Harlems Own
by David Diehl
Photography by Chad Griffith
Styling by Dion Stewart
Stylist Assistant: LaToya Murray-Berry

“They still coming at me! They still coming at me even though they sweat that shit! They don’t know what to do!”

Jim Jones is goofballs. His new cover art for the upcoming Pray IV Reign has just leaked onto a popular hip-hop blog, and this is the first he’s seen of it. By his expression and elation, you’d think Capo was getting mad praise from the net heads that took a sec to throw comments at the post. But in reality, each prop to the distressed image of Jim and his son is followed by a groin kick to his flow:

“This album cover is the dopest thing Jim Jones has ever done. He still can’t rhyme.”

“Jim Jones and the Dips are old news. He still can’t rhyme.”

“This looks more like a Roots’ cover. He still can’t rhyme.”

But Jim Jones is yucking it up. Laughing off every comment like he asked for it. Even insisting that haters will most likely cop his look in the photo once they see it. He loves attention just like he loves his money. He can’t get enough of it, no matter which way it comes at him.

“I never really worry about being an emcee. I say what’s on my mind. I make my music from the heart. And I try to have fun with it,” Jimmy comes clean. “I didn’t come in the game as a lyricist, so a lot of people tend to not take me that serious as a lyricist. But anything that you do all the time, you get better at. At this point in the game I’m rapping circles around other cats that rap. But whatever, I just want the money. The accolades are second to me.”

To be honest, there will always be a hate haze that floats thick around Jimmy for multiple reasons. Whether it be his controversial Dip split with Cam’ron, his new affiliation with former Jay-Z partner Dame Dash, or the fact that he’s had altercations with every artist on your playlist (True Life, Ne-Yo, Kanye, to name a few). Jim Jones likes that you hate him for whatever reason you have. You can hate him all the way to the bank.

“The spotlight is cool. It creates the opportunity for me to make more money. It took my career to another level,” he revels. “Gave me the opportunity to make a very big deal over at Columbia (Jim inked seven figures and the VP position of Urban A&R at Koch records). Success is lovely. But all success comes with excess…remember that.”

With his fourth album, Pray IV Reign, Jim expects to define himself as an emcee while continuing to rake in loot with hits like those that put him on the map.

“I want people to say that I really stepped my craft up. I made good music from the production to the song to the song format. Every album has gotten better,” explains Jones. “Taking over the scene or just being noticed. Being a commodity and turning it into a novelty, something that people want to go into stores and be a part of or just pick up the record. Anything I do they want to be a part of. The way I dress, etc. That’s what I want. I want to be a money making machine.”

In a gust of cold Manhattan wind and blunt smoke, Jim Jones and his crew enter the studio quietly, his female assistant has a fine ass and a persistent agenda for Jim. She tells him he’ll have to shoot five different looks before they’re off to a show later that evening. “Fuck that,” he insists, he’ll only put on three outfits and he wants burgers.
“How am I supposed to eat burgers if they ain’t cook that shit!” By the time Jim gets his grub, the midtown bistro had cooked the sandwiches medium. He likes his burgers crispy. The burgers were returned, but he never ate them anyway. He moved onto the next look, flexing the brim on his Yankee fitted. At this point he knows the mandatory misgivings of being a hip-hop superstar.

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