THA JACKA OF ALL TRADES
Words by Maurice G. Garland
It’s been a long time since the Bay had an artist who put out an album that could appeal to everyone. With his latest album, Tear Gas, Tha Jacka made every attempt, phone call and song that he could to let the world know an artist from the Bay can reach past the Mountain Time Zone. So far the album has been lauded as both a great piece of work and a blatant effort to get more fans. As he sat at an airport waiting to catch a flight to Portland, Oregon for a show, Tha Jacka spoke with us about the inspiration and actions behind Tear Gas, his Muslim faith and the reason major labels are afraid to sign independent Bay Area artists. Now that the album is out, what kind of feedback have you been getting? The first response is that the people loved it, but then after that people didn’t know what they were listening to. After weeks went past I started getting a lot of great responses. People have been telling me it’s really quality material. I didn’t get any real input at first when it came out, but now after it’s been out for a while people are speaking up. As good as people are saying the album is, some are saying that the only flaw is that you have too many features. Do you still feel comfortable with your decision to go that route? Yeah, and it’s an independent album and it did real good, that what makes it special. So I think it was a good decision. The people I got on there, most people do a radio song with them. But I let them do what they felt like doing. We gotta do what we feel sometimes. It’s about making good music. I think people appreciated that. Your first single “All On Me” isn’t something that people would expect from you, based off your past catalog. What went into your decision to make that song? When I did that song, I ain’t know it was gonna be on the album. I did that just to promote me or what I had out at the time. I didn’t expect it to make the album. It wasn’t a song for Tear Gas off top. Yeah, that song seemed to be on the other end of the spectrum of the message your album cover and art puts out. The images were very alarming. Why did you choose to go that direction? At the time we did that, even now, there was like a war between the police and the minorities. It was like the youth against the police. Out here in the Bay Area when the police mistreat someone, we really go out and protest, we really go hard. The Oscar Grant situation might have triggered all of that. Then someone in Oakland knocked down five police officers, that’s what the inside cover was taken from. We’re just tired of this shit, we’re not going out like that. When something happens, we’re going to riot for what’s right. We’re used to this out here. And the reason why I’m on the cover with nothing on my face is that I’m saying I’m immune to the gas. I don’t need a mask. Rioting, activism, independence, and survival are all things that come to mind when you think of people from Oakland. All the way from the Black Panther Party up to the Too $horts and E-40s. Do you think such strong traits are what has kept the Bay from getting back on the radar of major companies and labels? Yeah, I think it’s kind of scary to some labels to have artists like “us.” A lot of us are independent, and you gotta do whatever it takes to get your album out, if you know what I mean. So yeah, it scares them away sometimes. We don’t have a major label here [in the Bay] but people love the music. They don’t mind that it’s independent. But I can see why labels don’t rush to do something with Bay artists. It’s been said that wanting to stay so close to home cripples some Bay Area artists and the movement in general. Do you agree? What is your approach? I like going out. I think it’s better going out. An artist like myself, my music doesn’t even appeal to the Bay sometimes. I don’t get the majority of my sales from the Bay. I prefer to be gone and getting known and building relationships, following the footsteps E-40, Too $hort and C-Bo laid out for
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us. They go to Detroit, Denver, Oklahoma City, Kansas City. We’re trying to piggyback off that. We hit Arizona, the whole West Coast and the Midwest. But we don’t go to the South a lot. I know C-Bo used to go to the South all the time and that’s why he had a fanbase there. But the South has come up and [created] their own identity and they’ve been supporting their own. You gotta let them do their thing. You can’t force feed niggas your music. When you get something they like, cool. That’s why I did the song with Devin the Dude and Paul Wall. Throughout your music, you make it known that you are Muslim. Some may find that hard to swallow, given some of the material that you rap about. Well, I talk about that to wake the youth up, or people that don’t have a faith. We were all raised in the church, except for the people who missed out because of the crack era. I talk about my faith because it’s more than just rap now. I do get a lot of compliments for adding that into my music. Some people have even told me they’ve become Muslim from listening to my music. I don’t even hit them with the bars as much as I want to. Sometimes I want to do more of that. I don’t just want to leave my listeners out there lost. I remember Beanie Sigel told me one time, “You don’t want to be Haram,” which pretty much means “bad” in Islam. You want your music to leave a good legacy. Your fellow Mob Figa Husalah is out of prison now. I’m sure a lot of people want to know if they will be getting some more Mob Figaz music. We’re working on that right now. Hus got a new single out. It’s a good start to getting us back together, because the people really want it. I want things to get to back to how they were, but he can only get out 2 hours a day and he’s got a family. We’ve all got kids now. It sucks that we can’t be around him the way we want to. Just getting caught up in the lifestyle, it messes me up a little bit. But I’m happy that we at least have him home now. //