J-Zone – Root For The Villain
Early 2000’s underground rapper J-Zone releases his first new material in years in the form of “Root For The Villain” an honest, well-written and incredibly funny book that details his rise from interning in Vance Wright’s studio (Slick Rick’s DJ) as a teenager to officially retiring from the game in his late 20’s by telling Fat Beats to destroy thousands of unsold copies of his albums.
The book is both an autobiography and a collection of short essays on various topics (his thoughts on technology, cassette tapes and living with his grandmother are especially entertaining). The memoir portion of the book will obviously appeal to all Hip-Hop heads old enough to remember the indie-rap heyday of the late 90’s, but should also be read as a cautionary tale for younger aspiring artists. From spending countless hours looking for obscure records and mastering the SP-1200 to releasing well received truly independent albums (not on “independent” labels secretly backed by major corporations, as was often done at the time) and doing shows all over the world to eventually retiring and getting a day job J-Zone tells his story with a hilarious sense of self deprecation not often seen in a genre where it’s common to fill entire albums with boasts about one’s own greatness.
Arguably the coolest aspect of the book is that J-Zone tells the whole story of being a rap artist and not the glossy MTV Cribs/Ashy-To-Classy/Hooptie-To-Benz version that has become cliché. His pieces on being sued for copyright infringement by Dolemite, getting stood up by music industry people and performing for “crowds” that numbered in the single digits are a rare look into the proverbial “other side of the game” where not everyone that tries to rap ends up driving a Bentley to “106 & Park” and dating Amber Rose. J-Zone’s only shortcoming as an author is his insistence on constantly referring to himself as a “failure.” It’s hard to argue that someone that made a living being creative, touring the world and collaborating with other talented people for over a decade without a 9-5 job is not in some way a success.
J-Zone’s profile has recently risen quite a bit due to the success of “Root For Villian,” his popular blog on egotripland.com and his website govillaingo.com. The book is available on his website and numerous online retailers and most of J-Zone’s musical catalog is available on iTunes.
-Angelo (Twitter: @Mr5thround)