Jim Jones was so passionate about the sacrifices he’s made for The Diplomats, he started to tear up. Jones, fresh off announcing his new deal with Jay Z’s Roc Nation management, stopped by Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97 this week to ventilate and explain.
“I’m at a strictly Jim Jones point in my life,” the Harlem vet told Flex when asked about if the recent friction between him and Cam’Ron could be mended.
With his eyes watering, Jim talked about the sacrifices he’s made for his team that put him in peril. “They know, I put my life on the line for this. I been to trail for this. I’ve been on America’s Most Wanted for this. I’ve been on gang file, everything you can name.
“When people play with me, I get real emotional because I operate off of emotions,” he added. “There’s never been a time when I’ve backed down from anything in this world, except God. And I’ve been against niggas 20, 30 deep by myself when niggas left me by myself. I escaped those situations and still came back and gave niggas high fives.”
Looking back at the history between Jay Z and Jim Jones
As for his new deal with Roc Nation (it is for management and branding, not music recordings), Jones said a mutual friend connected him with one of Jay Z’s close friends and business partners Juan “OG Juan” Perez. Despite feuds with Hov and several Roc Nation parties including rapper Tru Life and manager Jayvon Smith, who Jones was charged with assaulting in 2009, Jim said everything was squashed.
“Shout out to Von, I sat down and talked to him too… These are old wounds. Nobody died over it,” Jim explained.
He did say he had reservations though, when called to meet with Perez about a deal.
“I sat and thought about that shit for 48 hours. Like ‘where are we going with this?’” Jones said.
But after seeing his friends Fat Joe and The Lox do recent deals with the Roc, Jimmy was intrigued.
“With this type of platform, any idea I bring to the table, I know they’re capable of pushing it to the moon,” Jones said.
Jimmy also revealed he has not spoken directly to Jay Z yet, but they have communicated through OG Juan and Hov has given him feedback on new music already.