There’s Only 1 JakeOne
It seems odd to make an appreciation post so late in the game – I mean, it’s nowhere but up for this cat. But he’s been around the block a few times, you know?
Anyway, here’s a photo of Jacob (and the boy Zvi lurking on the bench!) from back when my shop barely had furniture. So you know we all go back like that.
And here’s the debut video from White Van Music, “The Truth” featuring Freeway (one of my favorite rappers in the game), and Brother Ali – a cat who I’ve known about but can’t say I ever really messed with. I guess I’m one of those guys that rarely gives a mention but zooms in and respects him as a legend, eh?
Funny thing, the first time I ever heard of Jake was back when I was I was working at SandboxAutomatic. We got a run of the Conmen “Smooth Criminals” mixtape, and I took one to “review”. I let the tape rock ’til the tape popped – from the hooptie to the rooftop boombox, that schitt was on smash.
History: as a young dude I was finding out about records from trial and error, hearsay, and a few friends who were nice enough to pass something on as they were digging. I found out about Phill The Soulman’s column around that time, and the homies Cosmo Baker and Ben Velez had their thing in On The Go too. But these kids out of Seattle were on That Next Shit! It was like all the records that were just rumored to exist at NYC record shops, The Roosevelt Show, the houses of Biz Markie and John Carrara and… anyway, it was like they were all out there on the west coast for the taking at thrift shops and dollar bins everywhere.
As fate would have it, Zvi is my family from days of old, and he and Jake hooked up, and Jake started coming down to my fledgling record shop. Since then we’ve hung out a buch and become friends. And I take great pride in my mention (Ralph!) on the liners to his new record.
Of course, the album itself features a who’s who of rappers who might’ve never been on the same record were it not thought up in some rap nerd’s daydream … M.O.P., Posdnous, Keak The Sneak, Slum Village, Ish (of Digable Planets and Cherrywine fame), Young Buck, Casual, D. Black … and they all represent lovely over The best beats the game has heard in a long minute. No exaduration. If I’m lying I’m dying.
So, in addition to the things that are freely available on the internets to JakeOne stans everywhere, I thought I’d also upload something you DON’T have. Jake wrote in the liners that he gave Keak a whole CD of tracks and that Keak recorded over all of them. Now, I don’t have all of them! But I did get a couple tracks from a while back, one of which makes the album in the form of “Soil Raps”. The other, however … never seen before, heard before, the uncut raw! Now I must warn you this is on some Town Shit. If the rumors of a JakeOne-helmed Mob Music album are true, maybe this is a precursor? I, for one, am geeked.