Also in this Issue
- The Smiling Face of Pain The "new" Tim Pawlenty looks a lot like the old one (Cover Story)
- More articles from this issue...
More News/City Beat Articles
- Identity Theft Why did the state's director of public safety oust the head of the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force? (Feb 7, 2007)
- Room at the Inn Why does a housing program for the chronically homeless have trouble using up its vouchers? (Feb 7, 2007)
- Inmate, Inmate, Who's Got the Inmate? Under budgetary pressure, the state's prisons transfer costs—and prisoners—back to counties (Jan 31, 2007)
- KMOJ Casts Around for a New Home The oldest and most venerated black radio station in town finds itself homeless (Jan 31, 2007)
- Workfare Revolt? Minnesota's welfare-to-work program draws increasing fire (Jan 17, 2007)
- A Little Aggravation The city of Minneapolis takes a flyer on taxes (Jan 17, 2007)
- How Much for the Washington Avenue Bridge? The city of Minneapolis, citing budget woes, puts For Sale signs on eight municipal parking ramps (Jan 3, 2007)
- Political Freight A host of Minnesota politicians say pork-barrel spending on a railroad expansion project threatens the Mayo Clinic (Dec 20, 2006)
Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date with City Pages. Signing up is simple, and you can opt out anytime. Give it a try...
A word from Dubb J, struggling hip-hop upstart, self-proclaimed non-gang member
Gangster Rap
Wilbert Jackson, a.k.a. Dubb J, insists he's not a gang member
Image by Paul Demko
Wilbert Jackson wants to set the record straight. Last month the 21-year-old fledgling rapper unwittingly found himself featured in a City Pages cover story about gangs in St. Paul. In the opening section of the article, I recounted a conversation that took place between Jackson and St. Paul police officer Tim Bohn in the parking lot of the BP gas station on Lexington Parkway. The story also stated that, according to the cops, Jackson is a Selby Sider gang member.
"Incorrect," says Jackson, slumped on a black leather couch in a Van Buren Avenue house on a recent Saturday afternoon. "That's not true. I don't know why they would think that. Just because I'm from a certain neighborhood. I've never caught any cases or nothing like that. Never been to jail. Nothing."
Jackson, who also goes by the hip-hop moniker Dubb J, says the cops are guilty of racial profiling. "Just 'cause I'm friends with a few people, they place that title on you," he scoffs. "That's what they're always doing to these young black men out here in St. Paul."
The article ("Gangs of St. Paul," 1/24/07) also quoted Officer Bohn suggesting that Jackson had recently been caught with a bag of marijuana during a traffic stop. This too, Jackson says, is not true. "I was just a passenger getting a ride," he insists. "They couldn't charge me. If I do the crime I'll do the time."
After discovering his newfound notoriety, Jackson contacted City Pages through his manager. He says that everyone—from his mom to girls to cops—has been dogging him about the article. The initial plan was for me to meet him at the Quik Copy store on University Avenue that doubles as his recording studio, but the location was subsequently changed to the Van Buren residence for our Saturday meeting.
Jackson is joined by his manager, Darren "Stacss" Neal, and two other associates. His hair is loosely braided under a winter cap, and he wears a pair of baggy jeans and a T-shirt. Jackson insists that he's just a hardworking musician struggling to succeed. He says he's sold more than 3,000 copies of his debut CD, primarily by peddling them himself. "When you saw me, what was I doing?" he asks me. "I was out there selling my music. At the gas station, everywhere; I do it all over the city." Jackson's got upcoming gigs slated for Trocaderos Nightclub & Restaurant and the Green Room, both in downtown Minneapolis. But he complains that cops have been showing up at his concerts, scaring off patrons. "The gang task force be at my shows at Club Sizzle," he laments, speaking of a recent St. Paul gig.
Jackson slips a disc into a DVD player. It's a video for his song "Hey." (That track and three others—"Bitch I Gotta Have It," "Gangsta Shit," and "It's St. Pilla"—can be heard at his website: www.myspace.com/dubbjac.) The video was filmed in August in the parking lot of the Tobasi Stop on Selby Avenue. The rapper wears a green shirt emblazoned with the phrase "Bitch I gotta have it," along with sunglasses and a backward baseball cap. Girls in tight white tank tops and skimpy black shorts energetically shake their butts for the camera. A crowd of folks sings along to the catchy number that seems at least partly inspired by the similarly titled OutKast megahit. "I had both my grandfathers out there," Jackson says proudly. "All my family."
According to a search warrant subsequently filed in Ramsey County District Court, however, the video production also resulted in a nearby shooting. The police claim that it was just one of more than 20 shooting incidents over the last two years stemming from an ongoing feud between the Selby Siders and the East Side Boys. Jackson, however, says that the gunshots had nothing to do with his hip-hop production. "We're actually out here doing positive things to uplift the community."
Jackson seems genuinely bewildered by the press coverage. But he also notes several times that any publicity is good publicity—especially for a hip-hop aspirant. Ultimately, though, he seems resigned to guilt by association while he hustles to make it in the music biz. "I'm on the first page of an article, 'Gangs of St. Paul,' and I'm not in a gang," he sighs. "Just because I'm a ghetto celebrity."
About Paul Demko
From the Archive
- Identity Theft Why did the state's director of public safety oust the head of the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force? (News - Feb 7, 2007)
- KMOJ Casts Around for a New Home The oldest and most venerated black radio station in town finds itself homeless (News - Jan 31, 2007)
- Gangs of St. Paul In the capital city, a generation of younger, harder, more randomly violent gangsters wage war on themselves (Cover Story - Jan 24, 2007)
- Dirty Work After a union victory in Houston, local janitors are gearing up for new labor negotiations (News - Dec 6, 2006)
- R.I.P.: The 2006 Political Boneyard Many fell and few are likely to rise again (Cover Story - Nov 15, 2006)
- Mass Consumption A once-local author talks about the perils of big-box retailers (News - Nov 8, 2006)
- Billion Dollar Dreamer Jerry Trooien has already spent millions promoting The Bridges, the $1.5 billion St. Paul riverfront development that city government keeps on spurning. No matter: He knows they'll come around someday. (Cover Story - Nov 8, 2006)
- Grudge Match Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher and former St. Paul Police Chief Bill Finney both have long and proud histories in St. Paul policing circles—and reputations for political heavy-handedness. Observers say they're alike in many ways. Is that why the two combatants for the sheriff's office despise each other so much? (Cover Story - Oct 11, 2006)
- More articles from the Paul Demko Archive...
