JACKI-O

Aggravated assault with a firearm? Trafficking cocaine? Two years house arrest? When Jacki-O says she’s a "gangsta bitch," she means it. The newest addition to the TVT Records family is coming clean with her past in OZONE’s June issue, but until then, this mini-interview will keep you intrigued.

What kinds of music did you listen to growing up?
I listened to Salt-N-Pepa, Dana Dane, Run-DMC, LL Cool J. All the old school.

What do you see happening in the Miami music scene right now?
I think if we’d gotten a fair start in the beginning, we would have a lot more artists coming out of Miami. Now that everybody knows we have talent, everybody is stepping up. It’s not that we were necessarily discriminated against, we just didn’t have a lot of record companies in Miami, so we came along kind of late in the industry. We didn’t know a lot of things about the music industry, and the labels already had their artists and it was hard for other people to get on. Now, we’re kind of getting up to par with the rest of the industry.

Why’d you name yourself after Jacki-O?
I just liked her because she was a very beautiful lady and she carried herself like a lady. Even when her husband had the sex scandal with Marilyn Monroe, she still stuck by her man and raised her kids. She held her own, she was classy.

If your man was involved in a high-profile sex scandal, would you stick by him?
Boys will be boys. They gonna do what they do, but we’d have to have an understanding. I think they had that kind of understanding and that’s why she stuck by him.

There’s a rapper, Mr. Charlie, who used to be affiliated with your label Poe Boy and he is suing the label, saying that he wrote your hit record "Nookie." How do you feel about that situation?
I’m glad you asked me that question. I think that when you have someone who’s been in the game as long as he has, and his time has passed, honestly I think he’s trying to use this to put himself back in the game and he’s doing it the wrong way. Basically he’s just lying, he’s putting things out there, saying things that he shouldn’t be saying, and it’s hurting people. And none of it’s true, even the old shit. It’s a bunch of fabricated lies, and you just don’t do shit like that.

He had a record saying, "Pussy real good." According to the rumors, E-Class and the other executives at Poe Boy played that song for you and asked you to redo it.
Listen. Poe Boy and E-Class don’t even like that nasty shit. They don’t even wanna market me as a sex symbol, because of other female rappers that have come out before me. They were totally against me even doing a "sex" song. For a long time, all I would do is my street shit, and relationship-type music. In fact, if you hear any of the other tracks on my album, it wasn’t even about sex with me. I came up with the "Nookie" song totally on my own. One Sunday, I wrote that song. I went by Rick Ross’ house and told him, "Listen to this." He was like, "That’s a hit song." I never heard Mr. Charlie’s song until after my song was done. They came by and were like, "Wow, this sounds like ours." And I was like, "No, y’all song sounds like Salt-N-Pepa song [‘Push’]." The lyrics are different, the hook is different, the track is different, the song is totally different. I mean, why would a guy be talking about pussy and he don’t have one? And we were actually afraid to push "Sugarwalls" as the second single on the album, because of the sexual content. They don’t wanna market me that way. I don’t wanna be marketed as a "pussy rapper." We have other potential singles on the album, so we went with "Slow Down" because the track is crazy and it has a different vibe. And "Gangsta Bitch" is a street single.

Do you think that men are intimidated by a "Gangsta Bitch?"
A lot of guys are intimidated by girls that hustle and get their own money. If you’re a breadwinner, you fuck with a man’s ego or something ‘cause you doing what he supposed to do. A lot of men are intimidated like that. For a long time I didn’t even have a steady boyfriend, ‘cause if a nigga wasn’t gonna match what I was doing, bring home what I was bringing home, I wasn’t fuckin’ with him. And I had a hustle, you could check my credit on the streets.

So you’ve never met a guy that could keep up with you?
Yeah, sometimes you meet guys that could keep up but they may not be feeling you like that. It all depends.

If two hustlers are in a relationship together, do you think it becomes a competitive type thing?
Not really a competitive thing, ‘cause if both of y’all are on that same wavelength y’all could build together. But you don’t want no nigga that’s bullshitting, bringing home less than you.

What kinds of gifts have you received?
Jewels, mink coats, handbags, perfume, just little trinkets, money.

What kinds of gifts have you given?
If you dating a dude and you out there hustlin’, you’ll keep him in mind. It is free shit, you know? (laughing)

- Interview by Julia Beverly, jb@ozonemag.com (Photo: J Lash, jlash@tmail.com)