JT Money

Rising to prominence in the early 1990s as the frontman and co-founder of Florida rap crew Poison Clan, Jeffrey “JT Money” Thompkins (born in Miami on September 14th, 1972) came up under the tutelage of music mogul Luther “Luke” Campbell, who signed both him and the collective to his renowned Southern hip-hop label, Luke Records. Amassing a solid local fan base in the following years with a string of albums, Poison Clan found national success in 1992 with the Poisonous Mentality single “Shake Whatcha Mama Gave Ya’”, a booming breakbeat number later named by XXL as one of the best rap songs of the decade. However, by the time that the group’s fourth LP, Straight Zooism, landed in 1995, Thompkins and Luke had found themselves embroiled in a significant royalty dispute which ultimately resulted in the pair cutting ties. Breaking off from Poison Clan too, Thompkins inked a new deal with prominent rap label Priority Records, with whom he soon landed the biggest hit of his career in the form of the 1999 Solé collaboration and Billboard #5 single “Who Dat”. Three months later, he returned with his first solo album, Pimpin’ on Wax. Boasting high-profile features from local legend Trick Daddy and West Coast star Too $hort, it reached #28 on the Billboard 200 and was promptly certified gold. Seeing out the year on a high, he joined forces with Solé once more on “4, 5, 6”, which also featured vocals from Xscape singer Kandi and scored a #21 chart position in the US. Continuing to push the Dirty South sound – namely low-slung crunk and dirty rap – throughout his oeuvre, Thompkins enjoyed moderate success once more with his follow-up album, 2001’s Blood, Sweat & Years, before dropping off the charts. Nonetheless, he has since released several more LPs including the 2020 effort OG Perspective, in which he positioned himself as an elder statesman of the scene.

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