The year 2006 was a huge year for Jim Jones and Max B, who both achieved Billboard Top 10 success with the Capo’s breakout single, “We Fly High (Ballin).”
But nearly every artist who has had a career-defining song eclipse their career’s timeline will tell you that they often don’t share the same sentiment of fans who enjoyed the record as the years go back.
In the case of the former Diplomat, who had the entire country screaming “Ballinnn!” (his then-nemesis Jay Z included), he not only could do without hearing the record ever again, he actually loathes its existence.
“I actually hate the song. The record makes me cringe,” Jones, 40, told Complex in an interview to commemorate “We Fly High” and the 10th anniversary of its accompanying album, Hustler’s P.O.M.E. (Product of My Environment). “But it’s actually a love-hate relationship I have with it. I know that record has set me apart from where I was when it came to me being in this game and me being on a different level of success, and putting me in a different room with people to do business with. But on the flip side, 10 years later, that song has burned a hole in my brain that’s so disgusting it makes me cringe every time I hear it. When I walk in the club, the DJ is definitely going to hit the record. A lot of the time when I go in the club I don’t even let niggas know I’m in the club, I be low in the corner, just for that.”
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And there’s the curious case of Max B’s contribution to the record, which Jones says is null and void along with any notion that Cam’ron or anyone else has provided bars for him.
“Max B never wrote one ounce of my music, nor has Stack Bundles, nor has Cam, nor has anybody in my whole life,” he snapped, offended that the question of Max B co-writing even came up. “You can’t allude to what you hear out there if you don’t know it for sure. Nobody writes my music at all. If you really want to know, I have ghostwritten a lot of music for a lot of other people. [Chuckles]. Including the name you just said. If you really want to get technical. But that’s neither here nor there.”
He also added, “There is no state between me and Max B” when the status of Dipset question was poised.
Mr. Cool: “Max B never wrote one ounce of my music,” Jones says.
The record peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, signified the beginning of the end for Dipset and even became the theme song for the New York Giants Super Bowl XLII run — all which of Jones is grateful for (more or less feuding with Cam’ron).
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At the time, he was also feuding with Jay Z, who, during his Kingdom Come phase, attempted to hammer a nail by flipping “We Fly High” into a “Brooklyn High” freestyle diss. The track failed to make an impact, but Jimmy recalled using it to his advantage anyway.
“Instead of me just getting fired up and going crazy, it goes to show you that when you start to make money and you’re in a successful position, and life feels good, you think better,” he stated. “Your strategies are way better. So instead of me doing the normal Jim Jones rant and going crazy, thinking somebody was trying to play me, I actually used his verse on the remix of the record, and remixed his remix and used it as my Jay Z remix. Now I got a record with Hov on it. It was something that went so well, I felt good about it. That definitely was a chess move. That move right there propelled the video to number one.
“You gotta remember that Jay Z’s a smart person. He’s at the top of the food chain. He’s never going to diss anybody that’s not worth it. That’s like him paying attention to a broke person. So if a person like that chooses to mention your name, or to diss you in a record in some form, it’s like a term of endearment in some type of way. Nigga, I feel your energy because you can look in the history of Jay Z talking about people: there have not been many, and there’s been Jim Jones way more than one time that he’s mentioned my name. You gotta take it where you’re being recognized by the best in the game. Nigga, what does that sound like? Sounds like a blessing to me, know what I mean?”
