Johnathan Burks (born January 15, 1965) better known by his stage
name Jaz-O, is a American rapper and record producer active in the
late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for being the mentor of Jay-Z.
Jaz is also known as the Originator and had a song called "The
Originators" that featured a young Jay-Z in 1990. As simply
the Jaz, he had success with his 1989 single "Hawaiian Sophie" from
his debut album Word to the Jaz. He has been featured on some of
Jay-Z's songs, such as "Bring it On" from Reasonable Doubt)
and the single "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)" from
Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life, where he was credited as Big Jaz. He also
produced the single "Ain't No Nigga" from Reasonable Doubt
and the song "Rap Game/Crack Game" from In My Lifetime,
Vol. 1. The album "Kingz Kounty (2002) - with The Immobilarie
Present" marked the last time Jay-Z and mentor Big Jaz would
ever collaborate with each other.
The long standing feud between Jaz-O and Jay-Z started when Jay-Z
was signed to Roc-A-Fella records and he tried to convince fellow
MCs Jaz-O and Sauce Money to sign as well. They both refused. It
is rumored that they didn't trust Roc-A-Fella records CEOs Dame Dash
and Kareem "Biggs" Burke. Naturally, Jay-Z wanted to show
his friend and mentor some love and respect by getting him onto a
potentially successful record label. Jay-Z confirms this event on
the song "What We Talkin' About" on the Blueprint 3 album
when he says "Dame made millions, even Jaz made some scraps,
he could've made more but he ain't sign his contract." Jay-Z
also took shots at Jaz-O on The Black Album track "December
4th" saying, "Plus i hit my momma with cash from a show
that i had Supposedly knowin nobody paid Jaz wack ass."Jaz-O
also claims that Jay-Z got his name from Jaz, which Jay-Z denies.
Jaz was an important figure in the Nas vs. Jay-Z feud. It is also
speculated that Jaz-O supplied Nas with some of the information he
used in his Jay-Z diss track "Ether". After the situation
with Nas cooled down, Jay-Z went on to diss Jaz first on a track
released by DJ Kay Slay featuring Freeway, Geda K, Young Chris, and
Memphis Bleek Called "Fuck Jaz-O AKA Jaz Ho" and later
on his album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse. Jay-Z said
on the title track, "I'ma let karma catch up to Jaz-O." Jaz
responded with a record on a DJ Kay Slay mix tape called "It's
Ova."
Despite the long standing feud between mentor and protege, Jay-Z
still gives Jaz-O credit for his success (although he disses him
at the same time) as heard in the song "I Do It For Hip Hop" on
Ludacris' Theater of the Mind album. Jay-Z says "Shout out to
Grand Master Flash and to Caz and even Jaz bum ass'.
Jaz-O soon released a diss track aimed to Jay-Z for the "I
Do It For Hip Hop" diss named 'Go Harder' released in early
2009.
In late August 2009, Jaz-O was featured in another Jay-Z diss, Called "Gangstas
Ride". This time with West-Coast rapper The Game. The song was
fueled by the recent beef between The Game and Jay-Z.
Besides being an emcee, he has produced songs for several hip hop
artists other than Jay-Z, such as Group Home, M.O.P, Ras Kass, Rakim,
and others.