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J. Stalin

“Vibrant and exploding with personality, J. Stalin is a knowing, mischievous wise-ass whose charisma hangs between unapologetic cockiness and the ability to cut through rap’s fantasy-addled drug fetishism and provide sobering reality.” – Pitchfork

“One of Oakland’s illest MCs” – XXL

“As the owner of Livewire Records, West Oakland rapper J Stalin provides a place for the growth of incredibly creative, meat-and-potatoes Bay Area hip-hop. The label hosts gritty rubbery street music that navigates crack dealing devastation and grounded partying tracks with equal aplomb, with artists that range from Stalin himself to MCs like Shady Nate and Philthy Rich among others.” – SPIN

“This is what Stalin does: he takes things–sounds, human beings, grocery stores–and warps them into something extraterrestrial. It’s eerie, but you’re dancing anyway.” – Passion of the Weiss

J. Stalin, born Jovan Smith, is a rapper from the Cypress Village housing projects in West Oakland. In 2007, he signed to Zoo Entertainment Production Company run by artist Mekanix, who described his style as a variant of Hyphy known as “Go”. He is also the Owner of Livewire Records, President of Town Thizzness ENT, which is a sub-division of the late Mac Dre’s Thizz ENT.

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J. Stalin was born into poverty and earned money as a child by selling candy bars on the BART trains. As a youth he sold drugs in his local housing projects and spent eleven months on parole for drug dealing. Around age 16, he began recording and selling rap music.

Although young and boyish-looking, J-Stalin adopted a tough rapper persona. He references Joseph Stalin in his stage name because they shared the same initials, and “he was short like me, but he was always smashin’ on everybody.” In a recent interview he remarked about his home and lifestyle, “This is West Oakland, man. This is the bottoms right here.” He went on to say that the crime rate in his neighborhood was so high, the city had remodeled the housing units in his housing project to remove the back doors so that criminals could not escape from home raids by the police. His major influences Stalin claims came from a small town named Castroville. He claims he can relate to the poverty and hardships the town has to deal with and has major respect for the town. Stalin was also in the internet sensation video “Cupcakin” with J-Nash.

J. Stalin’s first widely released performances arose when a DJ Daryl, a local recording studio owner, placed him on a track he was recording. A colleague of Daryl’s, Richie Rich was impressed enough to put J. Stalin on three tracks in his 2002 album Nixon Pryor Roundtree and two more as a member of Rich’s group, the Replacement Killers. He later recorded and performed with artists such as G-Stack, Beeda Weeda, Keak Da Sneak and San Quinn, E-40, The Luniz, The Team, The Frontline, Mob Figaz, Yukmouth, Numskull, Shock G, and others. Mekanix and Zoo Entertainment released J.’s debut album On Behalf of the Streets in early May 2007. J. Stalin is also the front man in his group, Livewire Da Gang. The Livewire Gang consists of many artists from various neighborhoods in North, East, and West Oakland. Some of these artists include Shady Nate, Jay Jonah, Philthy Rich, Stevie Joe, Lil Blood, Ruben Stunner, R.O.B., Ronald Mack, Kiwi, and Mayback.

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