The Jacka is killed in East Oakland

Why it matters

Dominick Newton, who recorded as The Jacka in the Pittsburg-and-Antioch-based Mob Figaz collective, was shot to death on East 94th Avenue in East Oakland on February 2, 2015. He was 37. The case has never been formally solved. The Jacka is one of the central Bay Area MCs of the 2000s. His catalog (Tear Gas in 2009, The Jack Artist in 2005, the Mob Figaz collaborative records) is foundational to the post-hyphy Bay Area independent scene. The voice was deep, melodic, deliberately patient. The production aesthetic the Jacka worked with (slap-bass, syrupy keys, dust on the mix) became influential well beyond the Bay; you can hear Jacka's specific tonal world echoing in plenty of mid-2010s underground records from outside California. He was 37. The Bay Area lost two of its central MCs in eleven years between Mac Dre (2004) and the Jacka (2015), both to unsolved killings. The scene continues. The losses are part of what the scene is, now. You should hear his catalog if you have not.