Lil’ Kim. Foxy Brown. Eve. Trina. All of these female rappers, at one point in time, have been the queens of their domain. Using their sex appeal to their advantage to sell records, they have become the prototype for the next wave of female rappers. In the vein of these superstars, newcomer Jacki-O has a strong resemblance to those mentioned above but there’s more to her than her provocative poses or sexual verbiage. With her debut album, Poe Little Rich Girl, Jacki-O takes you into the realities of Angela Kohn and explores her serious, playful and sexual sides.
Despite the Liberty City neighborhood, Jacki-O took what was given to her from her youth and transformed it into something positive, crediting part of her success to the community. “There are a lot of projects around the world, but my hood has taught me my survival skills. The same hustling skills that I had in the hood, I used it toward my future in the music industry.”
Her survival skills paid off in 2001 when she released her first single “Pussy (Real Good),” produced by Timbaland to create an early buzz for her album.
Rapping about the power of sexual gifts, Jacki-O gained comparisons to Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown for being raunchy and overly provocative but understanding the true value of shock, Jacki-O knew that this song would gain her the attention she needed.
“Once you hear the word ‘pussy,’ people really take notice. The word as strong as ‘pussy’ gives people the tendency to want to listen to what it is that’s going to come after that word. So it definitely was a song that I wanted to do for the empowerment of women to give people a chance to know that women are powerful.”
After a year and a half between labels and her controversial single, Jacki-O finally released her album on TVT records earlier this month. Off the album, she shows how much she believes herself when asked to speak on the album. “Poe Little Rich Girl, it’s different. It’s a hot album. It’s a solid album.” The 15-song album finds Jacki-O rapping about the harsh realities of Liberty City on “Ghetto World,” how “Fine” she is with the Ying Yang Twins, and even finds her singing on the track “Pretty.”
Compared to her fellow stars, one female rapper that Jacki-O bares resemblance to is Miami’s “Diamond Princess” Trina. While Trina has held it down for Miami since her 1998 appearance on Trick Daddy’s hit single “Nann,” Jacki-O’s arrival has caused the media to speculate of a feud between the two stars. On the album, there are a few tracks that make you wonder if Jacki-O is indirectly taking a stab at Trina.
Both hailing from Liberty City, Jacki-O’s presence has become a form of territorial invasion. “If Trina thinks I am taking a stab at her, then so be it. I’m not being apologetic. Everybody knows we ain’t the best of friends and if we were cool with each other, we would be doing music with each other.”
“[One of the most difficult things I’ve learned about the music industry is] that everybody don’t love you. Everybody is not going to believe in you. You are going to have people that want to see you fail.” For Jacki-O, failure is not an option. With a solid debut album, Jacki-O’s career is promising and reassuring. With a follow-up album on the way, Jacki-O is definitely someone to look out for.
Marcus Washington can be contacted at m.washington2@umiami.edu.