Top 5, Dead or Alive
By Angel Richard
Some rappers make hits. Some rappers make you rewind the tape. Jadakiss makes you screw your face up and hit rewind twice — then that laugh comes in and you know it’s about to be a problem. That “AH-HA!” is a warning shot.
The History
Jason “Jadakiss” Phillips comes out of Yonkers, New York, one third of The LOX with Styles P and Sheek Louch. They cut their teeth writing and recording in the Bad Boy era, shining next to Biggie and Puff, then fought publicly to get their freedom and moved to Ruff Ryders — home of DMX — where the sound got grimier and the bars got sharper.
Solo, he gave us Kiss tha Game Goodbye in 2001 and then Kiss of Death in 2004, with “Why?” featuring Anthony Hamilton — a whole sermon in one song, still relevant every single year. The Last Kiss, Top 5 Dead or Alive, Ignatius — the catalog never fell off, because bars don’t age.
The Verzuz Moment
And if you need one night to prove the legend: the Verzuz against Dipset at Madison Square Garden. Kiss stood on that stage by himself for most of it and cooked an entire crew with album cuts. The whole world watched a masterclass in catalog, presence, and bars. They’re still talking about it.
Beyond music, he and Styles P went into the juice business together — health in the hood is real to them. Yonkers raised him, hip-hop respects him, and the debate is over as far as I’m concerned: when they ask me top 5 dead or alive, Jadakiss is in my five.