What Would Have Been Jae Hood’s Album.

Remember Jae Hood (aka J-Hood/Jay Hood, they never really could decide)? He was that guy who was signed to D-Block and appeared on just about every mixtape that came out for a couple of years. He eventually got frustrated that his album hadn’t come out and left D-Block. In doing so, he made sure to disrespect the guys that gave him everything he had with an obnoxious little video of him dragging his D-Block chain on the sidewalk. 50 Cent, who at the time was riding the beef train at full steam, brought Jae on stage at a concert along with Remy Ma who had recently split with Fat Joe. Jae’s loudmouth, attention-whore tactics resulted in his being ostracized from the hip-hop community and nobody’s heard from him since despite repeated apologies. And I’m pretty sure all he got from 50 was a crate of Tony Yayo CDs.

But was Jae Hood justified in his frustration? Were Jadakiss, Sheek Louch and Styles P holding him back? Here’s an advance copy of his album. You decide.

Download: Jay Hood Album Advance

On second thought, I’ll save you some time. This album is really bad and not just because it’s unfinished. Jae couldn’t write a hook if his life depended on it, his punchlines are lame, his guntalk is tired and the beats are awful. But this begs the question, why all the fuss about some rapper who was friendly with the LOX a long time ago?

Back when mixtapes (the screaming DJ kind) were still relevant, Jae Hood was a regular and had some of the best freestyles around. I was always checking for him and hoping he would put together a killer album. This is one of the only Big Mike mixtapes I’ve kept through the years and has Jae working a tight, aggressive flow, showing definite potential. Bums me out that he fell off so hard.