Life & music career

Early life & music career

Joseph "Jimmy" Jones was raised in Harlem's Taft Projects and the Bronx. He attended Catholic School, where he would meet his life-long friend, Cameron Giles. He would serve as Cam'ron's hype man and right hand throught the early part of Cam's career. Meanwhile, Jones made his on record debut on the Cam'ron song "Me, My Moms, & Jimmy" from Cam'ron's 1998 debut Confessions of Fire. He would also appear on the forthcoming Cam'ron album S.D.E..

Founding The Diplomats

Jones and Cam'ron founded The Diplomats in 2001, and Jones began hosting a series of mixtapes showcasing the Dip Set crew while honing his own skills. Jones made a mixtape called Ryder Music in 2002, and he also appeared on the Diplomats debut, Diplomatic Immunity.

Solo career

In 2004, Jones released his debut album, On My Way to Church which featured appearances from the Diplomats, as well as Lil Flip, T.I., The Game, and Bizzy Bone. The album featured the modest hit "Certified Gangstas" a remake of and Eazy-E song. His next album, Harlem: Diary of a Summer was released in 2005.

Jones struck with the song "We Fly High" from his third album, Hustler's P.O.M.E.. The song was among the biggest songs of 2006, and was best known for is ad-lib in the chorus, "Ballin" while doing a fadaway jumpshot with money in hand.

Controversy

Tru-Life

According to an interview with Tru-Life in the June/July 2006 issue of Complex Magazine, rumors had spread that Tru-Life was referring to Jim Jones in his diss song "New New York". Jim Jones reportedly began calling several rappers and telling them that he had a DVD of Tru-Life dissing them. Tru-Life responded by calling Dipset Boss Cam'ron "a bitch."

Jones responded by challenging Tru-Life to a brawl with US$50,000 at stake. Months later, Jones told an interviewer that Tru-Life did not respond to the challenge, doesn't count in the rap industry, and lacked the money and heart to accept Jones' challenge.

The beef continued into 2007, when Tru-Life released his DJ J-Love hosted mixtape entitled Tru York with Dipset diss tracks and whose cover superimposes an image of Jim Jones' face over a swimsuit-clad Borat picture.

Jay-Z

Jones' beef with Tru-Life may have stemmed from a dispute between Cam'ron and Jay-Z, as Tru-Life was signed to Jay-Z's Roc-La-Familia label at the time.(Now sigined to Roc-A-Fella Records) Jim Jones has also dissed Jay-Z's performance as president of Def Jam Recordings.

Jay-Z has since responded with a diss track called "Brooklyn High" over the beat from Jones's "We Fly High". On December 1st, 2006, BET's Access Granted debuted the video for Jones's "We Fly High" remix, with Diddy, Baby, T.I., Young Dro, and added Juelz Santana's verse from his response on the "We Fly High Beef Mix".

Cam'ron

Rumors begin to spread stating that Jim Jones has been in many rifts and disagreements with fellow Dipset member Cam'ron

On May 7, 2007, Jones was to appear on the "Funkmaster Flex radio show", but due to unknown reasons Jones was a no show which bloggers and listeners began to wonder if this statement of a possible break up within the group was indeed true However, Radio-Personality Miss Info caught up with jones and interviewed him in which he describe the situation with him and Cam'ron. He said:

When Cam'ron was available for an interview with Miss Info he talked about his relationship with Jim Jones He Said:

Filmography

Discography

• 2004: On My Way to Church
• 2005: Harlem: Diary of a Summer
• 2006: Hustler's P.O.M.E. (Product of My Environment)
• 2008: Untitled Jim Jones album