Jacky Jasper | |
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Birth name | Sean Merrick |
Also known as |
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Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Origin | Hollywood, California |
Genres | |
Years active | 1990–2000s |
Labels |
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Sean Merrick, known professionally over his career by the pseudonyms Jacky Jasper, H-Bomb and HDV,[1][2] is a Canadian-American rapper, record producer and celebrity gossip blogger.
Merrick is best known for his work with Kool Keith under the name H-Bomb as a part of rap groups KHM (later known as Clayborne Family) and 7th Veil, as well as for performing as Jacky Jasper on Kool Keith's album First Come, First Served and the Analog Brothers album Pimp To Eat.
In Canada he is also known as a major contributor to the country's early hip hop scene while performing as HDV, as well as for his 1990 single "Pimp of the Microphone".[1][3][4][5]
Under the moniker Jacky Jasper, Merrick became co-founder of and major contributor to the tabloid news site Diary of a Hollywood Street King.[6] The blog was credited as having been the first to publish Charlie Sheen's HIV status in 2014.[7][8]
With any luck, we may even get a preview of his forthcoming 7th Veil project with H-Bomb, aka Jacky Jasper, aka Toronto's own "Pimp of the Microphone" HDV.
Known off stage as Sean Merrick, HDV calls it like it is, and he's seen it from the inside. Merrick spent eight months in a Toronto jail, convicted of living off the avails of prostitution. He was a pimp.
Sean Merrick (a.k.a. HDV) added his provocative 'gangsta rap' style to the mix in Toronto with songs such as 'Pimp of the Microphone', which aggressively challenged the prevailing myth that Canada has no ethnically marked underclass or any impoverished inner-city communities.
HDV is one rapper whose racial politics are more militant and definitely not integrationist. He addresses interracial marriage and racial tensions between blacks...HDV draws on his real-life experiences (he spent time in jail for his involvement with drug trafficking and prostitution) in his music and uses 'pimping' as a metaphor for all of the different levels of exploitation in society.
As our hip-hop royalty continues to perfect the "Toronto sound" blowing up worldwide, Toronto is truly ground zero for hip-hop innovation in 2016. It wasn't always so pervasive: Our first-generation rap artists fought to be recognized...Unsurprisingly, the song ["Let Your Backbone Slide" by Maestro Fresh Wes] kicked up a ton of controversy, but it went on to win a MuchMusic Video Award. Devon later joined forces with Maestro, Dream Warriors, Michie Mee, B-Kool, Lillian Allen, Eria Fachin, HDV, Messenjah, Jillian Mendez, Self Defense and Leroy Sibbles (and more) to form Toronto rap/ragga supergroup Dance Appeal, whose single "Can't Repress the Cause" railed against the Canadian music industry's lack of inclusion and acknowledgement of hip hop.