Jovan Smith (born January 25, 1983), better known by his stage name J. Stalin (also J Stalin or J-Stalin), is an American rapper from the Cypress Village housing projects in

West Oakland West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the ...

. In 2007, he signed to Zoo Entertainment Production Company run by artist Mekanix, who described his style as a variant of

hyphy The term hyphy ( ) is an Oakland, California, slang meaning "hyperactive". More specifically, it is an adjective describing the hip-hop music and the culture associated with the Oakland area. The term was first coined by rapper Keak da Snea ...

known as "Go".

Biography

Smith was born into

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

and earned money as a child by selling candy bars on the

BART Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...

trains. Around age 16, he began recording and selling

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

.J. Stalin, ''Early Morning Shift'' (album notes), Demolition Man Records As a youth he sold drugs in his local housing projects and spent eleven months on

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

for drug dealing.

Musical career

Smith references

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

in his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

because they shared the same initials, and "...He was short like me, but he was always smashin' on everybody." In a recent interview he remarked about his home and lifestyle, "This is West Oakland, man. This is the bottoms right here." He went on to say that the crime rate in his neighborhood was so high, the city had remodeled the housing units in his

housing project Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

to remove the back doors so that criminals could not escape from home raids by the police. J. Stalin's first widely released performances arose when a DJ Daryl, a local

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

owner, placed him on a track he was recording. A colleague of Daryl's, Richie Rich was impressed enough to put J. Stalin on three tracks in his 2002 album '' Nixon Pryor Roundtree'' album and two more as a member of Rich's group, the Replacement Killers. He later recorded and performed with artists such as G-Stack, Beeda Weeda, Keak Da Sneak and

San Quinn Quincy Adams Brooks, known professionally as San Quinn, is an American rapper from San Francisco, California. He is the cousin of Messy Marv, Stevie Johnson, and Ya Boy. Early life Brooks was born in Oakland, and grew up in the Fillmore Dis ...

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

Luniz Luniz (pronounced Loonies) (formerly Luniz Toons and LuniTunes) is an American hip hop music, hip hop duo from Oakland, California, formed by West Coast rappers Yukmouth and Numskull. They were signed to Noo Trybe Records and C-Note Records, and ...

, The Team,

The Frontline The Frontline were an American rap duo from Richmond, California, which consisted of Left and Locksmith, also known as Lock.Hildebrand, Lee (2005)RICHMOND VIOLENCE FUELS HIP-HOP DUO, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', June 26, 2005, retrieved 2010- ...

, Mob Figaz,

Yukmouth Jerold Dwight Ellis III (born October 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Yukmouth, is an American rapper. He is the founder of The Regime, Smoke-A-Lot Records and Godzilla Entertainment. Career Yukmouth is a member of the rap duo L ...

and

Shock G Gregory Edward Jacobs (August 25, 1963 – April 22, 2021), known professionally as Shock G and by his alter ego Humpty Hump, was an American rapper and musician who was best known as the lead vocalist of the hip hop group Digital Underground. ...

. As of 2006, he had released roughly 7

mixtapes In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

and had four releases scheduled for 2007. Mekanix and Zoo Entertainment released "On Behalf of the Streets" on October 31, 2006.

Discography

Albums, mixtapes, collaborations, compilations

*''2006: J Stalin & The Mekanix - On Behalf Of The Streets'' *''2008: Gas Nation'' *''2009: J Stalin & Guce - Giants & Elephants'' *''2010:

Prenuptial Agreement A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement (commonly referred to as a prenup), is a written contract entered into by a couple before marriage or a civil union that enables them to select and control many of the legal ...

'' *''2012: Memoirs Of A Curb Server'' *''2013: J Stalin & DJ.Fresh - Miracle & Nightmare On 10th Street (Deluxe Edition)'' *''2021: Wired In 3'' *''2021: Early Morning Shift 4'' *''2021: Diesel Therapy 3'' *''2021: On Behalf Of The Streets 3'' *''2022: J Stalin & DJ.Fresh - The Real World 6''

References

External links

J-Stalin's Official MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stalin, J. Living people Rappers from Oakland, California Joseph Stalin 1983 births 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians