On December 20, 2017, music attorney turned radio host and mogul Reggie "Combat Jack" Ossé died after a battle with colon cancer. Throughout his tenure as host of The Combat Jack Show, Ossé solidified himself as one of the game's most through interviewers, quickly developing a respectable reputation as a rapper's ideal conversation partner. When he passed, the game seemed to unite in mourning, especially the OGs who frequented his long-running podcast show. Yet The Combat Jack Show was far from his lone endeavor. Ossé also held it down as host of Mogul: The Life and Death of Chris Lighty, a six-episode podcast that aired its debut episode in 2017.
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Now the series is set to return with an episode centered around the late Combat Jack. The special episode will be narrated by Complex's own Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins, and will focus on Jack's life and contributions to hip-hop culture. And best believe there were many, as Combat's many listeners will happily attest. Today, Complex has shared a sneak peek of the upcoming episode, which finds Combat lamenting one of his rare business L's - which is to say, losing Jay-Z.
As he explains, Jay had signed a distribution deal with Freeze Records and Priority Records for his debut album. Next thing you know, a young Jay-Z and Dame trudged forward with Reasonable Doubt in hand, with the latter insisting they retain the bulk of the royalties. “We didn’t get those terms,” explains Jack. “You know, it’s a small label with somebody taking a chance on them, you can’t really negotiate that. And then when JAY-Z’s first album Reasonable Doubt became a success, I got left holding a bag. I got blamed for the deal.”
Check it out below, and should you ever feel like digging deeper, it's never a bad idea to check out archived episodes of The Combat Jack Show.