JELLEESTONE The Hood Is Here five decades into the rise of the rap game, one truth remains: Hip never would have hopped without the hood. From the streets of New York, where rap was born, to the stoops of all the world’s inner cities, hip hop is most at home in the places where people breathe and bleed the urban sagas painted by its lyrics. In Toronto, that means neighbourhoods like Rexdale or Doomztown, in hood-speak a concrete jungle populated by highrise towers, lowrise housing complexes. “I been in the hood for over a quarter of a century, man, says Jelleestone, Rexdale’s favourite son. “I am the hood, the hood is me. There’s no separation there. Jellee’s hood story is actually a tale of two cities: Born in Toronto (government name David Carty), he grew up splitting time between his mother’s place in Rexdale and his father’s in the Bronx. The former was and is his heart; the latter provided his education. “Hip hop was formally introduced to me in New York, the MC says. “But once I understood the culture and everything it was about, I was like, Shit, we do this at home [in Rexdale].’ The music was telling stories that I was living. Jelleestone started breakdancing all the way back in 1983. He began rhyming in middle school, first with a group called PNP (or Poet and Prophet), then as part of a Rexdale wrecking crew known as the Original Rude Boys. ORB got rolling in 1993, opening Toronto shows for the likes of U.S. stars Black Moon and the Pharcyde. Jellee took the first step towards carving his name as a solo artist in 1997, scoring a minor hit with a compilation track called When You’re Hot, You’re Hot. His name broke for real in 2002, when Money, Pt. 1, the lead single from his debut solo banger, Rex Entertainment/Warner Records’ Jelleestone Thirteen, climbed to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Jelleestone was nominated for best new solo artist and best rap recording at Canada’s 2002 Juno Awards. Jellee’s world devolved from bad to worse when the rough-and-tumble rhymer was arrested on a gun charge in Toronto. “A glitch in the Matrix held me up in prison for a minute, he says now, laughing at the memory. “I wound up in the hands of the law and sitting on bail for two years. At first it put a damper on my creativity I shook for a month, like aw shit. I couldn’t concentrate. But after that, I was like, Man, fuck it.’ God forbid, if they try to lock me up and succeed, at least I’ll have a record out. Snow went platinum in jail. Same with ’Pac. It won’t come to that. Jellee’s legal problems are in the past, clearing the path for The Hood is Here, a hard-charging return to form due out this August on Rex/BlackSmith Entertainment, with distribution by Universal Music. Jellee’s second platter builds on his first, serving up more of the “hood hop sound he established with Jelleestone Thirteen. /2 Last time out, Jelleestone came strong for Rexdale. This time, he’s looking to rep all. “T-Dot MC, but I ain’t Kardinal, I ain’t Saukrates / My name ain’t Choclair, you could get shot here, he rhymes on the The Hood is Here’s body-rocking, radio-friendly title track. A video for the song takes viewers to the corners of Toronto that are most often seen as horror stories on the late-night news: Rexdale, Jane and Finch, Regent Park, Flemingdon Park and the Jungle. “We did helicopter shots and all that, Jellee says. “I don’t know of another artist, rap or rock, who has done that. Elsewhere on the album, Elephant Man holds down Who Dat?; Sauks swings through with a hot verse on My Peoples. “I’m hollering my hood story, but it’s not just me. Dudes over here are going through it, dudes over there are going through it, Jelleestone says. “This is about making good music making hits, making things that the whole world will want to sing. I already gave my hood something to be proud of, now I need to do it for my whole city. No matter if they’re still here in the city or anywhere else in the world, to say, Yeah, that’s me. That’s mine.’