Bloody Kool-Aid

Photo by Ben Ritter
 

Yes, this is yet another Dipset article. But when we’re dealing with gangs and cults, how could we omit Jim Jones, the infamous cult leader of the Byrd Gang? Also known for his Gainsbourg beard, motorcycle jackets, extra medium shirts and abundance of red bandanas, this self proclaimed One Eyed Willie went from being Cam’s funny looking hypeman to getting drafted by Lyor Cohen for an executive position at Warner Brothers, all the while having the hottest song in New York with “We Fly High”. Whether doing push-ups with naked girls on his back in his new video, or being hilariously vocal about his dislike of Jay-Z and Kanye West, you know it’s the Capo’s magnetism that makes every kid in America want to be a Diplomat.

Vice: How did you get the name Jim Jones?

Life happens man, they say everything happens for a reason and that was the nickname that my partner Cam’ron gave me when we first started in the industry, off his first record “357”, he said Jim Jones and it stuck with me to this day. And it was relevant to what I was doing if you really look at it. They say Jim Jones is a cult leader, makes everybody drink Kool Aid and has everybody follow him, and you know, Jim Jones, Byrd Gang leader, got Sizzurp, got music, so we got a little bit in common. This is from what people told me and history classes and shit like that. When I was in school they gave you a little introduction to what it was cuz you know, it was fairly new, like in the past 4 decades, 5 decades, something like that, right? I’m just not trying to kill nobody, I just want everybody to have a good time.

Except that guy over there [pointing to some dude Jim Jones just had an altercation with].

That dude was a little bit out of pocket. 8 ball on the pocket, baby.

And the Diplomats is your cult.

Yeah the Dipset is a cult. Diplomats is an umbrella, everybody’s got subsidiaries that fall under Diplomats so we don’t get wet. Shout to Killa Cam King Jaffe Joe, he’s the ace in the hole, without him none of this could be possible, so all credit goes to him. Shout to Juelz Santana the prince of the city. Shout to Freeky Zeeky, he’ll be home on Thanksgiving. The ball is still bouncin’ so we still ballin’.

Now you’re a cult leader who also happens to be a gang member.

I’ve been affiliated with the Blood gang since I was a teenager. And for y’all that’s not familiar with the court of law, being a member of a gang, being a Blood is not a crime, you know what I mean? That is not a crime to be a gang member and shit like that, it’s what you do as a gang member, that’s when you get conspiracy charges and racketeering and all that. Me being who I was, I just came up in a hood that was a Blood neighbourhood and either you better act right or, shit, you know what happens, so it rolled over for me, man. I came up tough, I came to ball hard and it was nothing else for me to do so I started bangin’ at a young age. And you know for us coming from New York that was real different, everybody’s talking about that was faking and they’re talking about the West Coast and things like that. But my standpoint of view is that I don’t care where you gangbang at, it’s people dying, it’s young youth dying all that time. Gangs are killing each other and at the end of the day, it’s fucking up our hood regardless of where we’re coming from, that’s what people really need to know. Aside from that, man, you know what it is, we on the opposite left side of the law but we riders, man, we came up hopeless but to make a couple of dollars we tryin’ to stay focused, man. They ain’t giving us no jobs cuz most of us got felonies and shit like that so we got to hit the streets, and the rent got to be paid, so we sell drugs and we hustle and we do whatever we got to do to scratch and survive, man, and that’s what people don’t understand, you know what I mean? They put us in that predicament, but we couldn’t get no coke if it wasn’t for the government, you dig, and we couldn’t get no jobs if it wasn’t for the government, so you figure out what they want us to do.

How big would you say is the Blood gang nowadays?

It’s Bloods everywhere baby, it’s all over the East, it’s all over the West, the Blood culture’s turned into such a major thing as far as travelling through other parts of the country. We’ve been banging over here in New York for years, it’s a real problem in the city if you really want to get at it like that, it’s nothing to glamorise, it’s nothing to hype about. It’s some real shit, kids are dying, there’s a lot of violence going on, a lot of drug selling going on, and these are the options that we have. We don’t know no better, you dig? So right now I’m just trying to lead by example, man, if I can come from gangbangin’, if I can be a gang member, if I can come from out the projects which is the worst of the worst and stand right here and own record labels and shit like that, then I’m actually some inspiration for anybody that’s in the hood. Cuz if you look in my direction you look in the right direction, you dig?

Yes. Spoken like a true cult leader indeed. What musical tactics do you use to seduce prospective members?

I do what’s going to make the hood feel good, what’s going to make niggas that came up like I came up feel good, what’s going to make them ladies that got to get out of work every day and got to boost and steal and do credit card scams every day and shit like that. I ain’t doing it for no other reason.

And you travel around the country to recruit, right?

I’ve been in every hood in America damn near, but I didn’t just go there to visit, I been there, I squatted in every hood, I understood their culture, I understood their hustle, I understood what they was going through. In numerous amounts of places, from the whole East Quarter, from Miami, Atlanta, North Carolina, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Ohio, I’ve been in all these spots, Chicago, we squatted in all these spots, St-Louis, we squatted in these spots, Houston, I squatted, LA, squatted, San Diego, squatted. I’ve been everywhere, I’ve been on a mean run. You got people that say they’re going on their promo tour, I just been on my life tour with no money involved, I was spending more money than I was making, actually. See I’ve been doing this and runnin’ around the country for 10 years and if you a hard nigga, real recognise real, and you start to build a rapport with niggas that work through the streets like they want to work through the streets. And that’s what I’ve learned and now everywhere I go, it’s just one phone call away that people show the camaraderie and roll out the red carpet. I don’t really like to say no names cuz that gets people caught up, but let’s just say that I got some very very good people in my corner and they’re willing to ride.

Really, can you tell us who you’re affiliated with?

Jim Jones’ life is some real shit so we don’t give out names and shit like that, the only names we give out is media names: rappers and actors. Anything else is uncivilised, baby. You got to play the rules, but let’s just say that I’m covered. And if you were real nigga then you’d be with real niggas, and you’d have the same opportunities I have when you touch down in different places and you ain’t got to worry about nothing, you dig? And stop showing your motherfucking guns on TV, you ain’t scaring nobody.

MACHO
Jim Jones’ DVD A Day In The Fast Life is out now on Diplomats/Koch