10 Artists to Watch 2006

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At eight years old, Jovan Campbell, a.k.a. Jibbs, downloaded a beat and laid down an original rap about moving from Chicago to St. Louis. His brother, DJ Beats, an acclaimed producer who has crafted tracks for local superstars Nelly and Chingy, was so blown away that he rerecorded the song in his studio. By ten, Jibbs was battling aspiring rappers twice his age, beating them so badly that they wanted to knock the crap out of him. Luckily, Jibbs was also an acclaimed amateur boxer with two Golden Gloves titles. Now, at the ripe old age of fifteen, the precocious MC has a hit single, "Chain Hang Low," which appeared on this season's Entourage, and a debut album, Jibbs Feat. Jibbs, which the rapper hopes will bring the hip-pop title back to the St. Lou.

SOUND Jibbs' singsong rhymes and syncopated flow - cramming several words into one beat only to extend one syllable over the next two - recalls Nelly, while his penchant for boisterous overenunciated vowels smacks of Ludacris. "Chain Hang Low," a play on the schoolyard rhyme "Do Your Ears Hang Low?," includes a kid-chanted chorus: "Do your chain hang low?/Do it wobble to the flo'?/Do it shine in the light?/Is it platinum, is it gold?" Jibbs' spitfire wordplay puts the track over the top: "I got charms so heavy that my neck don't like me." His brother, who produced most of the debut album, keeps the beats spare and playful.

KID POWER Cranky grown folks might wonder how a fifteen-year-old has the inspiration to rap about anything interesting, but Jibbs says writing rhymes has never been a problem. "It's easier when you're a kid," says the rapper, who imagines grand lifestyles in his lyrics. "You're seeing a lot, plus your creativity is really, really big. Kids think big about the glamorous life." DJ Beats, 25, is still amazed at the things his little bro can do. "He shocks us every time he gets onto a record," says Beats, half of the production crew Da Beatstaz. "It really inspires me when we work together. We just be in the studio, screaming." EVAN SERPICK

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