product & event photos by Zaul Zamora
The year’s ’95 and the setting is a casino on the strip of Sin City. While the Roc-a-Fella Records roster is in town to watch Tyson take on McNeely it’s not Iron Mike or even Shawn Carter that’s the man of the moment either in the city or at the table.
It’s Emory Jones — known from that trip on as Emory “Vegasâ€Â Jones.
While the Vegas strip and Tyson fights have a dark history in reference to hip-hop, the mood is light if not over joyous on this particular 1995 trip for Jones, the Jiggaman and the rest of their team. Adding weight to the “still spending money from ’88†line in “Dead Presidents II,†the Roc boys are living the high life all the way out in Nevada a whole year before Reasonable Doubt debuts and dominates New York. It’s a safe assumption that everyone was having fun, but it’s clear over time that Emory was making the moment and the moment was making Emory.
“We came to Vegas for that Tyson fight – me and the whole original founders of Roc-a-Fella,†Emory reflects 23 years later in the same city. “It was my first time in Vegas and me being me, I hit the crap tables. I used to gamble a lot then and I won $20,000. I looked at the table and thought, Oh, it’s a free trip! I went shopping, almost missed the fight because of the time change from New York, and when we get there I’m wearing a silk Versace shirt with gold satin pants. I was just in the moment. All my brothers were like, Man, you’re walking around here like you own Vegas. In that little period of time, I realized how the city worked and I acted like I owned Vegas. When you hear “Can I Live†and Jay says ‘Viva, Las Vegas, see ya, later at the crap tables/Meet me by the one that starts a G up,’ that was me in that moment: crap table, the minimal bet of $1,000, a bottle of Cristal, a bottle of Dom Pérignon, chick on one side, chick on the other, it was the moment. That day coming back they said, Your new name is Vegas Jones. We came off that trip and realized it was time to really do Roc-a-Fella.â€
Source: Nicekicks
