Jaz-O

Johnathan Burks (born January 15, 1965) better known by his stage name Jaz-O, is a American rapper and record producer active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for being the mentor of Jay-Z. Jaz is also known as the Originator and had a song called "The Originators" that featured a young Jay-Z in 1990. As simply the Jaz, he had success with his 1989 single "Hawaiian Sophie" from his debut album Word to the Jaz. He has been featured on some of Jay-Z's songs, such as "Bring it On" from Reasonable Doubt) and the single "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)" from , where he was credited as Big Jaz. He also produced the single "Ain't No Nigga" from Reasonable Doubt and the song "Rap Game/Crack Game" from In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.

The long standing feud between Jaz-O and Jay-Z started when Jay-Z was signed to Roc-A-Fella records and he tried to convince fellow MCs Jaz-O and Sauce Money to sign as well. They both refused. It is rumored that they didn't trust Roc-A-Fella records CEOs Dame Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Naturally, Jay-Z wanted to show his friend and mentor some love and respect by getting him onto a potentially successful record label. Jay-Z confirms this event on the song "What We Talkin' About" on the Blueprint 3 album when he says "Dame made millions, even Jaz made some scraps, he could've made more but he ain't sign his contract." Jay-Z also took shots at Jaz-O on The Black Album track "December 4th" saying, "Plus i hit my momma with cash from a show that i had Supposedly knowin nobody paid Jaz wack ass."Jaz-O also claims that Jay-Z got his name from Jaz, which Jay-Z denies.

Jaz was an important figure in the Nas vs. Jay-Z feud. It is also speculated that Jaz-O supplied Nas with some of the information he used in his Jay-Z diss track "Ether". After the situation with Nas cooled down, Jay-Z went on to diss Jaz first on a track released by DJ Kay Slay featuring Freeway, Geda K, Young Chris, and Memphis Bleek Called "Fuck Jaz-O AKA Jaz Ho" and later on his album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse. Jay-Z said on the title track, "I'ma let karma catch up to Jaz-O." Jaz responded with a record on a DJ Kay Slay mix tape called "It's Ova."

Despite the long standing feud between mentor and protege, Jay-Z still gives Jaz-O credit for his success (although he disses him at the same time) as heard in the song "I Do It For Hip Hop" on Ludacris' Theater of the Mind album. Jay-Z says "Shout out to Grand Master Flash and to Caz and even Jaz bum ass'.

Jaz-O soon released a diss track aimed at Jay-Z for the "I Do It For Hip Hop" diss named 'Go Harder' released in early 2009.

In late August 2009, Jaz-O was featured in another Jay-Z diss, Called "Gangstas Ride". This time with West-Coast rapper The Game. The song was fueled by the recent beef between The Game and Jay-Z.

Besides being an emcee, he has produced songs for several hip hop artists other than Jay-Z, such as Group Home, M.O.P, Ras Kass, Rakim, and others.

Discography

; Collaboration albums

External links