NFL Star DeSean Jackson Creates Label, Drops Single, Helps Friends

DeSean Jackson says he did it for his friends. The star NFL wide receiver, who made a name for himself in the league with the Philadelphia Eagles, first as a rookie in 2008 and then as a Pro Bowler in 2009, 2010, and 2013, created his personal record label, Jacc Pot Records, as a means to helps his friends who were, and are, aspiring musicians.

Jackson, who is a musician and lyricist, himself, knew that his success in professional football, earning upwards of millions of dollars per year, could be a window for others to find success. He knew that talent is not always given its proper support. So, Jackson decided to be that support system, and create a new label for those who might not receive the types of chances he’s gotten over the years.

“Jacc Pot Records,” Jackson says, “is a company that I started in my first few years when I made it to the NFL. It’s a way for me, since I was successful, to start up a record label that could help some of my boys coming up. To give them an opportunity. Some of my boys I grew up with had a passion and were talented in music. So, it’s my way of helping them.”

For Jackson, who named his label after a nickname he earned as a young person, “Jacc Pot,” music has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. In that way, it’s like sports. A common part of his general ecosystem. Jackson, who grew up in Los Angeles, remembers Tupac. The rapper was a favorite of his. How Tupac elucidated the struggle of being young in America resonated with his passion, insight. As a result, music became a significant outlet for him even at a young age. It was one he pursued in earnest later in life, around the time he was making waves in the Pac-12 Conference.

“I started off in college,” says Jackson, who attended the University of California Berkley, “just messing around, freestyling, playing with it. When any kind of beat came on, me and my boys would beatbox. For the first few years in the league, I used to be on my [cell phone’s] voice notes; I would record myself.”

Music is inextricably tied to athletics. People use music to hype themselves up before a game, to focus themselves during a workout, or to celebrate a win. For Jackson, who currently plays for the L.A. Rams and boasts six receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown this season, music is always part of the locker room. Hip hop is most often on the speakers. Rock also. But there are also chances here and there to practice one’s own music or spit lyrics with like-minded friends. Many athletes—from former NBA star, Waymond Tisdale, to former MLB star Bernie Williams to the NHL’s Henrik Lundqvist to current NBA star, Damian Lillard—enjoy dabbling in music to varying degrees. But, of course, their day jobs remain demanding. Jackson’s is no different.

“Football is first and foremost,” he says. “Music comes more on my off-season, my off-time when I’m not really working. It’s more like a hobby outside work, outside of football.”

But that hobby is quickly growing. Jackson’s orientation to the art form is more and more like Lillard’s than it is a hobbyist. Hobbyists don’t have their own label, often. And they aren’t dropping singles with big production values, as Jackson did recently in September with his new track “Roll With Me.” Jackson, who has enough money to pay ghostwriters, also writes his own verses, and even sometimes helps pen the lyrics for others in the song. For “Roll With Me,” good studio energy led to the new single.

“We were just in the studio, vibing,” Jackson says of the R&B-meets-rap track. “That song, I think I wrote 80-percent of that one. I did the hook, I was giving [Armonie Jay] ideas. It was just a vibe, just having fun with it.”

The new single is the first release from Jackson in 2021, though he did drop an entire album, Against All Odds, in 2020. In addition, Jackson says, there will be more work released later this year—perhaps as soon as the end of the month. His main creative concern (outside of football, of course) is the growth of Jacc Pot, which released the new video today, too.

“I’m just trying to build up this label,” he says. “And hopefully do something special.”

For Jackson, who has been through his fair share of ups and downs, from growing up in tough parts of Southern California, to experiencing socio-political learning moments in real-time (which is never easy with the world watching), to experiencing great highs on the football field, life, in the end, is about making the most of opportunities received.

“I’ve been in the NFL a long time,” Jackson says. “Now 14 years. I know what’s important, I know how to handle that. Off the file, I’m just trying to put people in a position to help with the label and hopefully, the label can do something special with the artists we have.”

But even though the label was founded with his friends in mind, it’s not just some lottery ticket, Jackson says. That’s not how he or the label works. And that’s not how music or athletics work either. You get what you put in; reap what you sow. For Jackson, music is that which can summon a valuable feeling or an emotion; it’s an important outlet for someone whose day job is so focused, and at times, frankly, physically brutal. As such, it’s something to honor and keep sacred.

“It’s about putting in the work,” Jackson says. “Letting people know it’s an opportunity, but they still got to work and put time in. Don’t nothing happen overnight.”