Last week, fans expected to press play on Jadakiss’ fifth studio album Ignatius, named so after the passing of one of their fallen soldiers, Jay “Icepick” Jackson. Unfortunately, tragedy struck again — this time, it was the death of Pop Smoke, one of New York’s most promising artists on the rise. As a result, the LOX veteran decided to push back Ignatius for one week — along with his Pusha T collaboration, “Huntin Season” — out of respect, as he explained via his recent interview at Genius:
“We held back to pay respect to Pop Smoke. It just didn’t seem like the right time to release the song or the visual or the project, so we just pulled it back for a week…We’re going to keep it rolling, but just paying some homage and respect with everything that’s going on right now.”
Today, fans get to finally check out Ignatius, which sees thirteen new tracks from the hip hop legend and additional appearances from Ty Dolla $ign, 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, DeJ Loaf, John Legend, Nino Man, Millyz and more. The project also contains his previously-released single “ME,” which stands as Jadakiss’ biggest ‘who’s the best’ statement thus far:
“Bad Boy, Ruff Ryder, lotta money was made by (Me)/
Large bag from Steve Stoute, commercial with A.I. (Me)/
One of the last of the OGs to stay fly (Me)/
Who else you know went at it with Beanie and 50 besides (Me)/”
Press play on Ignatius below.
Ignatius tracklisting:
- “Pearly Gates”
- “Huntin Season” Feat. Pusha T
- “Keep It 100”
- “Catch & Release”
- “ME”
- “Anna May”
- “(NYB) Need Your Best” Feat. Ty Dolla $ign
- “Angels Getting Pedicured” Feat. 2 Chainz
- “Kisses to the Sky” Feat. Rick Ross & Emanny
- “My Condolences”
- “Gov’t Cheese” Feat. DeJ Loaf, Nino Man & Millyz
- “I Know” Feat. John Legend
- “Closure” Feat. Chayse