The Jacka, a popular San Francisco Bay Area rapper, was shot and killed in East Oakland Monday night by an unidentified gunman, stunning the local hip-hop community there.
The Jacka, whose real name is Dominic Newton, was shot along MacArthur Boulevard near 94th Avenue about 8:14 p.m.
Monday, Oakland police told KPIX-TV. He was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.
Newton, who was 37, began his music career as a member of the Bay Area rap group Mob Figaz in the late 1990s before embarking on a solo career in 2001. Under the persona of The Jacka, he worked with other hip-hop artists like E-40 and Mistah F.A.B., according to KPIX-TV.
The television station said that Newton's latest album, "What Happened to the World," was released two months ago.
In a 2009 article in the San Francisco Guardian, Newton talked about trading in his criminal life for one in the studio creating music. He said he was happy to make the change.
"When I started working on my album, things changed for me — I really got into the streets," Newton told the newspaper. "Whatever rap n***** was talking about, we were living." The streets are dried up for me. Once the feds knock your boy, you can't f*** around for the rest of your life."
"I'm hot. So I stay with the music now . . . I wouldn't trade this for those times again — never," he continued. "This is something legit we're doing that's real. My dream as a child was to do this."
Performers like Keyshia Cole and Cormega expressed their condolences on Twitter.