The first single “Me” sees him, “giving the people who don’t know me a quick autobiography,” he says. Fans of the mixtape monster “Al Qaeda Jada” will get their fix with the Pusha T collab “Hunting Season,” but the rest of the record showcases him as the Jason Phillips that his friend Icepick inspired him to be: a seasoned musician with stronger hooks and more mature songwriting, covering a wide range of emotions and speaking about the relationships and experiences that matter to him while dropping jewels throughout. The LP is named after Ignatius “Icepick” Jackson, his friend, former A&R and manager who died from colon cancer in 2017. The grown-up Jadakiss is reflected on Ignatius, his fifth solo studio album, scheduled for a March 6 release (the album was pushed back one week for sample clearances). The 44-year-old father of five children is also preparing to get into voiceover work, starting with a role as a superhero in an animated film. He and his groupmate Styles P went from solely trading lines on wax for the legendary record labels, Bad Boy and Ruff Ryders, to starting Juices For Life, a health-conscious juice bar in their childhood stomping grounds just north of New York City. But 26 years after the Yonkers-bred group made their debut on Main Source’s song “Set It Up,” Jada’s connection to the street looks different. Whether he’s conjuring images of a luxurious bathroom on “We Gonna Make It,” ruminating on social issues on his 2004 hit “Why,” or illustrating a heartless “Bishop” from 1992’s Juice on Schoolboy Q’s track “Groovy Tony,” Jadakiss has always been as hard as it gets. He established himself as a rap legend in the mid-90s with his heartless, street-touching rhymes as a member of The LOX and on songs alongside rap greats like Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, DMX, and more. While his son earned a college degree, ‘Kiss has been dropping doctorate level bars for more than two decades. “He just graduated from Clark Atlanta in psychology.” “This is my 23-year-old son,” he proudly shares in his distinctive raspy voice, pointing to a young man behind him wearing a red hoodie. Jason “ Jadakiss” Phillips is two weeks away from releasing what’s arguably the best album of his career, but when he visits the VIBE office in Times Square, he has a different reason to celebrate.
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