Your favorite rapper, Jim Jones, is talking about the incident between himself and a friend of Ne-Yo in which he has been charged with assault:

NEW YORK - Following an alleged fight with a member of Ne-Yo’s entourage, Jim Jones said Monday morning (January 5) he’s fortunate to be a free man.

“I guess I got lucky,” Jones said after coming out of Manhattan’s 18th Precinct. “I got a DAT.” Jones was issued a Desk Appearance Ticket instead of a trip behind bars for the misdemeanor assault charge.

The altercation took place at the Fifth Avenue Louis Vuitton store, where police say Jones punched and kicked someone who was traveling with Ne-Yo. Although police have yet to release the victim’s name, Internet reports have widely identified him as a man named Vaughn, the brother of Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith, who works with Ne-Yo. Ty Ty is the longtime best friend and colleague of Jones’ lyrical nemesis, Jay-Z.

“I don’t know what this is for,” Jimmy said when asked about the fight. “All I know is I was shopping. I don’t know what happened.

“How my LVs [Louis Vuitton logos] look?” the Diplomat Capo, wearing a Louis V scarf, asked. “They say it was an incident at the store, but I don’t know.” Monday morning on Power 105.1 in New York, Jones’ mother called up to speak to morning radio host Ed Lover. Mrs. Jones acknowledged the altercation and called for peace in the hip-hop community.

“I’m tired of all these rappers not doing their jobs,” she vented. “They’re getting into all types of crazy stuff. … Your job is called ‘rapping’ for the audience, for the people. Get paid, and take your behind home.”

When asked specifically what took place at the Louis Vuitton store, she said she didn’t have all the information, but just the fact that an incident took place has taken its toll.

“It ain’t too hot,” Mrs. Jones offered. “Everybody’s worried.”

Jim Jones said the altercation gave him another sobering look at his life and career.

“Being a gangsta rapper or a ‘hardcore’ rapper, you find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he said. “It’s a thin line, because there’s things I’ve done in my career to get where I am today, and I’ve benefited off it. For me to make a transition and take my career to the next level, there’s some things I can’t obviously do anymore. What I mean by that is, you play the tough guy and put yourself into those positions, and things can happen. You end up like this, [with] a big inconvenience.

“Sometimes the notoriety works in your favor, but I shouldn’t be here at this point,” he continued. “As long as no one is physically doing something to you or being that much of an aggressor, sometimes you can let these things go. I’ve grown to realize that, and I see it’s not gonna be the same for me as far as my travels in this industry. My last few situations, it seems like I’ve ended up in jail and people have used that as a way to put civil suits on me. That’s the new wave of getting money. They say snitching is big business.”

Jones has to appear in court February 4, a little less than two weeks before his next LP, Pray for Reign, hits stores February 20. The Harlem native says he’s ready to put the latest incident behind him.

“I really think I’m standing in the way of my own self,” he said. “I don’t believe it’s nobody else but me that’s gonna f— my career up, and I don’t wanna see that happen. … I’m done with beefs this year. I’m just gonna become a rapper. I’m just like Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer. I am a rapper. Leave me alone. I am defenseless. It’s to a point now if you slap me and I slap you back, you’ll be able to sue me.

“I’m Vanilla Ice right now,” he reiterated with a chuckle. “I’m a rapper.”

Damn first his own mother says that his ass needs to stop acting like a thug and rap like he’s supposed to and then he compares himself to MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. WTF ??? SMH because I know that many of you agree with those comparisons.

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Jim Jones recently sat down with Complex magazine and gave another one of his hilarious interviews:

You have a guest role on the Starz show Crash. What else are you getting into for ‘09?
Jim Jones: Well, the sky’s the limit, man. There are so many things I want to do. We just started a comedy division together: me, Dame and Mike Epps. We’re getting ready to do the big concert with Epps, and we got a soundtrack to the comedy show. It’s called From Hollywood to Harlem-it should be really funny. Mike Epps is brilliant. I want to explore the movie world through comedy and try to get in that way. Not too many people know me in Hollywood, and that’s the place I need to be. I need everybody to know me.

And what about the play you’re starring in?
Jim Jones: I’m doing a play called Hip-Hop Monologues Off-Broadway. It’s something we derived for my new album. You know how everybody does a listening session and all the publicity comes through, and there’s a little bit of liquor there, and they play the music? I got tired of doing that; I wanted to do something very different. Something to gain people’s attention ’cause I want this album to be a real success. We’re going to do the best verses that fit the situation out of all the songs to pull this play off, and then we’re going to have a full stage set, the backgrounds, and are just going to paint the whole picture. But for the most part, I’ll be how John Leguizamo was in Freak; I’ll be the center of attention.

Speaking of attention, Max B has been going hard at you lately. He even has a site for it, fuckjimjones.com. How do you feel about that?
Jim Jones: It’s cool. Anything he tries to do, I can either shut it down or get paid for it. I own him, all his publishing, all his contracts. He sold me his publishing to get out of jail. He called me crying on the phone saying, “If you bail me out, I’ll sell you all my publishing and do whatever I got to do.” He damn near said, “I’d suck your dick like a crackhead to get out of jail.” [Laughs.] So you can imagine how frustrated I am, the way I’m living. I got 50 grand in my book bag, and we ain’t even at a video shoot.

Meanwhile, your relationship with Cam’ron is at a standstill. It seems like that souring has had the most effect on you.
Jim Jones: It’s definitely hard, because that’s my nigga, that’s my brother. We rolled together for a very long time, and there are things I remember we said that we would never do. And now that we’ve got so much success, we’re doing all the things we watched people do and said that wouldn’t be us. It’s the ego; it has to be. This is a question I’ve asked myself over and over again. That’s the only way I see it. Amongst everything else, there was a couple things said on my part, but I can do that if I want to. Above all, I kept it fair; I could really expose shit, but that’s not what I’m here for. Once your ego becomes bigger than money, you can’t get anywhere. It’s a sad thing-we’ve built so much. Everywhere around the world, people know the Diplomats as a strong entity. And it’s at a halt due to the fact we’ve been going back and forth through this minute bullshit.

He finally came out and said that he couldn’t rock with you because you appeared onstage with 50, kind of questioning your loyalty.
Jim Jones: He’s questioning my loyalty? He was questioning himself. At that point in time when I did [appear onstage with 50], I was doing all business. I was doing what was best for Jimmy, what was best for my career. It was in my best interest to do publicity stunts and get hype. He was nowhere to be found, so who is he to be questioning what I was doing? He couldn’t do that from the get-go because I helped start all this. What went on between him and 50 was a mockery-that was niggas making jokes. That was a YouTube snap battle. It was nothing remotely physical about that battle. I can’t indulge in fun and jokes that’s like wrestling.

In the documentary, there’s mention that Jay-Z stole the beat for “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” from you and Cam, that Kanye agreed to give the beat to you guys. What’s the story behind that?
Jim Jones: Kanye came to our studio session at Sony, and he was playing some beats back when we were all signed to Rocafella. Cam was about to come out with Come Home With Me, so we told Kanye we wanted to buy the song “H to the Izzo.” It was an understanding we had between us and Kanye because we were all under the same label. So then, I’ll never forget it, we’re at Cam’s house and this hip-hop award show comes on [BET Awards, 2001], and Cam and I are watching it on his couch, and we’re like, “Next year we’re gonna be up there.” So they announce that Jay-Z is about to perform his new single off The Blueprint, and the dude comes out with the “H to the Izzo” beat. Cam and I look at each other like, Oh, we’re going to kill Kanye. Oh my God, when we catch this nigga,we’re going to do something terrible to him. And that’s how Cam ended up getting the “Down and Out” beat. Kanye gave it to him free of charge as payback.

You and Dame have criticized Jay-Z for continuing to rap at his age; do you think you’ll hang up the mic when you’re his age?
Jim Jones: Pretty much. I don’t think my pride or my ego will let me do it. As a joke, maybe, like Will Smith does every now and again. He’s making $20 million a movie-he doesn’t give a fuck. But for me to base my whole life and career and every dollar I make off of rapping and keep on doing this in my 40s, I don’t see that happening for me. Who wants to be stuck in here in their 40s dealing with these youngsters? You fuck around and slip and get your head cracked wide open at 40, you ain’t recovering like you was 20.

You hear it all the time, but NY rap is still not back to being at the forefront of rap. Who else would you enlist to bring the game back?
Jim Jones: Without my own personal hatred-I got to put all my feelings aside-to bring NY back properly, I would definitely put the Lox as a whole. Definitely 50. I fuck with 50, and beyond everything we got a mutual understanding. I think we think alike in some ill twisted way. But, it’s still aggressive competition above all, because we all trying to eat out the same pot.

So even with personal hatred aside, Nas and Jay are still not on the roster?
Jim Jones: To bring New York back? Shit, why they ain’t bring it back already? It would’ve been back. I didn’t even think about them. The integrity of their music right now is not where we come from any more. Nas is still stuck in Africa, and Jay is talking about way too much money and Merrill Lynch talk and shit like that.

You’ve said that there’s no more Rocafella, but Kanye has had great success, and he still claims the Roc.
Jim Jones: I don’t know if he’s actually with Jay-Z from the looks of things. From what I’ve been seeing from since we were signed until now, I think Kanye actually hates Jay-Z. [Dame Dash interrupts:] No, he actually does. He hated Jay-Z ever since he wouldn’t give him a fucking Rocawear chain in Chicago! I’m telling you.

Jim Jones: I don’t know if the song “Big Brother” was correct, but he might’ve hated him since he didn’t give him those tickets to Madison Square Garden.

Damon Dash: This was before that. He was already in full hate by that time. [Laughs.] This nigga [Kanye] was like, “Wow, he ain’t going to give me the chain.” I had to take off my chain and give it to him, and I was heated. I had the real canary diamonds. That shit cost $40,000! I told Kanye, “Yo, you got to give that back when we get off this stage!”Jim, do you have any theories?
Jim Jones: Jay-Z never sells as much as Kanye. Jay-Z wishes he could sell as many records as Kanye. So he’s only beating him with terrible swag. Like over there, their swag is terrible. They having a terrible swag contest. It’s really bad over there.

You warned Kanye to keep your name out of his mouth after he said some things about you and Juelz closing Summer Jam. Would you ever fully go at him?
Jim Jones: Kanye?! I like making jokes about him, but Kanye is somebody you can just punch his chest old-school style, cave his chest in and shit like that. Like don’t ever, ever, ever talk about me again in your life! It’s just a joke to me. I’m just having fun. I heard him ranting and raving about my name and shit. How would I look having an issue with Kanye? I’d love to work with him. I need a beat from him. I think that’s why I’m most mad. Matter fact, I’ma fuck you up if you don’t give me a beat! [Laughs.]

Dame has been working hard on your documentary. How did you feel about the finished product?
Jim Jones: The doc was informing to me, to watch all of that. It’s different when you’re living your life, and then you sit down and watch clips of your life, and people talking about you. I ain’t going to front-I think I shed a tear. I actually did shed a tear, especially when I saw my son in it. I give Dame his props on that one; he nailed that one all the way to the T. I didn’t see his vision at first, but he made it come true. A lot of people get to see me in a different light, and get to see the method to my madness. A lot of people choose to call me crazy, but being crazy is not necessarily a bad thing.

It’s going to be hard to follow up the success of “Ballin’.” How do you respond to people saying you’re still riding the coattails of that song?
Jim Jones: People are going to say that. Most people think that I started from “Ballin’” and that I’m on top of the world because of that song. But this has been 12 years in the making. I’m doing this for a long time, and for the most part everything I’ve done only got better, so I’m not going to stop now. I don’t think this 12-year run is about to stop this year. We’re going to ride into real music on my album, that I think will solidify my spot as a contender in the game, especially because I’m coming out on Columbia.

How high are your expectations for the new album? 50, Jay and ‘Ye are all dropping in December as well.

Jim Jones: Oh, shit, welcome. You’re all welcome to drop. I win off top. Whether or not, it doesn’t matter. I come from a different place. I came from nothing. First album was 300,000, second album 400,000, this album gold. Shit, anything over that, I win. Ballgame. I’ll look like a genius. I might crack platinum, and then I’ll get to laugh at people. I’d look like…. Nah, I’m not even going say, because that’s blasphemy.
Look like what?
Jim Jones: I was going to say I would look like God, but that’s blasphemy. But something similar to that. At the end of the day, you have to stay relevant out here. It’s obvious that I got a good say-so in the game right now. People fuck with me and I fuck with them. I appreciate that and it feels good. I’m not supposed to be here.

Where are you supposed to be?
Jim Jones: Shit, I don’t know. Maybe I am supposed to be here, but the route I was taking for a while… [Shakes his head.] It’s a dream to be here right now, man.

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These are statements that the Diplomat head made during a recent interview with Rhapsody:

A lot of people were surprised with your comments to Complex regarding T.I.
People took it the wrong way. I wasn’t really deliberately doing nothing to knock T.I. I was just saying what I felt regarding swagger and who sets the precedent for it. I know for sure that people have said, “Yo, you looking like Jim Jones. I’m trying to get that ‘Jim Jones’ look.” But I haven’t heard people saying you’re looking like T.I. or whoever. Where I’m from, n*gg*s don’t run to go look like no Kanye. I don’t hear n*gg*s in the ‘hood like I need to get that jacket Jay had on.

Has T.I. or anyone from his camp reached out to you regarding your comments?
It’s not even that serious. I don’t care about that sh*t. When I see him, it’ll be like, “What’s up, What’s poppin?” N*gg*s can’t tell me nothing in this game, period, even if you had a problem. I ain’t tripping on nobody. You can’t never use me for a publicity stunt. I’m always gonna get cabbage. I’m like the Fruit Man. I’m waiting for a new shipment of cabbage. So, I can just give out some humble cabbage.

Dame Dash: Cabbage is a vegetable. [Both laugh.]

Jones: The Vegetable Man then.

Have you seen T.I.’s clothing line, AKOO?
I haven’t seen it. I seen an ad and his jeans look like some Pepe Jeans. But that’s another story. I ain’t mad at nobody in this b*llsh*t game.

Do you think the press misconstrued your comments regarding T.I.?
I don’t care what the press did. They misconstrued it or they got it right. You can take it how the f*ck n*gg*s wanna take it. I suggest they take it in f*ck*ng stride.

Well, Jay did get everyone to start rocking button-ups.
Yeah, he caught that. But that was in his moment when he was hot. He was able to dictate sh*t. But that was because Dame was around him and gave him a little bit of “cool” factor. Sh*t, what can he dictate now? He’s dressing like me. I seen him with some skull scarves and some Louis Vuitton scarves and all types of sh*t. That ain’t Rocawear. If that’s what you own, you should be vested in what you own. You should be wearing that sh*t all day because it should be some fly sh*t that you wanna have on. It should be like Ralph Lauren where you know I got some fly sh*t. But no n*gg*, you see him dressing like me and turn Rocawear into skulls and shit. [Laughs.]

Now that you and Cam aren’t really on good terms, is there regret on your part that you went to bat for Cam and got into a beef with Nas?
Nah. F*ck Nas. I don’t give a f*ck about Nas. He’s a rapper that just lost his pizazz. When I was in high school, he was the sh*t. He was the n*gg* that got us hyped. “New York State of Mind,” Illmatic and all of that.

Is there any possibility of a reconciliation?
What kind of reconciliation? I was never cool with him. I seen Nas a few months ago in L.A. with Dame. We was staying in this hotel right above the Ferrari dealership. Dame seen him and was talking to him. I was laying back on a couch laughing. He didn’t know what to do. I was looking dead at him. [Laughs.] And then Dame was like, “You know Jim?” He started [stammering], “Ah? Ah?” Dame is just burnt out. He not thinking about none of that frivolous [beef] sh*t. Me neither, for the most part. Nas was never on my level ever. Ever.

Damn ! Will it ever end ???

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Everyone seems to have an opinion on “Swagger Like Us,” T.I.’s recent all-star collabo with Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Folks like Jermaine Dupri and Diddy have even recorded their own verses over the song in an attempt to assert their own “swag” status.

Now Jim Jones is taking it one step further. Last week, we were building with the Capo in his studio for some future shit (stay tuned) when he spilled the beans about his own response to the song, a rumor that Miss Info reported on yesterday. He’s currently recording a new joint named “Jackin’ Swagger From Us,” featuring additional verses from Juelz and Lil Wayne, along with a re-recorded hook from M.I.A. and a new beat by Chink Santana. Read on to preview an exclusive snippet of the track and see what Jones had to say about the four artists on the first “Swagger”…

Complex: You and Juelz are all about that swag-splashing. How do you feel about not being included on “Swagger Like Us”?

Jim Jones: I think it was deliberate. I really do think it was deliberate; maybe in my sick twisted mind I’m a little crazy. People know who set the precedent as far as fashion in this industry and people know who damn near changed the world as far as fashion. You look at people, they went from the urban world of clothing, back when Rocawear and Sean John was cool. And then in the past 5 years I stepped in and gave them a taste of what rock and roll looks like from my side. I guess people would say from an urban side, and it seemed to catch on like wildfire, to the point that people was going to stores and asking for that Jim Jones look. Me and Juelz had Chink do our own beat, I have Weezy’s verse in my inbox right now and we kept the hook of that song because it was a sample. So we’re going to put that as a bonus track on the album, and put it to the streets. “No one on the corner got swag like you we don’t Rocawear that’s for fags like you.” [Laughs.]

Complex: Ahhh…

Jim Jones: And look at the Vibe cover. Tell me who Jay-Z looks like in there? Did you see the picture of him? With the Louis Vuitton scarf and all that. Who did that resemble? You can say it. But he did it wrong; he had a Gucci belt with a Louis Vuitton scarf. Who does that? You smell me? That’s like wearing one Nike and one Puma; how you going to get away with that? But I didn’t take the song as a shot, because I don’t feel like none [besides Weezy] of them possess any swag.

Complex: What about T.I?

Jim Jones: I don’t feel like he possesses any swag. Not like that. It’s fabricated. They’re watching other people, then they try and do it. You know people that dress like T.I.? You know people that go out and say let me get a T.I. outfit or do you know people who say “yo, you’re looking like Jim Jones?” Which one? Lemme hear it! When the bitches want to fuck you and the niggas want be like you, who got the swag? Niggas with money and fame always going to look like they doing something ’cause they got the camera in front of them. But the cool dudes always stick out no matter where they at.

This is the new single from Jim Jones that was produced by Ron Browz.  Browz seems to be getting his production hustle on. The Arab T-Pain thing is kind of annoying but whatever. The song also features Juelz Santana.