John David Jackson, better known by his stage name, Fabolous, is an American rapper representing the city of Brooklyn, New York. Fabolous began pursuing a music career while he was a Senior in high school and rapped under the name Fabolous Sport, in reference to Ralph Lauren’s sport line.
The Brooklyn emcee got his big break after he was invited to rap on record producer and music executive DJ Clue’s live radio show on popular New York Station, Hot 97. Afterwards, Fabolous then signed to Clue’s record label, Desert Storm Records. While signed under Desert Storm Records, Fabo was featured on several of DJ Clue’s mixtapes and on several Roc-A-Fella artist’s mixtapes.
Fabolous’ first big hit was “Can’t Deny It”. “Can’t Deny It” was a 2001 record that featured California artist, Nate Dogg and was produced by Florida rapper Rick Ross. The single peaked at number 25 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart, number 13 on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart, and number 11 on the U.S. Hot Rap Singles. “Can’t Deny It” was featured on Fabolous’ debut album ‘Ghetto Dreams’ which was an album that peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and sold over 140,000 copies its first week.
Fabolous’ next album was ‘Street Dreams’ which was also a huge hit. ‘Street Dreams’ was released on March 4, 2003. The album included 20 tracks such as four top charting singles “Can’t Let You Go” ft Lil Mo & Mike Shorey, “Into You” ft Ashanti, “Into You” (remix) ft Tamia, and “Trade It All part 2” ft. Jagged Edge and P. Diddy. ‘Street Dreams’ also sold over 185,000 copies and went on to be RIAA certified Platinum in the United States and BPI certified Gold in the United Kingdom. Fabolous continued to release several more Billboard charting albums such as ‘Loso Way’, ‘The Young Og Project’, and ‘Summertime Shootouts 3: Coldest Summer Ever’.