The Break Presents – EBK Jaaybo
EBK Jaaybo makes some heat for the street, but the Stockton, Calif.-bred rapper actually grew up on a steady diet of R&B music. Keyshia Cole and Alicia Keys were artists in his regular rotation. He officially took up rapping around 12 years old after watching his late father chase his own rap dreams. Jaaybo’s dad, a local Stockton rapper by the name of RRari, was instrumental in kickstarting the 20-year-old rapper’s hip-hop career. In middle school, Jaaybo was freestyling in the lunchroom while making a beat on the table.
During a call from California Rehabilitation Center, where Jaaybo is currently serving a prison sentence, he opens up about his foray into rap. The rising rhymer joined a group called the EBK Hotboiiz (EBK stands for Everybody Killing) in 2017, and they dropped their first single, “Sweet Lady,” a year later. EBK Hotboiiz ultimately disbanded because of “politics,” according to Jaaybo, which caused him to drop his first solo single, “Dondadda,” in 2018. The track has racked up over 3 million streams on Spotify since then.
Despite being arrested several times over the last few years, Jaaybo’s popularity has continued to skyrocket. A raw storyteller with a menacing flow, Jaaybo’s direct and honest street anecdotes have continued to connect with his growing fanbase. In January of this year, he was locked up again and is currently serving a sentence of three years and eight months for possession of a firearm by a felon or addict, enhancements of street gang act and other charges. While incarcerated, his haunting track, “Boogieman,” which arrived this past April, took off. The song has racked up over 51 million streams and is EBK Jaaybo’s biggest release to date.
Now, Jaaybo will drop a new project, The Reaper, on Friday (Aug. 22). He joins XXL for this week’s edition of The Break, in which he shares a few more details about how he got into rapping, his standout moments to date and his goal in hip-hop.
Instagram: @ebkjaaybo
Currently working on: “I got some sh*t, though I’m still trying to perfect my craft a little bit. Because a ni**a breaking through that barrier though, a ni**a gettin’ that dough now in the industry now. It’s all eyes on me, bro. So it’s like, everything I do matters. They want everything a ni**a do, from the way a ni**a dress, from the way a ni**a move, walk, talk, all that. So the music gotta be on point. So, that’s really what I’m working on, bro. As far as me doing my music, it mean a lot to me. It mean a lot to me. I gotta perform when I do it. I gotta be 100 percent.”
I got into rapping by: “Gangbangin’ and maintaining, for real. Dead homies, that’s really how a ni**a got into rapping. My pops too, though, but really like gangbangin’ and maintaining. Ni**as be gangbangin’ and we hit the studio after and we rap about it, so yeah. That’s how I’d word it.”
My standout moments in my career are: “Showing the youth that no matter what background you come from you can make something out of yourself. Even if you about somethin’ negative or doin’ somethin’ positive you can still be somebody.”
My goal in hip-hop is: “To bypass all the fake ni**as that’s f**kin’ up the industry for the real ni**as.”
Standouts:
“Boogieman”
“Probably Cursed”
“Black Bottle Boys”
“Vulture”
Sinners Prayer