Twenty years later, J-Zone’s “Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes” still sets itself apart from the crowd
Back in the early ’00s, Jay “J-Zone” Mumford was a different type of “throwback” rapper. While many artists outside of the mainstream positioned themselves as the heirs to Rakim or the Native Tongues or KRS-One, Zone had a different set of “role models.” Just like many other hip-hop heads, he grew up on the music of Hieroglyphics and the Ultramagnetic MC’s. But he also professed great affection for Tim Dog, Eazy-E, The Afros, and the regional albums that would receive 2 to 2.5 mics in The Source. It reflected in his music in the best way possible.
J-Zone stood out in hip-hop underground if for no other reason that his records were frequently hilarious. Though he would likely bristle at the idea of being considered a “comedy rapper,” Zone’s brash, carefree attitude made for entertaining listening. Many artists who operated both inside and outside of the mainstream could be oppressively self-serious, and J-Zone provided a necessary contrast.
J-Zone’s production stylings were also eclectic, taking and chopping samples from obscure sources and transforming them into somewhat quirky, but mostly very funky concoctions. Sometimes tracks would have a circus-like feel, at other times there were gothic and eerie. Zone was also well-known for taking vocal soundbites from ‘50s/’60s/’70s era television shows and repurposing them to sound salacious and/or threatening. These creative approaches helped make him one of the best producers of the early to mid ‘00s.
Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes, released 20 years ago, was the album that really put J-Zone on the map. He put out a pair of releases, Music For Tu Madre (1998) and the Bottle of Whup EP (2000), to unexpected acclaim; the former started as his Senior project while at SUNY Purchase. However, Pimps… was his first release to get serious distribution, first through his own Old Maid Entertainment imprint, and later through Fat Beats/Razor & Tie when they reissued it with some new material in 2002. Even though the album features some material from Bottle…, overall it has an impressive array or fun and engaging tracks. It was one of the better releases of 2001.
Even though Pimps… was J-Zone’s third project, he had never had grand designs about being a rapper, showing much more interest in the production side of things. Hence, he brought in Alpha “Al-Shid” Sesay-Harrell and Danny “Huggy Bear” Kerrs to share the spotlight on Pimps… The two had appeared on Zone’s previous releases, but this time they formed the Old Maid Billionaires, a trio of trash-talking, versatile artists. Though Zone is still ostensibly the star of the album, you can hear he was positioning his two collaborators to take the lead moving forward.
“Q&A” perfectly sets the tone for what was J-Zone “character” at the time. He participates in a faux-interview, treating many of the stereotypical trappings of “backpack rap” with contempt in the process. Rather than present himself an ideologically pure hip-hop solider, J-Zone positions himself as a disciple of artists like Willie D and Too Short, too cheap and disinterested to wine and dine his female companions, but still having clear career aspirations. “As for my goal, I want a Caddy, feel me?” he raps. “And three dime chicks calling me daddy, daily.” He goes against all of the cliches the many usually associate with “underground” rappers: he disses all of his hometown sports teams, dismisses requests to freestyle, and derides the idea of selling himself short for the sake of hip-hop culture.
“Zone For President” is another entertaining look into J-Zone’s mindset. Sonically, it features one of the best beats on the album, blending what sounds like an accordion with keyboard and vocal samples. On the mic, he trumpets Old Maid Entertainment as “the only label with the phone and fax on the same line.” He shows an abundance of contempt for those who are obsessed with pointless nostalgia and try to impose standards of purity for hip-hop music. “Try to save hip-hop? What are you insane?” he raps. “I just play my part cause ain’t a damn thing changed.”
J-Zone also had a unique approach to his thematic material. These days, a lot these songs wouldn’t fly, but it’s still incredibly entertaining as Zone commits to the ignorant as fuck character that he creates. “Bum Bitch Ballad” is Zone’s screed against bitches of all genders. Zone beats down oblivious aspiring emcees on “Block Itch,” especially those who to clamor to freestyle with him while on tour and end up preventing him to get groupie love. On “Trojan War,” Zone outlines his hatred of condoms, before getting into an argument with his dick (voiced by Huggy Bear), which threatens him with impotence if he refuses to strap up.
The other two Old Maid Billionaires help Zone deliver much of his most off-color material. “No Consequences,” which first appeared on A Bottle of Whoop-Ass, predates The Purge franchise by over a decade, Zone and Huggy Bear partake in a 24-hour period of lawlessness. “Jailbait Jennifer” pushes the edges of good taste, as both Zone and Al-Shid detail lascivious (and clearly fictional) encounters with underage girls, where things ending very badly for both of them.
Some of the best material on Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes come when all three members of the Old Maid Billionaires come together on the same track. “Live From Pimp Palace East” features the three dispensing pure braggadocio over a simple bassline. Al-Shid brings the rawness with his verse, rapping, “So we can slap box, either pack Glocks, my rap rocks / Either way, y’all don’t want it like a bottle of backwash.”
In comparison, “Metrocard Millionaires” is practically frenetic, as Zone crafts a track from sprigs of sped-up vibraphones, guitars, and strings. The song doesn’t appear on later pressing of the album, due to some sample clearance issues. Which is a shame, since its one of the best songs on the project.
The trio all contribute high octane verses, creating another outstanding verbal display. “Fuck a Benz, if I pimp I keep my beat-up-ass Protege,” Zone boasts. “Shit ain’t got no rims, still pullin’ three hoes a day.” Shid proclaims that he’s “the most diligent, with or without a million shipped / I’m still killin’ it, fuck if y’all feelin’ it” as Huggy adds, “A two-bit MC with nothing to lose / There’s six million ways to die and I won’t even let you choose.”
Zone gives his cohorts time to shine on their own, with each receiving a pair of solo tracks. Shid comes on strong on both of his endeavors. On “190” (another holdover from A Bottle of Whoop Ass) he tries to penetrate the haze of his alcohol-fueled misadventures. Shid delivers some high-powered lyrical shit on “S.H.I.D. Pt . 5.,” mowing through the competition like a wrecking ball over hard-as-steel drums and stabs of horns, vocals, and percussion. Throughout the song’s first verse, expertly putting words together so that the first letter of each repeatedly spells out “S-H-I-D.” The second verse is one of the best S.H.I.D. ever delivered, as he raps, “It’s only shotgun shells that Imma spit at you chumps / Have you gassed, full circle, you gonna pay at the pump.”
While S.H.I.D. came from a distinctly straight-ahead direction with his solo material, Huggy Bear is unorthdox. “I’m Fucking Up the Money” is close to a stream of consciousness track, with Hug contemplating topics that run the gamut from government experimentation to racial inequality. He ponders his feelings of isolation on “Invisible Ink,” searching for his place in this world over an expertly chopped sitar sample.
Later pressing of the album feature the track “County Check Pimpin’,” which first appeared as the b-side on the “Q&A” 12”. Here immersed himself in his Captain Backslap character, chasing after high class women to pay him for sex, but still refusing to pay for dinner or tokens of affection. “I never go broke, I go Dutch, feeling it?” he declares. “I charge by the stroke when I fuck, period.” The song also introduces another object of his obsession, Christina Aguilera, as he leaves Lucy Liu by the wayside.
J-Zone has frequently expressed mixed feelings about Pimps… Since it was his first album to receive a considerable following, he felt that his fans got attached to the sound and him to make essentially the same albums for the rest of his career. Furthermore, though he’d planned to step back from the mic after releasing Pimps… and begin with working with Shid and Huggy Bear on their albums, both rappers decided that they wanted to go their own direction. Though Shid continued to appear on Zone’s album moving forward, there was never an entire Shid project produced entirely by Zone. Meanwhile, Huggy Bear has released music only sporadically over the last two decades.
These days, J-Zone is known for his skills on the drums. He makes up one-half of the funk duo The Du-Rites, and is currently one of the three best “hip-hop” drummers working, collaborating with artists like Lord Finesse, Gangrene, Kev Brown, and Pharoahe Monch. He’s put his rap and production career behind; he chronicled his career in his book Root For The Villain: Rap, Bull$hit, and a Celebration of Failure and hasn’t produced a hip-hop track in more than five years.
Though it might not define J-Zone’s career, Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes is an exercise is “ignorant” fun. The album evokes a time where rappers could not take themselves so seriously. Even when he’s still fucking around, the beats are as dope as anything released during the era, and is refreshingly self-aware. In 2001, that was a welcome change of pace.
