Jaz-O

On February 7, 2020, Jaz-O released an extended play (EP) titled The Warmup, on Kingz Kounty Media Group, and distributed by Roc Nation's Equity Distribution.

In December 2017 they reunited at Jay Z's 4:44 concert seemingly ending the feud. In the year of 2019, it was reported that the two worked out a music deal for Jaz-O's Kingz Kounty Media Group to distributed through Jay-Z's Roc Nation's Equity Distribution.

In late August 2009, Jaz-O was featured on another song dissing Jay-Z entitled "Gangstas Ride" with West Coast rapper, The Game. Jaz references "Ether" with the line, "Jaz-O, stupid motherfucker, not Shawn, never been bashed on a Tupac song". The song was fueled by the beef between Game and Jay-Z.

In the year of 1999, Jaz-O appeared on Jay-Z's "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)", a single that was released from Jay-Z's third album Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. the song became a big hit in Jaz-O's career at that time. However, this would be one of the last times the two would work together on music, for the friendship soon soured shortly afterwards.

Jay-O produced two tracks for Jay-Z's Streets Is Watching (soundtrack). The album fared well commercially reaching #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and was released May 12, 1998, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Records.

Jaz-O produced "Rap Game / Crack Game," a track that appeared on Jay's second album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, which was released in the year of 1997.

Jaz-O released his second album To Your Soul on July 16, 1990. Despite the album not reaching the Billboard charts, its two singles, "The Originators" and "A Groove (This Is What U Rap 2)", peaked at No. 13 and No. 18, respectively, on the Hot Rap Songs chart. Similar to his debut album, Jay-Z was the only guest, being featured on two songs.

Throughout the late 1990s, Jaz-O had quite a hand in Jay-Z's early solo success. Jaz-O produced, and was featured on "Ain't No Nigga," the second single from Jay-Z's 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt. The song is cited as playing a significant role in securing Jay-Z's record with Def Jam.

Jaz-O was the rapper to pioneer the "triplet flow," which allows the rapper to flow far beyond sixteen syllables within the four-fourth time signature beat. Being able to add extra syllables to the sixteen multiplies the syllables into twenty-fourths, which makes a triplet of an eighth. Since the 1990s, the triplet rhyme technique has became a common among distinction some of the most respected hip-hop lyricists to date. Several lyricists who are well known for the technique include former apprentice Jay-Z, as well as Twista, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Fu-Schnickens, Spice-1, and Tech N9ne.

Jaz-O also made a guest appearance on The O'Jays's "Have You Had Your Love Today", which was a single released from their 1989 album Serious.

Being from the same projects as Jay-Z, the two would meet and become friends, with Jaz-O being a rhyme mentor to Jay-Z. Sometime during the year of 1986, the two lyricists would soon form a short-lived group by the name of "High Potent." Despite the group being short-lived, the two recorded and released several songs throughout the year of 1986, before Jaz-O would go on and get a record deal with EMI USA. In regards to the signing, he stated:

I had been rhyming since I was 14. Do the math on your own! I became a legend on the east coast - which in the 'eighties' was quite remarkable, in about six years. I was always told I was the best most had ever heard. I put out a song in 1985 called "HP Gets Busy" on our own label (my manager at the time, Jack Walker and I), featuring two of my comrades from Long Island, NY, and my young apprentice, Jay Z. We did shows regionally; NY and Pittsburgh mostly. Meanwhile, I was recording with friend and producer, Fresh Gordon. He helped me get a single deal on Tommy Boy Records after I collaborated on a song with him called "My Fila" (a response to Run DMC's, "My Adidas"). A mutual friend of Gordon and I, Marlon Prescott, introduced me to my soon-to-be manager at that time, Stan Poses. In four months Stan solidified a major artist deal for me, and I became the first rap artist ever to sign with EMI Records. I also became the recipient of the largest advance and recording budget of any rap artist at that time.

Jaz-O was known to be a visible figure of the Nuwaubian Nation during the 1980s. The Nuwaubian beliefs and symbolisms were prominent in the earlier years of his music career, and well as his wardrobe.

Jonathan Burks (born October 4, 1964), better known by his stage name Jaz-O (formerly The Jaz), is an American rapper and record producer active in the late 1980s through the 1990s, best known for being the mentor of Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z. Burks is nicknamed "the Originator", and had a song titled "The Originators" that featured a young Jay-Z in 1990.