Yung Joc

Rapper Yung Joc (born Jasiel Robinson) learned about running his own business from his father, who owned a hair-care products company. It was also his father who gave a teenage Yung Joc his first break, writing a jingle for the Revlon company. Joc decided right then that the hip-hop business was for him, but he needed time to find his own style. Watching the various hip-hop crews that grew out of his native Atlanta, Yung Joc didn't feel a kinship to any movement until the hard-edged T.I. came on the scene, although he was a big OutKast fan. Like T.I., Joc had begun rapping with the street in mind. To release this music, he formed his own company, Mastermind. He later hooked up with Russell "Block" Spencer and his Block Enterprises label and released the hard club track "It's Goin' Down" in early 2006. The track became an Atlanta favorite and eventually landed on the desk of Sean "Diddy" Combs. Spencer had already brought the group Boyz N da Hood to Diddy, and with Joc sounding like the very hot Young Jeezy and T.I., Diddy felt he had the right artist to take his fledgling Bad Boy South label to the top. Spencer inked a multi-million dollar deal with Bad Boy to sign Yung Joc and his label Mastermind along with Spencer's own Block Enterprises. Joc's full-length debut, New Joc City, became one of the first releases from this new team of labels in early 2006. A year later the "Coffee Shop" single preceded the full-length Hustlenomics. ~ David Jeffries