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Without a regular gig and with tension in his home life after his parents divorce, Jacobs simply left.
He traveled the country for a time, backpacking and picking up odd jobs.
But his passion for music did not subside; it shapeshifted.
His course was set: Instead of spinning other peoples records for a living, hed create his own.
Around 1985, he moved to Los Angeles.
(This was after Jacobs had made a leap from lurking in music stores to working in one.)
By this point, Jacobss style, musical and otherwise, had undergone a few evolutions.
We were thinking,We are going to have to bomb a courthouse one day, he cracked.
In hindsight, Jacobs was grateful that Chuck D and the Bomb Squad knocked them off course.
But that doesnt mean everyone had equal creative input.
In addition to Clinton, Jacobs was a Prince fan who wasnt?
If only there were a 15-minute version that could get you fired from your day job.
The record went platinum less than six months after release.
(We left as frogs but we came back as princes, Jacobs would tellVIBE.)
It is specific and charmingly lewd, good-natured with the hint of an edge.
For the clearest evidence of this, consider his most famous protege.
Digital Underground would not maintain those commercial heights, but the tail of Jacobss influence is long.
It can be seen in hisproductionfor other artists, his indelibleguest verses, and his discovery oflocal virtuosos.
It was as if he came from somewhere else entirely.
