Growing up in Harlem, Jim Jones got his start in the rap game as Cam'Ron's hype man before co-founding the love-'em-or-hate-'em group The Diplomats (a.k.a. Dipset) in 1997. For a few years in the early to mid-'00s, Dipset had a huge following (especially in New York), and Jim Jones started dropping solo albums, finally earning his first huge hit with 2006's smash single "We Fly High" and its ubiquitous catch phrase "balllllllllin'!" At the height of his fame, he started a new crew called Byrdgang and a fashion label named Nostic, and even launched his own semi-pro rollerblading team. His musical success has dimmed over the years, but he's stayed busy releasing new material, even as the industry has largely abandoned East Coast street rap in general. Vampire Life was originally released on Halloween 2011. It features the Capo alongside a laundry list of not-quite-famous rappers, including Sen City, Young Swift, Chase, TWO, Logic, Chris Luckm Mel Matrix, and Kingpin Slim, plus old friends like JR Writer and Chink Santana. "Kill or Be Killed," "Goin' Thru It" (with Jadakiss), and "Play Your Part" are standouts.