I’ll admit it, I slept on Shawn Jackson’s music.

It took weeks for me to put his debut First Of All in the deck, but once I did I couldn’t help but feel stupid. There isn’t anything complex about it. Nevertheless, as a complete project, it just makes sense. It’s not forced or fraudulent, and with varied flavors of beats we get to see several aspects of the sharp-witted MC.

Speaking of beats, dude’s got an ear for quality production, which makes the album listenable from front to back without having to press “next.” He’s not just rapping to rap and actually has substance to his rhymes while skillfully avoiding coming off boring.

Nap no longer, Shawn Jackson is the real.

To further understand the man behind First Of All, The Crew’s Corey Bloom caught up with Shawn in his native Los Angeles to talk about his upbringing in Hip-Hop, how he himself has contributed and continues to contribute and also the debate of Dutchs’ versus flavored Optimos.

Be sure to check the videos for “Feelin Jack,” “Soopafly” and “Countdown” at www.youtube.com/user/bigshawnstud