Words // Todd Davis
B
orn and bred in San Diego, California, rapper Jayo Felony is no stranger to the music industry. Discovered by the late, legendary DJ/producer Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC fame, Jayo, who has known ties to the notorious Neighborhood Rollin’ 40’s Crip street gang, made his much heralded musical debut on his 1995 JMJ/Def Jam Records’ distributed LP Take a Ride. In ’98, his stellar, more poignant sophomore project Watcha Gonna Do? hit record stores to massive fanfare, and Jayo’s bright future in Hip Hop seemed only inevitable. Or, so it was thought… Fast forward nearly ten years later and Jayo has quietly released a pair of mediocre selling albums. However, his heavily anticipated return finds him in rare form, sounding better than ever and more than ready to do what he does best. Musically, it has been quite awhile since we last from you. Where have you been and what exactly have you been up to since the release of your last CD Crip Hop in 2001? I’ve just been chilling and getting off into something else, which is directing these films that I’m about to start doing. I’m getting ready for my new projects and the new album called Don’t Get Meatballed. I always kept working and staying away from the suckas, man. I revamped my plan and got the right people behind me ‘cause I knew it was like riding a bike with this rapping. I wasn’t gonna do nothing but get better, so I’m back to show ‘em what it do.
Y’all Oppressors, so it’s more to me than just about people thinking I’m a gangbanger and all that shit. I’m bringing it back to the table. I’m bringing Crips [and] Bloods together. I’m coming with Esse’s and whites, homie. It’s all about getting this bread and one nation under God. Earlier this year we saw the release of Criminal Intent, a collaboration project with both you and Spice 1, which to my understanding wasn’t even supposed to be available to the public. Do you care to explain that whole mishap? Me and my boy Spice were just fuckin’ around in the studio and somebody had got in the studio and stole the material, and then they put some other tracks under the material. We never recorded those tracks on those beats. So, somebody just went in there and did some fugazi shit and tried to throw it out to the public. I didn’t want the public to be mislead, thinking that me and Spice 1 just threw some bullshit out there. Me and Spice 1 don’t play like that. If we were gonna come with a project, it’d be hot, believe that. What has been the ultimate key to your longevity? Man, I’m [gonna] tell you the truth, homie, on some real shit, I feel like my rap skills have got me this far and if I didn’t rap the way I did, I wouldn’t be here today. So, I just thank God for blessing me with the talent, and to deal with the best of ‘em and to compete with the best of ‘em, but now I’m just having fun. I’m just doing me. What I’ve changed in my life and in my career is that I’m fighting for my people and I’m on that good side. I’m on that hood side. I’m on that left side, and I’m fighting for what’s hood. And, I’m on the right side, homey, so I’m gonna fight for the good. That’s what I’m about right now.
Tell me a little about the films you’re working on. Right now we’re working on some short films. I’m actually doing a short film for my new project called Don’t Get Meatballed that’s gonna be inside [the CD]. The first 300,000 people that get this album [will also] get this movie that ain’t gonna be available nowhere else. We’re just starting to do things different than how they do it in the industry. I’m directing my new videos from my new album, as well as [filming] documentaries and things like that. Once I get crackin’ with that, then we’re gonna hit ‘em in the head with these feature films.
Everyone either knows you already, or will become familiar with you for and through your music, but what would you want these people to know about Jayo Felony that they won’t get from listening to your records? I’m representing for my people. Just like C.R.I.P. stand for Community Revolution and Progress, J.A.Y.O. stands for Justice Against Y’all Oppressors, understand me? So, that’s what I’m pushing -I fight for that good.
So you’ll be both in front and behind the camera as well? Yes, yes. This is my passion. I mean, this is making my career all the way 360 [degrees] a whole full circle of what Jayo Felony is about. It’s actually bringing my vision to life of how I want to be perceived, and how I want people to understand what I’m doing. I’m bringing my vision to life as well as bringing my music back to the game, so it’s gonna be fun, man.
What would these same people find you doing in your spare time, completely away from music? I be ballin’ you up on that basketball court, man, you already know, baby! Or, hitting you up on that Madden or that boxing, you know I like that PlayStation. I like the boxing. I like the year 2004 Fight Night, that’s the one I play ‘cause that’s the realist one they made.
What prompted your decision to title the new album Don’t Get Meatballed? It’s basically a positive message because I talk about how people are quick to pick up a gun, but they’re scared to take it from the shoulders. A lot of good people would still be around if people weren’t scared to take an ass whooping, so it’s basically a positive message about how if people were more in tuned of taking it from the shoulders, then you could live to tell about it instead of being so quick to pick up a gun and take another person’s life.
As for the immediate future what’s next for Jayo Felony? I got my new mixtape out right now called, Too The Nec: Time Is Bread. That’s the first mix-tape that I put out and my dawg [DJ Nik Bean] put it out for me. I just wanted to get that out there for my fans. My new album is coming out beginning of the year, but my new single called “Dancin’” will be out for the holiday season.
How do you feel that this project either differs and/or compares to other Jayo Felony records? I’m just a little bit more humble and I’m more mature than I was back then. I still rap about some of the same stuff because it’s just some clever stuff, man. I mean, I ain’t tootin’ my own horn, but I know I be coming with some clever shit, man. But, I just matured, and I just built up a bigger purpose than just me talking about how dope of a rapper I am and all this shit. I feel I’m fighting for the struggle of my people now, and I want people to know that I’m on a whole ‘nother level. J.A.Y.O. stands for Justice Against 12 // OZONE WEST
There have been talks for quite some time now about that superstar collective, The Riflemen, consisting of you, Kurupt, Prodigy from Mobb Deep and 40 Glocc. What’s up with it? Is it on the backburner for now or will it eventually see the light of day? It ain’t nothing put to the backburner that I do, man. I don’t give a fuck if I have to put every nigga in that group in a headlock to do this album, it’s gonna happen. Believe that! I’ll guarantee you that. I promise you, you guys [are] gonna get this Riflemen album. We all pushin’ it - me, Kurupt, Prodigy and 40. We finna to be shittin’ on ‘em in a minute. It’s definitely gonna happen. //