Jadakiss

American rapper Jadakiss was born Jason Terrance Phillips on May 27, 1975, in Yonkers, New York. Growing up, Jadakiss discovered he had a talent for rapping, earning money and local recognition as early as 12 years old freestyling on the streets. Together with his friends and fellow freestylers, Styles P. and Sheek Louch, the trio were signed to Puff Daddy's label Bad Boy with the group name The Lox (shortened from an earlier name The Warlox). By the mid-90s, the group began writing and performing in other Bad Boy artists' hit songs such as Puff Daddy's "It's All About the Benjamins" (1997) and The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Last Day" (1997). Jadakiss had come to see The Notorious B.I.G. as a mentor and, after his death, The Lox tribute song "We'll Always Love Big Poppa" (1997) became the group's first multi-platinum hit. The stage was set for their debut studio album, "Money, Power & Respect" (1998). Switching labels to the Ruff Ryders, The Lox followed it with a second album "We Are The Streets" (2000) which included the popular single "Ryde or Die, Bitch". Seizing on the success, Jadakiss took the chance to launch his solo career and released the albums "Kiss Tha Game Goodbye" (2001) and "Kiss of Death" (2004). His second single from "Kiss of Death" became his most popular song to date: the protest song "Why?" featuring Anthony Hamilton. Jadakiss released two more successful solo albums, "The Last Kiss" (2009) and "Top 5, Dead or Alive" (2015) before working with Sheek Louch and Styles P. for The Lox reunion album "Filthy America It's Beautiful" (2016). Jadakiss released his fifth studio album "Ignatius" on March 6, 2020.