In an interview with VIBE, Jadakiss speaks about his friend Icepick, bringing maturity to street music, and which rappers make him focus when he writes his bars. Just five years ago, with his last solo album, he was still citing himself as Top 5 Dead Or Alive the raps still matter to him, and he’s clearly proud when two VIBE staffers tell him that this could be his best album, but there appears to be more purpose this time around. It’s no 4:44 or Life Is Good when it comes to baring his soul, but on Ignatius, Jadakiss is clearly a more focused, comprehensive artist than he’s ever been before. “Catch And Release” finds Jada recovering from a woman who betrayed him, while the Ty Dolla $ign-assisted “NYB (Need Ya Best)” gives love another shot “Keep It 100” narrates how a friendship deteriorated over dishonesty in a deal. The first single “Me” sees him, “giving the people who don’t know me a quick autobiography,” he says. Fans of the mixtape monster “Al Qaeda Jada” will get their fix with the Pusha T collab “Hunting Season,” but the rest of the record showcases him as the Jason Phillips that his friend Icepick inspired him to be: a seasoned musician with stronger hooks and more mature songwriting, covering a wide range of emotions and speaking about the relationships and experiences that matter to him while dropping jewels throughout. The LP is named after Ignatius “Icepick” Jackson, his friend, former A&R and manager who died from colon cancer in 2017. The grown-up Jadakiss is reflected on Ignatius, his fifth solo studio album, scheduled for a March 6 release (the album was pushed back one week for sample clearances). The 44-year-old father of five children is also preparing to get into voiceover work, starting with a role as a superhero in an animated film. He and his groupmate Styles P went from solely trading lines on wax for the legendary record labels, Bad Boy and Ruff Ryders, to starting Juices For Life, a health-conscious juice bar in their childhood stomping grounds just north of New York City. But 26 years after the Yonkers-bred group made their debut on Main Source’s song “Set It Up,” Jada’s connection to the street looks different. Whether he’s conjuring images of a luxurious bathroom on “We Gonna Make It,” ruminating on social issues on his 2004 hit “Why,” or illustrating a heartless “Bishop” from 1992’s Juice on Schoolboy Q’s track “Groovy Tony,” Jadakiss has always been as hard as it gets.
He established himself as a rap legend in the mid-90s with his heartless, street-touching rhymes as a member of The LOX and on songs alongside rap greats like Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, DMX, and more.
While his son earned a college degree, ‘Kiss has been dropping doctorate level bars for more than two decades. “He just graduated from Clark Atlanta in psychology.” “This is my 23-year-old son,” he proudly shares in his distinctive raspy voice, pointing to a young man behind him wearing a red hoodie. Jason “ Jadakiss” Phillips is two weeks away from releasing what’s arguably the best album of his career, but when he visits the VIBE office in Times Square, he has a different reason to celebrate.