Where Kiss Tha Game Goodbye was a critically acclaimed debut that confirmed Jada’s ability to hold down an album for self, Kiss of Death will further establish Kiss as one of the rap game’s elite lyricist. “I learned about trying different things,” is what Jadakiss says occurred between albums, besides the song cameos and acting gigs. “Champions make champions. You can’t be scared to try different songs. It ain’t all about just punchlines and all that now. Em, 50 and DMX, all these people, they switched it. They made the listeners really want to hear what you feel as an artist and as a person. They don’t want to hear a bunch of fantasizing and a bunch of lying.”Indeed, Kiss of Death is packed with enough variety to please die-hard Jadakiss fans and to invite newcomers to become acquainted with his sound as well. Jadakiss is no longer a brash emcee with far flung aspirations to Hip-Hop’s throne, but a savvy veteran with legit claims to the crown. Produced by Havoc (Mobb Deep) and featuring soul crooner Anthony Hamilton, the retrospective song and single, “Why” is the album’s most personal song. “It’s just asking why to a lot of things I think a lot of people all over the world might want to know,” says Jadakiss. “Kiss of Death” produced by Red Spyda is a verbal spitfest with Jada’s “.38 revolver flow” anchored by industrial sized bass, distorted low end and a quick paced drum track. “Written in the Stars” finds Jada tag teaming apocalyptic horns and gut quivering bass with his LOX co-d, Styles P. Throughout the album, almost every rhyme is to be analyzed for fear of missing the punch line, whether subtle or blatant as on the Scott Storch produced “Times Up” featuring Nate Dogg, where he spits, “Fuck riding the beat nigga, I parallel park on the track.” Meanwhile, production from both neophyte and established producers including The Neptunes, and Kanye West, raise the album’s temperature to the boiling point.Jadakiss has endured all the requisites for success in the rap game. He’s been through a bum record deal, released a solid debut album, is the star player of a team that keeps him on his toes and has support from a strong label home. “I persevered through all the eras, the B.I.G. era, the Nas, the Hov, all of them. I’m still here. People think I’m still hot. They still know I’m hot, so I put in enough work. I feel like it’s time. It’s more than time.”Indeed, at one point Jada has collaborated with each of the aforementioned Hip-Hop kings sans Tupac (but he did appear on the posthumous Tupac song “Homeboyz II”). It’s no longer a question of if but when Jadakiss will be canonized in the Hip-Hop history books as one of the all time greats. With arguably the hottest rapper in the game co-signing his pedigree (“I'm the hardest from New York, my flow is bonkers, All the other hard niggaz, they come from Yonkers”–50 Cent, Back Down) it seems that the industry, the streets are a no-brainer, is catching on to Jadakiss brand of concrete Hip-Hop. Ultimately, it’s the listeners that inspire Jada to continues, which makes his desire to move “behind the scenes” unlikely since he has much more music to create, for Hip-Hop’s sake.“I feel like I make therapy,” says Jadakiss. “People say incredible shit when they come up to me. ‘You don’t know how much I felt that like right there or you know…’ It’s therapy for the listeners. That’s the best part of the whole shit, touching the human soul.” Pucker up. Shame on you for ever underestimating Sheek. Shame on you for thinking that his membership in the LOX is all he had and all he'd ever be. After dropping two LOX albums, 1998's platinum debut Money, Power and Respect, and 2000's chart topping follow up We are the Streets, Sheek became a businessman. First, he bought a recording studio in his hometown of Yonkers, NY. The, he founded the record label D-Block with lifelong friends Jadakiss and Styles P. Sheek has been quietly focused. While Jadakiss and Styles were busy making guest appearances with everyone from Mary J. Blige to Jennifer Lopez, Sheek was planning and securing the foundation for what will undoubtedly become one of hip-hop's greatest classics, "D-Block." As the first artist signed to D-Block, Sheek's debut Walk Witt Me takes hip-hop kind of passionate power that could move entire coasts. After listening to Walk Witt Me you'll never sleep on Sheek again. In fact, you'll be excitedly waiting for the next 16 bar ride through his life. "This album is all me," says Sheek. "With the LOX, I have to write about the topic agreed on by all three of us. But on my album, I can get deep into it and let you understand me." So although you may've doubted Sheek, he never underestimated himself. Because the stellar work on Walk Witt Me is all about confidence and focus. "This is mental. All soul and very carefully thought out," he says. ..Run with it. And after people witness Walk Witt Me, they'll be running with Sheek for life. “I don’t think they’re going to expect what I’m coming with,” says Styles Peniro (David Styles) about his upcoming sophomore album, Time is Money. A member of the storied Yonkers, NY descended trio The LOX, it was a matter of time before each member would pursue their own solo projects. But where Styles, Jadakiss and Sheek differ from the status quo is that their impeccable solo projects match the standards set by their group efforts. As Styles P readies to drop his follow up 2002’s critically acclaimed A Gangster & A Gentleman, he’s confident in his abilities to not only continue his cliques’ reputation for banging Hip-Hop, but also cement his rep as one of the rap game’s illest lyricists.Styles met Sheek in junior high but it would be until they began attending Gordon High School that the trio would form The LOX. Though he didn’t graduate from Gordon-he did get his degree while in county jail-his mother, an educator, instilled him with an appreciation of knowledge. “My mom’s a reader. She’d bring me to the library and I’d be down in the kids section,” he remembers. “[To this day] I enjoy a good book.” The reformed drug dealer cites Kool G. Rap and KRS 1 as his main rap influences with heavy dosages of everyone from Big Daddy Kane and Ultramagnetic MCs to Lord Finesse and the Jungle Brothers. “I grew up a rap head. I was the cop every tape kid,” he says.His story after leaving the life of crime for a life of rhyme has now been told infinite times. The glossy sheen of The LOX’s days at Bad Boy Records (their 1998 album Money, Power, Respect went Gold) conflicted with their grimier rap aesthetic and ended with them demanding their freedom to slide over to Ruff Ryders Records. After another LOX album, We Are The Streets (2000), Jadakiss was the first to release a solo in 2001 (Kiss Tha Game Goodbye) and Styles followed with his own in 2002.“The first album did a lot better than I thought it would,” admits the MC also known as The Ghost about his Gold selling debut. “I had expectations of just making a good album. A Gangster & A Gentleman is definitely a classic in the hood.”Whether as part of the triple threat that is The LOX or as a solo artist, Styles’ razor sharp slick talk has enamored him to countless heads that like their Hip-Hop hard to the core. “I always looked at myself as one of the hardest, street spittin’ MCs,” he says.Braggadocious claims are inherently Hip-Hop but Styles has the skills to back his claims. But he does retain a level of humility and astuteness that will help further his career. “I can’t honestly say that I feel I’m the all around best as far as making good radio songs,” he rationalizes. “I wasn’t looking at the game on a business level, like I should have been. I was looking at it as an artist. This album I went in as a business person slash on my extra artist shit. Anybody that knows me or works with me will tell you that I put in a lot of work. That’s part of my reputation, good hard work all around.”That busy business schedule includes sharing Co-CEO of D-Block Records duties with Jadakiss and Sheek. He’s also raising his two kids-daughter Tai (10) and son Noah (6)-and is engaged to his girlfriend. On the artistic side of things he’s been just as busy with his guest appearance on Akon’s “Lock’d Up” and Jadakiss’ “Why Remix” keeping him on the mainstream radar. However, along with his own hit songs, including “Good Times” and “The Life” as well as burners with The LOX (“Money, Power, Respect”, and “Ryde or Die Chick”), the aforementioned songs didn’t take Styles to that next level of rap superstardom. This go around he’s prepping to do just that, but without forsaking his rap principles.“Last album I stood to my format, what I do,” he reasons. “This album I tried to get in everybody else’s lane but in a natural transition. It wasn’t forced. Nobody could ever force me to do a song before, like, ‘Yo, you gotta do this kind of song.’ I’d be like, Hell no I ain’t doing that. But this was a conscious decision like, Yo, I’ma go out there and on this album I’ma have songs for the ladies. Cause I done proven my point to niggas time and time again.”While he proved that he had the goods to hold an album down for self with A Gangster & A Gentleman, the album’s run was prematurely cut short. While in the midst of promoting the album, Styles was ordered to turn himself in and serve an eight month sentence for charges stemming from an altercation a year before. The involuntary vacation, he was released August 4, 2003, served as a serious wake up call to his priorities.“When I was sitting in jail I didn’t make any music. But the first two lines of “I’m Black”, I thought of that in jail and I just kept it in my head,” says Styles of the inception of what may be his most important song to date. “For the longest time I was telling myself I wanted to do a song about being Black. But I never did it. When I came out Alchemist played the beat, and that was it.”The magnificent track “I’m Black” featuring Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry is Time is Money’s lead single and finds Styles P lyrically offering a glimpse of what it’s like to be a Black man in an inherently racist world. Despite his propensity for gun busting lyricism, he’s always dropped a certain amount of knowledge in his verses. “I want to be known as the kid who’s saying some shit, and I hope that people catch the jewels,” he says. “Even when I’m coming hard, I always throw a jewel in it.”“I’m a lyricist,” he continues. “We’re in an industry where lyrics don’t really count anymore. The beat and the hook count. Nobody really cares what you say as long as they can play it in the club. But, at the same time they’re plenty of people that want to hear something.”Throughout Time is Money Styles continuously packs on the heat that makes it one of 2005’s most anticipated releases. Though those familiar with the mixtape circuit have been privy to scorching Styles linguistics regularly, the album showcases more refined verses and finely chiseled songs. On “How We Live” dancing flutes and strings converse over thunderous kicks as Styles weaves thoughtful lyrics throughout the Havoc (Mobb Deep) produced track. The Mario Winans produced “First in Line” sports an underwater groove with thick shuffling base. More gems are provided by Scott Storch (“Day You Die”), Coco Chanel (“Tryin’ to Get Rich Homes”) and Bink! (“Watch Ya Self”).“The standout experience I had in the studio with another artist was my joint with Sizzla, it was just magic in the room,” says Styles about teaming with the reggae legend on “Fire & Pain”. “The song with Talib Kweli, I knew that was going to be ill too,” he adds about “Testify”, where he teams with the Brooklyn rapper for some hardcore consciousness over Hi-Tek’s rubbery bass, where he kicks, “Damn right I make gangsta music, but I spit poetry just like Langston Hughes did.”With Time is Money Styles sidesteps any notions of a sophomore slump by instead accomplishing the impressive task of surpassing the high expectations set after his solid debut album. For Styles, it was always part of his job description. “I always try to improve and get better,” he says. “Once you get to a point where you don’t need to get better, then you don’t need to be here.”