I found this at thickonline.com. Sorry if this have been posted before, if so delete the thread.
Link:http://www.thickonline.com/interviews/index.php?mod=cnt&act=cnt&id=399
The Jacka
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Thick: When did you move to the Bay Area?
Jacka: Well, I'm originally from the Bay, from Pittsburgh, California. Really my family came to the Bay back in the day. My family they from Phoenix, Arizona. My pops is from L.A. and I was actually born in Phoenix but then when I was like four years-old I had moved to Oakland and I had stayed in Oakland until I was about thirteen, and then I moved to Pittsburgh and that's when I started getting into all kind of different little things. I'm from the Bay Area really, nowhere really else. I been a lot of different places but the Bay is where my home is at.
T: Okay, I had mistaken Pittsburgh for being the other Pittsburgh (laughs). How did you get into rapping and how did the Mob Figaz get together?
J: For real, when I first moved to Pittsburgh, really before that, my Uncle lived in Pittsburgh. I lived in Richmond, California at the time. I used to come to Pittsburgh on the weekends 'cause Richmond is a real tough. It's like the number one...right now it's in a state of emergency in Richmond. There's a lot of murders and stuff that go on out there. It's like the craziest city in the Bay Area. It's small and it's hella crazy. It's crazier than Oakland and it's crazier than Frisco. I loved comin' to Pittsburgh 'cause I didn't know nothing about it. It was like a new place to me and new faces, new people and it seemed like it was easy. An easier life to live. I used to just come out here and chill and shit. Finally my mom had moved out here but I had already had some friends from coming out here on the weekends. It was Rob, Ridah and Hussalah in my group but we wasn't a group yet. Rob, when he was a young dude his pops bought him a keyboard and a four-track, we was just going to his house. We used to just record songs on that. We started doing it, I was probably about twelve years-old when I met him and as soon as I met him we instantly hooked up 'cause he made beats and I rapped. He had a group, him and Husslah was a group. We'd just go over to his house and spend the weekend, and just make a lot of songs. Over the years the songs would get into the streets and people started liking them more than the songs they was going to go buy from the record store. We started taking it a lot more serious and just trying to be the best. As we got a little older, we were still in highschool, we had ran across C-Bo. We had run across his crew, the AWOL cats and he was in the penitentiary at the time. One of his boys, 151 had heard one of our tapes and he came and brought the whole AWOL faculty out there to meet up with us and listen to the music; throw a little party at this record store just for us. They did that, it was all good, they loved it. They told us C-Bo starting his own label, so when he get out he gonna want to see ya'll. So, the next week we met back up and he kidnapped us. From there it was on. That was like in '98, we was all still in highschool and shit. Next thing you know, we were like, fuck school and started rapping. Started taking that 100%. At the same time, I felt like to this day that it was a big mistake but we was all young at the time. C-Bo was probably like 22 or 23 at the time, when he got with us. He didn't know no better, he was young. So, we didn't realise that we could do the same things that we was doing and still go to school and everything. So, we just chalked that and decided to live this lifestyle. We got to take advantage of every opportunity that we get right now because really we gave up everything for it. That's how the Mob Figaz got together.
T: You still wanted to get your diploma?
J: I mean, that was a thing that I had wanted but it was already too late because I had already been out of school for a couple years when I had really started thinking about it. By then I was supposed to be in probably about the 12th grade or something and I was just like, fuck it man. By the time I turned 18, we already had an album out. So, I didn't even care, I was just like, forget it. Right now, I still don't care. I'm just saying that it's not a good idea. I don't want to put that out there to the youth that's gonna see this article like that was a big move. That was kind of like a mistake. We could have still finished the album and do all the stuff we doing now but we just got caught up in the streets. I let that opportunity slide past me.
T: Seems like with names like Jacka, Husslah, and Ridah, it sounds like ya'll supposed to be a group. How did Fed-X and AP-9 come into play?
J: Me and Fed X was a group first. His name was O-Fed and we were called Fatal Mentality. It was just me and Feddy. Ridah, Husslah and this other guy named Freak and AP-9 was a group called 100% Decon. Rest in peace Freak, he ended up going to jail, going to C.Y.A., that’s like a teenagers penitentiary for the teens out here in California. He had to go out there for two or three years. By the time he got out, we were already an established group. He was supposed to be in the Mob Figaz. That didn’t work, so he started his own group called The Ghetto Stars. But Ridah got his name, Ridah J. Clyde, from the streets from just being a little thug, you know a live wire. We all got our names at different times. Ya boy, Husslah, he was a hustler, he was on the streets when he was young. He was probably about 15 or 16, he had every kind of car out. He always had at least three or four thousand in his pocket everyday. Me, The Jacka, I had ended up catching a lot of cases for strong-arm robbery, armed robbery, grand theft, all kinds of little shit. It was at a time when I was locked, I was fighting a little case and this little dude, he was a little older than me at the time, he was finna go to C.Y.A., they was gonna send me to juvenile and he was going over my case 'cause he had already been fighting a case. He was like, “Man, shit you the Jacka boy. You do a lot of robbing and shit. I’m a start calling yo ass the Jacka." So, we ended up getting locked up and shit. He just called me Jack or Jacka, one of the two everyday and the next thing you know everybody started calling me that and that’s how I got that name. Yeah, it sounds like we were supposed to be a group but it just ended up being like that. It was a coincidence. AP-9, he from Frisco. We all from different places though. First time I met up with Feddy, I was living in Richmond before I moved to Pittsburgh. Plus, Feddy is my cousin, I found out he was my cousin back then too. AP-9, he from Fillmore, Frisco. It’s this area called Fillmore where Messy Marv, Done Deal Family and all of them dudes is from. Ridah and Husslah they’re actually from El Pablo Projects. They from Pittsburgh, they actually was born in Pittsburgh. They really from around here. Them some solid cats. It always felt good to be around them. So, it was cool, the chemistry was cool for our group.
T: What was that guys name that didn’t make the group?
J: Freak-O, around the Pittsburgh area he was like the biggest. Him and Ridah were like, nothing to do with the music, just off the streets they was notorious out here. We looked up to them dudes. We looked up to being like that.
T: Since the first Mob Figaz album what have you been up to?
J: We was working on the Mob Figaz album for a long time and our boy C-Bo, he be going in and out of jail a lot. So, it kind of put a pause on that up until now really. He just got out this last month. He just did two years and before that he did another two years. So, it put us on hold for a long time. I just been working. I started my own record label. I put out a first solo album, it was self-titled 'The Jacka'. I started a record label called Akbar Records with some guys and it was doing real good but the guys I was dealing with they got themselves into a little trafficking trouble. They had to go lay it down and go do some time. So, I had to start a new label called The Artist Records. I had to start from scratch. I got people around right now working for me who believe in what it is that I’m doing, so it’s gonna work just like that. We don’t need to do nothing else but music. 'The Jack Artist' album I just put that out. I just been working that album in the streets right now. It’s been doing good. I get a lot compliments around here from all the top artists, radio stations, DJs and all the people they support me. I just gotta keep coming with it and let them know. 'Cause my whole thing is I just really want to bring back some pride to this Hip-Hop thing. Something that people can really feel proud of, like it was original again. Just like it first started, like people being proud of something that’s big and tight. You don’t feel embarrassed playing it, like it ain’t like a all-radio gimmick album like, I’m just trying to get the clubs and shit like that. I really try to reach people everywhere. I try to make stuff that people are definitely gonna listen to and definitely gonna feel real proud of playing.
Link:http://www.thickonline.com/interviews/index.php?mod=cnt&act=cnt&id=399
The Jacka
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Thick: When did you move to the Bay Area?
Jacka: Well, I'm originally from the Bay, from Pittsburgh, California. Really my family came to the Bay back in the day. My family they from Phoenix, Arizona. My pops is from L.A. and I was actually born in Phoenix but then when I was like four years-old I had moved to Oakland and I had stayed in Oakland until I was about thirteen, and then I moved to Pittsburgh and that's when I started getting into all kind of different little things. I'm from the Bay Area really, nowhere really else. I been a lot of different places but the Bay is where my home is at.
T: Okay, I had mistaken Pittsburgh for being the other Pittsburgh (laughs). How did you get into rapping and how did the Mob Figaz get together?
J: For real, when I first moved to Pittsburgh, really before that, my Uncle lived in Pittsburgh. I lived in Richmond, California at the time. I used to come to Pittsburgh on the weekends 'cause Richmond is a real tough. It's like the number one...right now it's in a state of emergency in Richmond. There's a lot of murders and stuff that go on out there. It's like the craziest city in the Bay Area. It's small and it's hella crazy. It's crazier than Oakland and it's crazier than Frisco. I loved comin' to Pittsburgh 'cause I didn't know nothing about it. It was like a new place to me and new faces, new people and it seemed like it was easy. An easier life to live. I used to just come out here and chill and shit. Finally my mom had moved out here but I had already had some friends from coming out here on the weekends. It was Rob, Ridah and Hussalah in my group but we wasn't a group yet. Rob, when he was a young dude his pops bought him a keyboard and a four-track, we was just going to his house. We used to just record songs on that. We started doing it, I was probably about twelve years-old when I met him and as soon as I met him we instantly hooked up 'cause he made beats and I rapped. He had a group, him and Husslah was a group. We'd just go over to his house and spend the weekend, and just make a lot of songs. Over the years the songs would get into the streets and people started liking them more than the songs they was going to go buy from the record store. We started taking it a lot more serious and just trying to be the best. As we got a little older, we were still in highschool, we had ran across C-Bo. We had run across his crew, the AWOL cats and he was in the penitentiary at the time. One of his boys, 151 had heard one of our tapes and he came and brought the whole AWOL faculty out there to meet up with us and listen to the music; throw a little party at this record store just for us. They did that, it was all good, they loved it. They told us C-Bo starting his own label, so when he get out he gonna want to see ya'll. So, the next week we met back up and he kidnapped us. From there it was on. That was like in '98, we was all still in highschool and shit. Next thing you know, we were like, fuck school and started rapping. Started taking that 100%. At the same time, I felt like to this day that it was a big mistake but we was all young at the time. C-Bo was probably like 22 or 23 at the time, when he got with us. He didn't know no better, he was young. So, we didn't realise that we could do the same things that we was doing and still go to school and everything. So, we just chalked that and decided to live this lifestyle. We got to take advantage of every opportunity that we get right now because really we gave up everything for it. That's how the Mob Figaz got together.
T: You still wanted to get your diploma?
J: I mean, that was a thing that I had wanted but it was already too late because I had already been out of school for a couple years when I had really started thinking about it. By then I was supposed to be in probably about the 12th grade or something and I was just like, fuck it man. By the time I turned 18, we already had an album out. So, I didn't even care, I was just like, forget it. Right now, I still don't care. I'm just saying that it's not a good idea. I don't want to put that out there to the youth that's gonna see this article like that was a big move. That was kind of like a mistake. We could have still finished the album and do all the stuff we doing now but we just got caught up in the streets. I let that opportunity slide past me.
T: Seems like with names like Jacka, Husslah, and Ridah, it sounds like ya'll supposed to be a group. How did Fed-X and AP-9 come into play?
J: Me and Fed X was a group first. His name was O-Fed and we were called Fatal Mentality. It was just me and Feddy. Ridah, Husslah and this other guy named Freak and AP-9 was a group called 100% Decon. Rest in peace Freak, he ended up going to jail, going to C.Y.A., that’s like a teenagers penitentiary for the teens out here in California. He had to go out there for two or three years. By the time he got out, we were already an established group. He was supposed to be in the Mob Figaz. That didn’t work, so he started his own group called The Ghetto Stars. But Ridah got his name, Ridah J. Clyde, from the streets from just being a little thug, you know a live wire. We all got our names at different times. Ya boy, Husslah, he was a hustler, he was on the streets when he was young. He was probably about 15 or 16, he had every kind of car out. He always had at least three or four thousand in his pocket everyday. Me, The Jacka, I had ended up catching a lot of cases for strong-arm robbery, armed robbery, grand theft, all kinds of little shit. It was at a time when I was locked, I was fighting a little case and this little dude, he was a little older than me at the time, he was finna go to C.Y.A., they was gonna send me to juvenile and he was going over my case 'cause he had already been fighting a case. He was like, “Man, shit you the Jacka boy. You do a lot of robbing and shit. I’m a start calling yo ass the Jacka." So, we ended up getting locked up and shit. He just called me Jack or Jacka, one of the two everyday and the next thing you know everybody started calling me that and that’s how I got that name. Yeah, it sounds like we were supposed to be a group but it just ended up being like that. It was a coincidence. AP-9, he from Frisco. We all from different places though. First time I met up with Feddy, I was living in Richmond before I moved to Pittsburgh. Plus, Feddy is my cousin, I found out he was my cousin back then too. AP-9, he from Fillmore, Frisco. It’s this area called Fillmore where Messy Marv, Done Deal Family and all of them dudes is from. Ridah and Husslah they’re actually from El Pablo Projects. They from Pittsburgh, they actually was born in Pittsburgh. They really from around here. Them some solid cats. It always felt good to be around them. So, it was cool, the chemistry was cool for our group.
T: What was that guys name that didn’t make the group?
J: Freak-O, around the Pittsburgh area he was like the biggest. Him and Ridah were like, nothing to do with the music, just off the streets they was notorious out here. We looked up to them dudes. We looked up to being like that.
T: Since the first Mob Figaz album what have you been up to?
J: We was working on the Mob Figaz album for a long time and our boy C-Bo, he be going in and out of jail a lot. So, it kind of put a pause on that up until now really. He just got out this last month. He just did two years and before that he did another two years. So, it put us on hold for a long time. I just been working. I started my own record label. I put out a first solo album, it was self-titled 'The Jacka'. I started a record label called Akbar Records with some guys and it was doing real good but the guys I was dealing with they got themselves into a little trafficking trouble. They had to go lay it down and go do some time. So, I had to start a new label called The Artist Records. I had to start from scratch. I got people around right now working for me who believe in what it is that I’m doing, so it’s gonna work just like that. We don’t need to do nothing else but music. 'The Jack Artist' album I just put that out. I just been working that album in the streets right now. It’s been doing good. I get a lot compliments around here from all the top artists, radio stations, DJs and all the people they support me. I just gotta keep coming with it and let them know. 'Cause my whole thing is I just really want to bring back some pride to this Hip-Hop thing. Something that people can really feel proud of, like it was original again. Just like it first started, like people being proud of something that’s big and tight. You don’t feel embarrassed playing it, like it ain’t like a all-radio gimmick album like, I’m just trying to get the clubs and shit like that. I really try to reach people everywhere. I try to make stuff that people are definitely gonna listen to and definitely gonna feel real proud of playing.
