Bay Area rapper The Jacka, real name Dominic Newton, died in a shooting in East Oakland on Monday night. He was 37 years old.
Newton’s death was reported by the San Francisco Bay Area’s CBS station. Police have not yet identified any suspects in the shooting, according to Pitchfork.
Newton converted to Islam at a young age and changed his name to Shaheed Akbar. He later did a one-year stint in prison for carjacking, where he got his stage name.
The Jacka began as a member of Pittsburg, California, hip hop group Mob Figaz and was featured on their 1999 debut album C-Bo’s Mob Figaz. Following that, he began his solo career with Jacka of the Mob Figaz in 2001. Throughout his solo career, The Jacka released dozens of mixtapes and albums. Standouts include 2005’s The Jack Artist, 2008’s The Street Album and 2011’s Flight Risk. His final solo album, What Happened To The World, was released in 2014.
Even during The Jacka’s solo career, he continued to make music with Mob Figaz. He worked on albums with them in 2001, 2002 and 2003. He also participated in many collaborations, including 2008’s Drought Season with Berner, 2010’s Devilz Rejects 2: House of the Dead with Ampichino and 2013’s Misfits with Blanco. Newton also owned his own record label, called The Artist Records.
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