Jim Jones Credits Ma$e For Teaching Him How To Rap: “It Saved Us”

Harlem’s own Jim Jones is giving Ma$e and Cam’ron their flowers for helping shape him into the rapper he is today. In a recent episode of Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All The Smoke podcast, Jones recalled his early music career – giving credit to Ma$e for teaching him how to rap. Capo also shouted out his fellow Diplomat, Cam’ron, for “guiding him to success.”

“The music didn’t start for me until later on in the 2000s after Cam and them figured it out,” he shared while guesting the show alongside Maino. “Ma$e taught me how to rap and Cam always made sure I was on every single album he had. He was like, ‘Boy, once you figure out how to rap the same way you act in these streets, it’s going to work for you, just keep going.’ So I always gotta give credit where credit is due.”

Jones also recalled a time when his life was headed in a different direction than superstardom, and why Ma$e and Cam’ron’s tutelage “saved” him.

“It saved us in the fact that the direction we was headed in was not a good direction from a young age,” he said. “The fact that we got a chance to do that deal so young (we were all 18, 19, something like that) it saved us from a lot of things that we were heading into. Even though we still went in the wrong direction, we had some balance because we knew we were in a different position.”

Sharing some of the endeavors that led him to becoming a rapper, Jimmy revealed: “I was doing everything — directing, security, engineering, but they was coming every night, $30-40,000 off that show money. I was like ‘Nah, I gotta figure this out. I gotta really get into this rap mode.’ And that’s what really propelled me, seeing all the success that they was having.”

Jones released his debut solo album On My Way To Church in 2004 and kept the momentum up in 2005 with Harlem: Diary of a Summer. The latter debuted at No.5 on the Billboard 200 chart, making Jones a star in his own right. His 2006 project, Hustler’s P.O.M.E. (Product of My Environment), boasted his biggest solo hit, “We Fly High,” which held down the No.5 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and eventually reached platinum status.

Jim Jones and Maino’s collaborative album, The Lobby Boyz, was released back in May. The project features Benny The Butcher, Styles P, Young M.A., Fabolous and more.

Check out Jim Jones and Maino’s “Extra Smoke” episode on All The Smoke podcast below.