The Brooklyn born Emcee/Producer/Promoter has championed the essence of The Culture for the better part of a decade -- through his initial group, The Project, and ancillary crew, The New Rap Order -- crafting and promoting an eclectic range of Hip Hop music that's equally as harmonic and progressive as it is lyrical and quintessential.
Now, with his latest group, The Antidote, Jah C readies the release of his next EP, The Life, on Soulspazm Records on 10/26/10. Lead single, "Summer Love", featuring vocals by Jaison Spain, is available now for free download, just in time for Labor Day weekend.
"'Summer Love" is about capturing a moment in time filled with joy, discovery and romance. In keeping with the theme of the work it comes from, "The Life", it is autobiographical but intended to be a healing force, something for people to relate to, something for people to enjoy in life."
Individual searches on of each MMJB member kicks back numerous interviews and bloggy paragraphs accompanying re-posted download links, some of which contain brief mentions of projects in progress (most notably this Okayplayer.com interview).
But considering the up-to-the-second nature of the internet and the shmillions of rap blogs littering cyberspace, one would expect a squad consisting of Black Thought, Dice Raw, Truck North, P.O.R.N. and newest member, Philly by way of Atlanta lyricist, STS (Sugar Tongue Slim), would have mad detailed content available at the speed of a right click.
What’s the deal? Are they that new?
The short answer: yes and no.
Hip-Hop Nation is uber familiar with lead Emcee of The Legendary Roots Crew, Black Thought, and to a lesser extent (through several features on Roots albums dating back to the band’s sophomore offering Do You Want More?) Dice Raw. Truck North grew up with (Roots keyboardist) Kamal, so he was always around the hoop, which led to his work on Tipping Point, Game Theory, and Rising Down, along with his own solo projects. P.O.R.N. appeared on “I Will Not Apologize”, “Singing Man” and (arguably the nicest verse on) “I Can’t Help It” on Rising Down. And STS is best known for his Demand More 1 and 2 mixtape series.
Individually, they each have more than respectable rap resumes.
Collectively, not much is available. Not even a Wikipedia article.
Here’s the crux of their most widely available bio: The Money Making Jam Boys announced it’s formation in November 2007, and the group’s most known project (The Antidote) debuted in late 2008.
But it wasn’t until Allhiphop.com caught video coverage of Black Thought, Dice Raw, Truck North, and P.O.R.N. kicking specifics during the 2010 Roots Picnic that a deeper depth of group history and artistic direction was captured for mass consumption.
Black Thought and P.O.R.N. break down MMJB down like this:
“The Jams Boys is just a working team that’s usually featured on Roots records. It’s the same artists that we normally work with — P.O.R.N. and Dice Raw and Truck North, people like Peddi Crack, my man STS who just started working with us. But it’s the same guys that we usually rock with, just in a different capacity. Lighter hearted, more old school Hip-Hop type stuff” — Black Thought, Allhiphop.com
“It’s more like, The Roots is so heavy in the content that they discuss that we wanted to do something that is a little more light and for everybody and straight basement and Hip-Hop and bring some of that old ’86 back. So here we are…Money Making Jam Boys.” — P.O.R.N.
Okay. Sounds cool.
But things get interesting when Dice Raw and Truck North explain the history of the name, Money Making Jam Boys:
“You know, Truck [North] got down with us recently over the last few years. Me and Tariq always been rapping with each other but it’s just been like kinda for The Roots albums. So it’s been more heavily conscious…So we wanted to put something together where we can just have fun. Truck said “‘Yo, we should come up with the name ‘The Money Making Jam Boys.’” And I was like ‘Yo, I kinda like that!’ So we just ran with it” — Dice Raw
Money Making Jam Boys? (takes pull from obligatory Black-N-Mild while digging into mental Hip-Hop Google Doc, trying to figure out why that name sounds familiar.)
“The rival crew to N.W.H. (N***** With Hats) was The Jam Boys. At some point during the movie, I don’t know what happened, but somebody went on before The Jam Boys, and they wasn’t having it…” — Truck North
Did he just say N***** With Hats? Like, from the 1994 Hip-Hop spoof, Fear Of A Black Hat??? The arguably most hilarious Hip-Hop spoof (barely beating out CB4 and 4082 slots in front of Malibu’s Most Wanted) in history????
Finally, an odd factoid interesting enough to shamelessly pimp into a column topic. I love my job.
And with that, here’s The Company Man’s Top 4 Reasons Why The Money Making Jam Boys Are His Second Most Anticipated Performance Of The 2010 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival (using quotes from the most hilarious Hip-Hop spoof of all time, Fear Of A Black Hat)
Its been quite a journey for The Greatest Rapper That Never Made it.
The journey continues for Jah C, the mind behind the increasingly popular Forever Fresh concert series.
Canibus came into the game with Nas-like buzz, blitzkrieg-ing mixtapes and battle cyphers in the mid to late nineties like a German offensive — terrorizing would be lyrical foes metaphor after metaphor. Had his fortunes been different, had he never brazenly blasted LL Cool J on the infamous diss track “Second Round KO” or teamed up with Wyclef to drop one of the most disappointing debut albums in Hip Hop history (Can-I-Bus), perhaps his legacy would be more substantial. Perhaps we would remember him less for his untapped promise, and more for those 7 other — rather obscure — albums he dropped over the course of the last decade.
Frontman for Underground jam band The Antidote, Jah C has financed, organized, and promoted Forever Fresh, a steadily growing, consistently reliable Brooklyn based Hip Hop concert series. Since 2008 he’s hosted legends like KRS-ONE, Nice & Smooth, Talib Kweli, Styles P, to popular under the radar rappers like R.A. The Rugged Man, AG & OC, to rising stars such as Homeboy Sandman, Wordspit, YC The Cynic. Had his fortunes been different, had Forever Fresh been less successful and not opened additional doors to more conflicting responsibilities brand managing events for Red Bull, perhaps he would be able to continue crafting and adding to the Forever Fresh legacy.
This past Monday, Canibus headlined the Forever Fresh Finale, the concert series’ final throw down.
