Jim Jones is a man of many talents. Throughout the years, he’s wowed fans with his musical prowess and more recently, his knack for reporting the weather. What may sometimes go unnoticed, however, are his accomplishments as a label executive — one of which he revealed while displaying yet another one of his skills: storytelling.
During a interview for HipHopDX’s new “Hacked” series, the El Capo emcee shared an interesting anecdote about an instance when he convinced fellow record executives to invest in Trey Songz during a time they considered dropping him from their label.
“I definitely helped Trey Songz with his success. In his very beginning stage, I kind of saved his career. He was actually on the chopping block at the label. I guess it was Atlantic at the time, and I was working on Warner Music Group,” Jones explained.
“Saw Trey at one of the music conventions in the Bahamas or something, and Kevin Liles was like, ‘We about to cut this young man because we don’t know what to do with him.’”
“I was like, ‘That nigga fire, you don’t need to cut him, you need to invest in him and put some steam behind him,’” he continued. “Now look, Kevin Liles ended up managing him — I always been real good at that man, even now. I could pick a diamond in the rough with my eyes closed, it’s cool.”
The Grammy-nominated singer went on to record eight studio albums, including Ready and his most recent project, Back Home. His success has earned him a solid fanbase and has given him so much validation, he doesn’t care to compete in a Verzuz.
“I’m in competition with myself. And furthermore, I don’t think it’s nobody that really do what I do,” Songz previously said. “I feel like people [who] have solidified a space for themselves — like without question — should not be battling nobody.”