Jim Jones Kick-Starts Major-Label Solo Debut With 'Pop Champagne' And A Hip-Hop Play

Before the release of Pray for Reign, MC jumps on tracks by Ron Browz and Kid Cudi. By Shaheem Reid Jim Jones Photo: MTV News Harlem hustlers Jim Jones and Dame Dash are in Manhattan's Empire Studio, talking big money plans that could put Jones right in the middle of an artistic evolution: a Christmas album of hard-core street stories due this holiday season, a role in the cable drama "Crash," an autobiographical documentary submitted to Sundance, an off-Broadway play and, most important, his major-label debut, Pray for Reign. It will be Jim's third solo LP overall, and a chance to show his critics there's life after his anthem "We Fly High" (or as it is commonly known, "Ballllllllllllllllllin'!"). "My ego is telling me to put it out on December 9, but we'll see," he said with a smile, sitting in the control room of the studio, surrounded by empty bottles of Moët Rosé and a very small green plant sitting on a $20 bill on the floor. Since December 9 is the ... (link)