Noa James, formally known as Blackjack, was born in Southside Jamaica Queens, New York; he had the typical life style of a young male living in poverty. As a teenager, he moved to Pasadena CA, while there he started getting into battles and ciphas, that’s when he realized that he had a way with words and loved being on the mic. From there he moved to San Bernardino CA in his late teens, while still trying to perfect his craft he linked up with a group called Mob Family, which consist of five rappers and a singer. After being with the group for a year or two he decided that Mob Family wasn’t the group for him. While working, he met another Emcee who was in a group called H.T.O (Hostile Take Over,) which consisted of a lot of Emcee’s. When the opportunity arose for him to join the group he accepted their offer. He was with H.T.O for a year before he decided that being a solo artist was the better career path for him. He then hooked up with local producers, started dropping mixtapes, and did talent shows for local radio stations and schools.
To get his name established in the I.E. he started pushing out mixtapes and performing at well known clubs. His first performance gig was at Euphoria nightclub in 2003; he performed every Wednesday for a month. In early 2004, he dropped his first mixtape entitled, Human Crack in the Flesh , around that same time he performed at Hall of Fame in Colton. In late 2004, he dropped his second mixtape entitled, Adventures of Blackjack , around that same time he performed at Incahoots in Riverside. Both mixtapes combined sold a total of 3,000 copies. In 2005, he performed at The Ville in Riverside twice. One of the biggest performances of his career came in the summer of 2006. It was an anti-murder campaign called Spit Fest which was held in Los Angeles CA at Leimert Park; there were about ten performers and thousands of supporters.
While at More Fire Mondays at Sevilla’s, he got a hold of a flyer promoting a local stop that held open mic and open floor for Emcees and B-Boys. It was Foundations Funkollective at Back to the Grind Café in Riverside. That’s where he met a well known DJ named Ad Seg. After going to Foundations a couple of times, he found out that Ad Seg was also a well known producer. After Noa listened to Ad Segs mixtape, and after Ad Seg heard Noa spit, they decided they’d be a good duo for the Hip Hop community. As a duo, wherever Ad Seg spun, Noa hosted. Some of their past gigs have been Jamrock Thursdays at Incahoots in Riverside CA, V20 in Long Beach CA and Club Addicts every Friday in Riverside CA.Currently they are doing Building Blocks every Sunday at Club Lyric in San Bernardino CA.
Now Noa James is solo and has linked up with UNEEK RECORDS and is working with other local artist in the IE and LA area. There's more to come from Noa James Stay tuned and check out www.Noa James.com
