Lord Jamar

Jamar was born in The Bronx, New York City, but was raised in New Rochelle, New York.[7] He is the eldest of three brothers.[7] He was introduced to hip hop music in the 1970s through a friend who lived in his neighborhood, and he would listen to tapes of The Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and The Sugarhill Gang.[7] DJ Daryll C of Crash Crew used to take Jamar to hip hop shows in New York City.[7] Jamar sold crack cocaine during his teen years, but stopped after people he knew received sealed indictments.[7] He dropped out of high school after failing ninth grade, and worked a few short-term jobs prior to signing a record deal.[7]

Jamar was introduced as a DJ to Grand Puba, who already had celebrity status in New Rochelle.[7] Jamar and Puba began recording demos after Puba saw Jamar rapping in a park.[7] After Puba left a group he was with, he and Jamar recruited Sadat X and decided to form Brand Nubian.[7] The three began working on demos at Jazzy Jay's studio, despite not having enough money to pay for studio time.[7] The first song Brand Nubian made was titled "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That".[7] The group eventually signed to Elektra Records[7] and received an album deal after the release of their single "Feels So Good".[7]

Brand Nubian's debut studio album, One for All, was released in 1990. It received the coveted "five mic" rating from The Source magazine, and is regarded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.[8][9] Some time during late 1990 and early 1991, Grand Puba left Brand Nubian.[7] Jamar claims that this was partly due to the fact that he and Puba often clashed due to them both having "alpha" personalities.[7] Jamar had picked up on studio techniques during the production of One for All.[7] Due to Puba's departure, Jamar decided to focus more on production due to people attempting to take advantage of Puba's absence and produce for the group.[7] Jamar then built a studio in Sadat X's basement and began producing.[7] Jamar produced the entirety of the group's second studio album, In God We Trust (1993), while Sadat X helped with finding samples.[7]

After Brand Nubian's third studio album, Everything is Everything (1994), Jamar discovered and began working with Florida-based hip hop group Dead Prez, signing them to Loud Records.[7]

Jamar claims to have lived in the same building as Jay-Z in Brooklyn, as well as hearing his debut studio album, Reasonable Doubt (1996), before its release.[7]

As an actor, Jamar is best known for his role of Supreme Allah on the TV series Oz. He has appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Third Watch, and The Sopranos. He has also done production work for artists such as Dead Prez, whom he discovered, Buckshot, Shaka Amazulu the 7th and Tom Browne. He released his debut solo album The 5% Album (an album dedicated to the Nation of Gods and Earths) on June 27, 2006. Like his onscreen character on Oz, Jamar is a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths.

Jamar currently co-hosts a podcast, Yanadameen Godcast, with fellow rapper Rah Digga.

Jamar garnered controversy after releasing a diss track towards Kanye West on February 4, 2013 titled "Lift Up Your Skirt," and stated that "gay has no place in hip-hop", which led to him being characterized by some in the media as homophobic.[10][11] Jamar denied the homophobia accusations by tweeting that he "went to a gay wedding of a good friend not long ago".[12]

In a September 2013 interview on VladTV, Jamar declared that white rappers were "guests in hip hop", compared Eminem to Macklemore, and made further remarks about white rappers and homosexuality.[13][14] Eminem responded to Jamar with the track "Fall" from his 2018 album Kamikaze.[15] Jamar responded to Eminem on his podcast.[16]

• Lord Jamar at AllMusic
• Lord Jamar on IMDb