Jaz — Word to the Jaz

Jonathan "The Jaz" Burks was born in Brooklyn and raised in Marcy housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. After listening to Grandmaster Caz and UTFO's "Roxanne, Roxanne", he chooses to become a rapper. Growing up in the same projects, Jaz meets Jay-Z and becomes friend with him, Jaz becomes the mentor of Carter.

In 1986, the two formed the duo rap High Potent and release the single "H.P. Get Busy" as independent with their label Get Live Records with the help of his manager, the producer Jack Walker and a couple of friends from Long Island. High Potent record several tracks, then The Jaz helps his friend the producer Gordon "Fresh Gordon" Pickett to record, mix and produce "My Fila", an answer to Run-DMC's "My Adidas", a b-side of Fresh Gordon new single "The Fresh Commandments".

Fresh Gordon is in the roster of Tommy Boy Records and helps The Jaz to sign with the same label, releasing his solo debut single "I'm In Love" (1987), an electronic track. In the following time, The Jaz knows the manager Stan Poses, thanks to which in few months the rapper gets a major contract with EMI, being the first rap artist to sign with the label and becoming the man with the largest advance and recording budget of any rap artist at that time. The boy arrived, he made it, he got to the signing with the major, it's over.

For months nothing happens, no new singles arrive. Then, Jaz flew to London to record his debut album, along with his DJ Irv Gotti and Jay-Z. Produced by The Jaz, Bryan "Chuck" New and Pete "Q" Harris, the effort features a unique guest, Jay-Z aka Jay Zee in the track "Hawaiian Sophie". Jay-Z's first appearance on a studio album is the only reason you're here. There are no other valid reasons. He's even on the back cover alongside The Jaz, while the cover of Burke debut is almost the same of LL Cool J's "Walking with a Panther", released the same year.

The disk is composed by jazzy rhythms between the uninspired and the mediocre, all pretty simple, Jaz focuses everything on the samples to support these cuts of little meaning and it's fine, because the samples are excellent: JB's, Monk, Sammy Davis Jr., Brothers Johnson, James Brown, Gil Scott-Heron, Commodores, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Kurtis Blow. A couple of above-average cuts stand out ("Word to the Jaz", "Let's Play House"), and the rest is forgettable decent generic stuff, including the cut with Hova.

Released by EMI, three singles are extracted from this CD, "Let's Play House" / "Buss the Speaker", the cut with Jay-Z and the title track: the first two enters the charts, with "Hawaiian Sophie" peaking #18 among rap singles. The disk enters rnb albums (#87), but isn't a champ in sales. 6/10.