Without question, today’s streets dictate tomorrow’s trends in the world of rap music especially in the South. The street’s stamp of approval has made millionaires out of rappers like Lil Wayne, Ludacris and powerhouse group Three 6 Mafia. 

Up next to add his name onto this elite list of megastars is south Louisiana rising star Lil Buck. Commanding the Gulf Coast with his Southern roots, street attitude and explicit lyrical style on a slew of mixtapes and singles, Buck is firmly establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in popular urban music. 

He continues to feed the streets with his latest runaway mixtape Do the Fool and single “I Do Me.” Buck is sure to completely change the game with the January 19 release of his much-anticipated mixtape 3D. 

“My style is street at the same time versatile because I don’t make just street music,” says Buck. “I make party music too. I got a lot of different styles.” 

Born Jonathan Jackson, Sr. in the sleepy town of Geismar, La., which is outside of Baton Rouge, Lil Buck first found inspiration for his musical journey in the streets. His father was rarely around so he was raised mainly by his mother and grandmother. 

“My momma and grand momma worked all their lives to keep a roof over my head and clothes on my back,” Buck admits. “We didn’t have much but what little we did have, we kept it up the best we could.” 

Even though his parents did all they could to keep young Jonathan on the straight and narrow, he was introduced to the unflinching street life through his friends and cousins. Whatever mischief they may have been getting into, Buck joined in. 

“If you shake a puppy since he was a couple of months old, nine times out of 10, he’s going to be a mean dog,” Buck theorizes. “So whatever you go through at a young age is how you’re going to come out until you get the mind to come out of it.” 

Much like that abused pup that grows into a ferocious attack animal, Buck grew up in such a fierce environment. “I was very violent at one point. If you said the wrong thing, I was liable to do anything at any time. It didn’t matter,” Buck admits. “I was at the age where I was going to do whatever everybody else was doing. My mind wasn’t concentrating on what it needed to be concentrating on. Now as I’ve gotten older, I got more priorities.” 

One of the things that his friends were into, however, was music. Buck began rapping at 14 because all of his homeboys were rapping. A clique of his friends from the neighboring town of Prairieville had a group called the Ville Boys. While in the studio one night while they were recording, one of them asked Buck to grab a pen and pad and write a few rhymes and see what he could do. 

“I didn’t really like my voice but my dudes did,” Buck recalls. “When I seen that everybody liked my voice, I just stuck to it and kept trying it. Before you knew it, I got good at it.” 

He got so good that he became a local celebrity being featured on several of the Ville Boys’ hit singles. “I grew my rapping skills from being in the streets,” Buck breaks down. “If I wouldn’t have been in the streets, I wouldn’t have been able to talk about the things I talk about or have the mind to write the lyrics I write.” 

It just so happened that independent label owner CEO Wood noticed Buck’s talent and grind. And before long, Buck joined the ranks of Ruff-N-Rugged Entertainment in 2005. He made his label debut with a collaboration mixtape with label mate Hollowpoint entitled Rough and Rugged. The following year, the label released the well-received self-titled mixtape featuring label mate Hollow Tip and Buck. 

Next, they came back with Hollowtip and Lil Buck’s mixtape Black Shades in 2007. Then, in 2008, they released the follow up mixtape Black Shades 2. Next came the self-titled mixtape featuring another fellow label mate entitled Lil Buck and Young Soulja.

Buck is now enjoying the regional success of his latest mixtape Do the Fool and a string of heavily rotated YouTube.com videos and singles including “3D,” “Roll Call” and “What Kind of Life,” all featuring Young Soulja as well as his solo single “I Do Me.” And if that were not enough, just over the horizon for Lil Buck is the January 19 release of his much-anticipated forthcoming mixtape coming 3D. 

“I’m not trying to compare myself to nobody,” Buck clarifies. “I’m not trying to speak for myself. I let the people speak for me. I’m not trying to be nobody else. I’m just another cat out the hood who’s keeping it real with you.” 


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