Jim Jones talks Cam’Ron, Jay-Z, Kanye West and more…

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Home » 50 Cent, Cam'Ron, Dipset, Jay-Z, Jim Jones, Kanye West, Quotables

Jim Jones talks Cam’Ron, Jay-Z, Kanye West and more…

20 November 2008 No Comment

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Jim Jones Complex Magazine Cover

Jim Jones was featured in Complex Magazine (looking clean for a change), and talked about everything from his acting career to his relationship with Cam’ron, and of course no interview is complete without him talking about his idol Jay-Z – Jimmy and Damon Dash claim that Kanye West actually hates Jay-Z…

You have a guest role on the Starz show Crash. What else are you getting into for ’09?

Jim Jones: Well, the sky’s the limit, man. There are so many things I want to do. We just started a comedy division together: me, Dame and Mike Epps. We’re getting ready to do the big concert with Epps, and we got a soundtrack to the comedy show. It’s called From Hollywood to Harlem—it should be really funny. Mike Epps is brilliant. I want to explore the movie world through comedy and try to get in that way. Not too many people know me in Hollywood, and that’s the place I need to be. I need everybody to know me.

And what about the play you’re starring in?

Jim Jones: I’m doing a play called Hip-Hop Monologues Off-Broadway. It’s something we derived for my new album. You know how everybody does a listening session and all the publicity comes through, and there’s a little bit of liquor there, and they play the music? I got tired of doing that; I wanted to do something very different. Something to gain people’s attention ’cause I want this album to be a real success. We’re going to do the best verses that fit the situation out of all the songs to pull this play off, and then we’re going to have a full stage set, the backgrounds, and are just going to paint the whole picture. But for the most part, I’ll be how John Leguizamo was in Freak; I’ll be the center of attention.

Speaking of attention, Max B has been going hard at you lately. He even has a site for it, f*ckjimjones.com. How do you feel about that?

Jim Jones: It’s cool. Anything he tries to do, I can either shut it down or get paid for it. I own him, all his publishing, all his contracts. He sold me his publishing to get out of jail. He called me crying on the phone saying, “If you bail me out, I’ll sell you all my publishing and do whatever I got to do.” He damn near said, “I’d suck your d*ck like a crackhead to get out of jail.” [Laughs.] So you can imagine how frustrated I am, the way I’m living. I got 50 grand in my book bag, and we ain’t even at a video shoot.

Meanwhile, your relationship with Cam’ron is at a standstill. It seems like that souring has had the most effect on you.

Jim Jones: It’s definitely hard, because that’s my n*gga, that’s my brother. We rolled together for a very long time, and there are things I remember we said that we would never do. And now that we’ve got so much success, we’re doing all the things we watched people do and said that wouldn’t be us. It’s the ego; it has to be. This is a question I’ve asked myself over and over again. That’s the only way I see it. Amongst everything else, there was a couple things said on my part, but I can do that if I want to. Above all, I kept it fair; I could really expose sh*t, but that’s not what I’m here for. Once your ego becomes bigger than money, you can’t get anywhere. It’s a sad thing—we’ve built so much. Everywhere around the world, people know the Diplomats as a strong entity. And it’s at a halt due to the fact we’ve been going back and forth through this minute bullsh*t.

He finally came out and said that he couldn’t rock with you because you appeared onstage with 50, kind of questioning your loyalty.

Jim Jones: He’s questioning my loyalty? He was questioning himself. At that point in time when I did [appear onstage with 50], I was doing all business. I was doing what was best for Jimmy, what was best for my career. It was in my best interest to do publicity stunts and get hype. He was nowhere to be found, so who is he to be questioning what I was doing? He couldn’t do that from the get-go because I helped start all this. What went on between him and 50 was a mockery—that was niggas making jokes. That was a YouTube snap battle. It was nothing remotely physical about that battle. I can’t indulge in fun and jokes that’s like wrestling.

“(In the documentary, there’s mention that Jay-Z stole the beat for “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” from you and Cam’ron, that Kanye West agreed to give the beat to you guys. What’s the story behind that?)

Jim Jones: Kanye West came to our studio session at Sony, and he was playing some beats back when we were all signed to Rocafella. Cam’ron was about to come out with Come Home With Me, so we told Kanye West we wanted to buy the song “H to the Izzo.” It was an understanding we had between us and Kanye West because we were all under the same label. So then, I’ll never forget it, we’re at Cam’ron house and this hip-hop award show comes on [BET Awards, 2001], and Cam’ron and I are watching it on his couch, and we’re like, “Next year we’re gonna be up there.” So they announce that Jay-Z is about to perform his new single off The Blueprint, and the dude comes out with the “H to the Izzo” beat. Cam’ron and I look at each other like, Oh, we’re going to kill Kanye West. Oh my God, when we catch this nigga,we’re going to do something terrible to him. And that’s how Cam’ron ended up getting the “Down and Out” beat. Kanye West gave it to him free of charge as payback.”

“(You’ve said that there’s no more Rocafella, but Kanye West has had great success, and he still claims the Roc.)

Jim Jones: I don’t know if he’s actually with Jay-Z from the looks of things. From what I’ve been seeing from since we were signed until now, I think Kanye West actually hates Jay-Z. [Dame Dash interrupts:] No, he actually does. He hated Jay-Z ever since he wouldn’t give him a fucking Rocawear chain in Chicago! I’m telling you.

Jim Jones: I don’t know if the song “Big Brother” was correct, but he might’ve hated him since he didn’t give him those tickets to Madison Square Garden.

Damon Dash: This was before that. He was already in full hate by that time. [Laughs.] This nigga [Kanye West] was like, “Wow, he ain’t going to give me the chain.” I had to take off my chain and give it to him, and I was heated. I had the real canary diamonds. That shit cost $40,000! I told Kanye West, “Yo, you got to give that back when we get off this stage!”