J-Zone did 15 years in the music business pushing his solo records and crew albums under the Old Maid Billionaires imprint. When he quit rap in 2008 it was the result of a grown man with many failures (much of which is addressed in his book Root For The Villain) in his past taking a hard look in the mirror. He came into rap as a critic of the culture in 1999 on “5 Years”, a rap show fever dream of a genre gone awry, and with the release of “Go Back To Sellin’ Weed” proves he’s not lost his indigence for wack rappers.
The b-side to the Funky 7″, “Go Back To Sellin’ Weed” is vintage J-Zone production with a twist of live instrumentation. Much like the source revival of Backyard Breaks, “Go Back To Sellin’ Weed” matches live drumming with his penchant for deep crate samples of psychedelic Rhodes keys. Equally archetypal Zone is his coinage of “rap squeegee men” as a criticism of the Times Square rapper loitering with a backpack full of mixtapes. The advice in the title is sincere and while Zone acknowledges the problematic result of more drugs in the hood, perhaps with continued legalization these charity case rappers can finally achieve legitimate employment.
“Go Back To Sellin’ Weed” is the b-side to the Funky 7″ and is featured on J-Zone’s forthcoming Fish-N-Grits LP due April 1.
