Tuesday 3 February 2015

Generic list post: R.I.P Jacka edition


Why does it ALWAYS have to be the important rappers who die? Why can't it be the kiddie fiddlers like South Park Mexican or the psychopaths like Big Lurch instead of the promising upstarts like Speaker Knockerzs and Lil' Snupe, or the legends like Pimp C and Jacka? The erstwhile Shaheed Akbar AKA Dominick Newton earned his own place on rap's Mount Olympus by releasing one of the 10 best albums of the noughties with The Jack Artist and by fathering an entire sub-genre of gangsta-rap which sprawled from Oakland and Sacramento to Ohio and Indiana, so you'd have thought he'd have earned himself enough good karma from this senselessly fucked-up universe which presumably keeps Suge Knight alive because he was partially responsible for the Death Row back-catalogue to live a long and healthy life as an Oakland rap legend in which he could get keep getting fatter and fatter by the year as he'd been doing since most of us first became aware of him after Barney (More Crime) appeared on Cormega's Legal Hustle compilation in 2004.

As someone who grew up loving Slick Rick and Too $hort equally, Jacka's music was catnip to me: melodic but never at the expense of a bassline you could feel in your molars, and vividly written but never at the expense of a catchy tune that'd worm its way into your head. Fuck being hard, Jacka was complicated, which is why immersing one's self in his mammoth catalogue was such a rewarding experience. This was a man who not only wrestled with the contradictory impulses of human psychology on record, he also brought the best out of an otherwise useless pudding like Berner on the two separate albums they recorded together. Thus, the best way I can pay tribute to Jack' today is by gorging myself on a steak this lunchtime and delving deep into his catalogue once again in order to come up with a generic list post of my favourite Jacka tracks. Never blink, never forgotten:

1. The Jacka ft. Husalah - Blind World (2005)
2. The Jacka - Heavy Rain (2005)
3. The Jacka - Murder Somebody (2006)
4. The Jacka & Husalah - N*ggas Out There Mine (2006)
5. The Jacka - Barney (More Crime) (2004)
6. The Jacka ft. Husalah - Pigeon On A T-Shirt (2005)
7. The Jacka - Kuran (2005)
8. The Jacka ft. J Stalin & Dub 20 - Never Blink (2005)
9. The Jacka & Ampichino ft. T-Nutty & Husalah - Hustle In The Rain (2010)
10. The Jacka - Iller Clip (2005)
11. The Jacka ft. Too $hort & Husalah - Die Young (2001)
12. The Jacka ft. Cormega - Storm (2009)
13. The Jacka - Feel This Clip (2005)
14. The Jacka & Ampichino - I Try (2006)
15. The Jacka ft. Lil' Ric - Won't Break Me (2005)
16. The Jacka ft. Kazi & Husalah - 1, 2, 3 (2001)
17. The Jacka & Ampichino ft. Nate Da Nut - Family First (2006)
18. The Jacka ft. Fed-X - Standing By Starz (2005)
19. The Jacka, Ap.9 & Fed-X - Hood In Me (2008)
20. The Jacka ft. Cellski - Won't Be Right (2009)
21. The Jacka - A Real Feeling (2008)
22. The Jacka ft. Andre Nickatina - Glamourous Lifestyle (2009)
23. The Jacka - Dopest Foreal (2009)
24. The Jacka & 12 Gauge Shottie - Dope (2009)
25. The Jacka & Ampichino ft. Husalah & Lil' Rue - Death To My Enemies (2010)
26. The Jacka ft. Dru Down & Joe Blow - The President's Face (2014)
27. The Jacka - Million Miles (2001)
28. The Jacka - Ask God (2014)
29. Freeway & The Jacka - Uh Huh (2013)
30. The Jacka & Berner ft. Lee Majors & Fed X - Trafficking (2009)

EDIT - an anonymous person came through in the comments with a 32 song Jacka compilation. Download that shit here.

17 comments:

RRRRRRRR said...

Knew you'd come through on this.

So sad.

James said...

Wtf??

R.i.p.

Anonymous said...

RIP

A Little The Jacka Compilation (32 tracks)

http://www76.zippyshare.com/v/V9k75hwJ/file.html

d said...

Very true

Man Ive been playing songs the last while, his catalogue is that deep you could do this all day. Like you could do a whole greatest hits of just Pigeon On A T Shirt, African Warrior, Million Miles, Crowns & Thrones type shit.

Really a tragic one.

Unknown said...

This came out of nowhere R.I.P. Jacka

H.L. said...

Aye MF, what's that Jacka song where the hook goes: "If you sell drugs then say YEAH, but if you shot a nigga before, don't say YEAH."

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Nice one anonymous.

H.L, that's Iller Clip (number 10 on this list.)

Anonymous said...

i'm really sad right now, fantastic rapper and a bay area legend. I was looking forward to some new releases after the recent mixtape too.

Fat Tony said...

this fucking sucks. I generally don't give a fuck when a well-known person dies but this hit me hard. love the dude's music.
on a bit of a side note: Si Mane, you wrote that you consider "the jack artist" one of the top 10 rap albums of the noughties. i'm curious to know, what would your other nine picks be?

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Trap Muzik by T.I., Supreme Clientele by Ghostface, Ghetto Stories by Boosie & Webbie, and Diplomatic Immunity by Dipset would definitely be in there.

Not sure of the rest. Would have to include mixtapes as well.

Thomas said...

This is the worst. So sad. Thank you for the thoughtful post.

Tom Doggett said...

Any advice on how to unzip the zippyshare mix? Having trouble with that.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Anonymous - where you at?

Anonymous said...

@ Tom Doggett
About the unzipping,

I use the unzip/7-zip I found at
http://www.7-zip.org/

Does anybody else have a problem with the zipfile?

I'm planning to make many more compilations like this (starting with one to honour/remember the 100Grandonmywrist website).

If anyone has a suggestion for a better zip/unzip program, I'd like to hear.

Johnny Rap (pka anonymous)

Anonymous said...

Don't mention SPM just because you're mad, say what you have to say without that extra BS.

Anonymous said...

Talking down on SPM and Suge Knight? You really don't know anything about rap.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

SPM is a kiddie fiddler and Suge is an awful person.

I'd sacrifice both of them to a volcano to get Jacka back.