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J Stalin (b. Jovan Smith) is a rap artist from the Cypress Village housing projects in West Oakland, California, USA.
In 2007 J. Stalin signed to the "Zoo Entertainment" production company (not to be confused with now-defunct BMG subsidiary) run by Oakland, California artist Mekanix, who described his style as a variant of Hyphy known as "Go". He has released roughly 7 mixtapes and had 4 or so releases slated from 2007.
According to an interview featured on the Demolition Men release entitled "Early Morning Shift", J Stalin was born into poverty and earned money as a child by selling candy bars on the Bay Area Rapid Transit trains. Later, he began selling drugs in his local housing projects. Around age 13, he began recording and selling rap music. His first appearance was on Richie Rich's Nixon Pryor Roundtree in 2002. He decided to reference Joseph Stalin in his stage name because he shared the same initials as the dictator, and "he was short like me, but he was always smashin' on everybody."
In a recent interview in issue #2 of STASH magazine, he remarked about his home and lifestyle, "This is West Oakland, man. This is the bottom right here." He remarked that the crime rate was so high, that the city had remodeled the housing units to remove all of the back doors. This way, potential criminals couldn't escape from home raids by the police.
J Stalin has since recorded and performed with artists such as G-Stack, E-40, The Luniz, Keak Da Sneak, The Team, The Frontline, Mob Figaz, Yukmouth, Numskull, Shock G, and others.
Mekanix and Zoo Entertainment released "On Behalf of the Streets" in early May 2007.
References
- Black Dog Bone (June, 2007). "The Mekanix (Dotrix & Tweed)". Murder Dog Magazine.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Garrett Caples (April 25, 2006). "Column: Ruling Party". San Francisco Bay Guardian.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Cited to Early Morning Shift album notes
- Kimberly Chun. "2006 Best Of The Bay: A Vision Of The Future". Retrieved 2008-02-20.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|source=ignored (help) - "Love in these streets: West Oakland". SLASH magazine. March 10, 2007.
- Minister of Information JR (June 26, 2007). "Purple Mane: an interview wit' G-Stack of the Delinquents". San Francisco Bayview.
- Garrett Caples. "The post-2Pac pack:Did the death of Tupac Shakur throw Bay Area hip-hop into a tailspin? And is there really a "New Bay" rising?". San Francisco Bay Guardian.