Who says you have to get shot up until you’re near dead to be inspired to write rap that everybody wants to lend an ear to?
J-Kwon didn’t. He supposedly stayed “blowed,” got behind on child support payments and went to jail for a few months and got blasted on the internet as a broke, no-good-for-nothing deadbeat this past summer.
That was enough to make J-Kwon hit the bricks, firing back with a collabo hit with super producer Tar Boy, the mastermind of the Track Boys, who produced J-Kwon’s breakthrough hit “Tipsy” when J-Kwon was signed to the label.
“They better be scared because it’s crazy when we get together,” J-Kwon said laughing.
Tar Boy and J-Kwon had there own minor friction in the past but got pass it.
“When you can come back and say I was wrong and work it out n that’s real, but you don’t see a lot of that in St. Louis,” Tar Boy said, adding that he and J-Kwon are like brothers.
To dispel rumors of the duo being broke, Tar Boy said, “People create records when they’re broke, but people can’t put records out if they’re broke.”
Tar Boy isn’t just producing on this joint, he’s dropping verses along with J-Kwon, making up the duo Jinx. In fact, Tar Boy had already starting making the song when J-Kwon decided to jump on it so they could take on haters collectively.
The song is aptly called “Hate On” and it has instant hit dubbed all over it n from the smooth, melodic hook that tells the haters to, Hate on, hate on, hate on n you f-ing hater.
Tar Boy laces the smoky, laidback, but catchy track first, speaking for his boy J-Kwon as he welcomes him back “from bottom to the top.”
They take on all haters n from their “baby’s mama” to a high school principal. J-Kwon raps: It’s J-Kwon straight from out of rehab/spent three months in jail for my child support tab
Read the Whirl n they say I owe everybody something/ But tell the Whirl I ain’t paying everybody nothing.
He also keeps it real with himself, by admitting, “Yes, I got beef, I’m in the club n okay then, Yes/I took a fall, I lost it all, but the winter I came back like I was Santa Claus.
“Hate On” is just the first single. The duo is going half on an entire album, but Tarboy is concentrating on rapping, working with Lil Shorty and running Track Boys. J-Kwon will produce some songs on the album through his Beats by Kwon outfit as he runs his Hood Hop label and works with a protégé named Lou Cane. J-Kwan also recently put Hood Hop 2 on the streets.
As for J-Kwan being dissed when he hit a couple of bumps, Tar Boy said, “They tried to kick him when he was down, but they should have know they were hating on one of the most talented rapper to come out of the Lou. People want us to fail, but they bought us back to life with all that talk.”
Tar Boy said the album is going to focus on creativity and good music, but will still have some club stuff.
“We both been through a lot n millions wasted, legal battles, street battles, so we not just stuck on booty songs, we live that life and can tell you that there’s more to life than that,” Tar Boy said, adding that “Hate On” explained and express a lot for both of them.
Hot 104.1 says it’s counting down the 50 songs by locals. Hopefully, they have time to consider “Hate On.” It isn’t the best song that Tar Boy or J-Kwon has put out n collaboratively or solo n but it’s hot enough for serious consideration on the Hot list scheduled for New Year’s Day.
“We did something different for St. Louis and just wanted to get back at all the haters,” Tar Boy said in an exclusive interview with the American.
As for interviews with J-Kwon, he said, “Whoever printed that rumor, they do an interview with the with one half of Jinx, but the other one ain’t doing it.”
Tar Boy will no doubt have produced a lot of jams on that infamous list from Nelly to 100.3 The Beat’s Lil Shorty.
This writer is endorsing Nelly (many of his jams should be on that list), Chingy (“Right Thur,” etc.), Murph (“My Shoes”), Silk Smooth (“Trick with a Good Rap”), Huey (“Pop, Lock and Drop It”), P-Dub (“My Good Thang”), Hakeem (“Thick Wit It”), Ludy (“She Could Get It”), (Pay Bak (“Things You Do”), Tar Boy for J-Kwon (“Tipsy”), All Stars (“It’s Serious” and “Do Whatcha Do”), The Deck (“Swing On ‘Em”), Track Boys for The Fish (“Damned If I Do/Don’t”), Lil Shorty (“Wah Wah Wow”), Potzee (“Good Evening”), Vic Damone (“Pop One”), Tar Boy for Ebony Eyez (“In Ya Face”) and 1 Dime (“Groupie”).
That isn’t all, of course, but a few good ones to start with. Hit me with yours at bbeene@stlamerican.com.
