Recently on The Amazing AllHipHop podcast, Jim Jones spoke to Chuck Creekmur about a lot of different topics. One particular story he told regarded his time at Baseline Studios, the now-defunct studio that Roc-A-Fella called its home in midtown Manhattan. Originally, the studio was owned by Jay-Z and O.G. Juan, and spent its last years under Just Blaze’s supervision before closing in 2010. Furthermore, the Dipset MC fondly recalled his time with Jay at Baseline, and gave listeners an interesting anecdote that meshed the music game and the streets. Around the 42-minute mark in his conversation with All HipHop, Jones explained how he’d pull up to the studio with a lot of Bloods.
Of course, Hov’s aspirational and detailed brand of hip-hop built an acumen that enabled him to speak to the streets as much as he was straying further from them into billionaire status. However, that was a tightrope walk that he balanced all throughout his career, even to this day as he tries to inspire others to “make it out.” Regardless, Jay-Z apparently wanted a certain level of respect from gang members visiting the stu, according to Jim Jones.
