Jadakiss Explains Why With The LOX It’s Never Been All About The Benjamins (Video)

Twenty years ago, on DMX’s “Blackout,” Jadakiss spit, “You pay 30 for the ‘Kiss, a 100 for The LOX / And if we cool, then I write a hook for a drop.” In 1998, Jada’ was quoting prices to artists looking for those features to do, as he rapped, “boost their sales.

Not much has changed in 2018. Jadakiss is not only a solo star but continues to rep hard for The LOX and D-Block. This month, Jadakiss and Fabolous performed at the 11th annual Roots Picnic in Philadelphia. ‘Kiss’ LOX band-mate Styles P appeared, as is often the case with the Yonkers, New York MCs’ solo shows. In speaking with Fat Joe on Coca Vision, Kiss explains this pact that also includes Sheek Louch and how the L-O-X have made it 25 years with an “I eat, we eat” mantra. It is just one highlight in the discussion between the two Roc Nation family members.

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At 17:00, Fat Joe asks ‘Kiss about the loyalty within his troop. While so many groups have crumbled, The LOX have endured while still maintaining three prolific solo careers. “As youngsters, we made a pact. We made an oath that we would never let nothing intertwine in the bond that we had as kids,” says Jadakiss. “No money, no executives [could break us up] no matter what kind of opportunity came any of our ways, individually, we’d never let it break the bondage. There were some lucrative to take. Say I got a commercial or I got somethin’, I always make sure they [benefit]—I break bread with them, either way. So they always be rootin’, they always be there for support.” Jadakiss has often been portrayed as the de facto star of the group. He was the first to release an album (2001’s Kiss Tha Game Goodbye), followed by Styles in 2002, and Louch in ’03. ‘Kiss also has two gold plaques. The MC says he has used that foothold with his troop in mind, “Even if we’re flying somewhere for a commercial and it’s just [for] me, I get them with me, and the love is still always there. So it’s never about no one man as opposed to the cause for the team.”

While Jadakiss does not say how precisely The LOX break bread on their solo ventures, it speaks to the tight fabric that’s kept the now-Roc Nation act intact.

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At 6:45, Fat Joe asks Jada’ if he has written a lot of hits that his fans are unaware of. “I did some ghostwriting. Everybody knows. I did a mediocre amount. I’ma tell you something about ghostwriting: with me, I don’t like to do it, because sometimes I feel that I’m giving the other person too much. It’s really not the case,” he says. Back in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Jadakiss admits he did “a lot of writing for Puff.” He elaborates, “I wrote [‘It’s All About The Benjamins’], I wrote ‘Senorita,’ I wrote ‘Victory.’” Fat Joe admits that he wrote the hook to ‘Senorita,’ without receiving credit. Joe notes that King Combs, Puff’s son, remade the song with his father. “You can’t make this sh*t up, my ni**a. We never got credit for the sh*t the first time. The son [King Combs] did the remix. I’m like, ‘Holy sh*t, boy! You talk about not gettin’ a dollar? That sh*t crazy!'” All three of the songs Jadakiss discloses are on 1997’s seven-times-platinum No Way Out by Puff Daddy & The Family, a short-lived ensemble that included The LOX, Lil’ Kim, Ma$e, and others.

Elsewhere in the chat, Jada’ says that Mary J. Blige’s cousin, who is a friend, is the one who handed Puff Daddy the group’s demo tape during a Jodeci and M.J.B. tour. By the mid-’90s, Diddy signed the act to Bad Boy.

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Jadakiss last partnered with Fabolous for Friday On Elm Street late last year. The LOX released Filthy America…It’s Beautiful in 2016.