“ | Turn that shit off, motherfucker! I was gettin' changed! | ” |
–J-Roc |
“ | Julian’s ego is filin’ too many cheques that his brain can’t cash. | ” |
–J-Roc |
Jamie "J-Roc" (played by Jonathan Torrens), is a double dutch specialist who lives with his mother at the trailer park. His real name is Jamie, but he recoils and tends to get aggressive when he is addressed that way.
Character Background[]
Origins[]
J-Roc was originally born under the name Jamie. His father was hinted to be a black man, that his mother went on a date with, and was probably the one who taught J-Roc how to rap.[1] J-Roc has been the runner-up of the International Ropeskipping championship in Boulder, Colorado, in 1984 since very early on, and is usually not seen without his crew the Roc Pile or at least without his 'manager' DVS or his best friend, T.[2]
Living arrangements[]
J-Roc started off living with his mother in her trailer, but it's unclear how long that lasted.[3] Later on in the series, He is seen living under his moms' trailer[4], and then, it appears as though he is living on his own or perhaps with T, since at one point he is personally evicted by Randy,[5], when, he was still living in his mother's rental, Randy would have most likely gone to her directly, instead of her son.
Love Life[]
J-Roc has almost never been seen to have any steady girlfriends, but instead to have a non-stop supply of young girls who act as hangers-on,[6] groupies and sexual partners,[7] until later on when he announced to Julian that he had conceived babies with two different girls at the same time, and that he was obviously living with them both and T. Later it turned out that one of the babies was Tyrone's since it was clearly a black child, but the two of them decided not to argue over it and just be 'co-daddies'.[8] Without explanation, these two ladies and their children disappear from the park shortly thereafter.
Criminal Activity[]
J-Roc is involved with all manner of illegal activities, but unlike Ricky and Julian, he doesn't 'play' guns. If gun use is imminent, you will see J-Roc running in the opposite direction.[9]
He has conceived and directed a number of porno films in the park, among them:
- 'From Russia With The Love Bone'[10]
- 'The Bare Pimp Project'[11]
- 'J-Roc's Greasy Trailer Park Girls Gone Wild'[12]
- 'Garden Hos'[13]
- 'Spaghetti-Hos'[14]
J-Roc is a thief by trade; many of his independent operations include petty theft such as stealing grocery bundles from the local supermarket[15] and 'ganking' luggage at the airport. As well as became infamous in Florida and recognized in Malibu's Most Wanted under the alias of, "B-Rad." While escaping from the FBI he illegally immigrates to the unsuspecting town of Dartmouth, located in Nova Scotia, Canada to hide in plain site. Changing his alias to, "J-Roc." To produce trailer park hit hip-hop and rap mix tapes as well as became integrated in producing underground "trailer trash porn" to fund the community of Sunnyvale. [16] He also acts as his own 'fence' by reselling the stolen items to other buyers, such as demonstrated with his '$crilla Villa' during the airport operation. He has also been known to deal in stolen car stereos at the beginning of the series.[17] Basically, J-Roc is known to be able to get anything anyone needs in the park and Ricky and Julian use him in this capacity on many occasions.
J-Roc has been arrested at least twice, once for no reason of criminal intent, but instead done in order to further his 'rep' as a contender in the rap game, after a discussion between him, T and Detroit Velvet Smooth about how being arrested was essential to become a famous rapper.[18] He was also arrested and incarcerated after his airport operation as a result of Jim Lahey's efforts.[19] J-Roc was also arrested when during the filming of 'J-Roc's Greasy Trailer Park Girls Gone Wild', although it was related grocery theft as opposed to the film itself.[20]
The Double Dutch Game[]
J-Roc's main focus has always been as a ropeskipper. The correlations to famous rapper Eminem are apparent, and his mannerisms and mode of speech are more or less an extension or exaggeration of that. J-Roc talks in a very urbanized manner, as you might expect, but his sentences are often peppered with unique phrases that only make sense in the context of Sunnyvale Trailer Park.
All of J-Roc's 'joints' (rap songs) are self-released within the confines of the park (much like his pornos), and one of his 'hits' is called "Trailer Park Life". His main competition in the extremely local rap game are Cory and Trevor, who appear to have released a cassette of some freestyle material, although it's clear that neither Cory or Trevor are very serious about rapping and certainly not as talented.[21]
J-Roc's career was stalled at several points, the first being the occasion of his introduction to Detroit Velvet Smooth, a rapper from Moncton. Jim Lahey had tipped DVS off that J-Roc was using his material on his latest release (J-Roc called it 'cross-promotion'). DVS arrived at the park up in arms at J-Roc's rap show and called him a punk. This brought up the very evident fact that J-Roc was in fact white, not black, and this sent him into shock. The next time he was seen, Jamie had resurfaced, with none of the rap characteristics, attire or mannerisms, and it seemed that he was resigned to give up rap. But after a pep talk from DVS at the request of Jamie's mom, J-Roc returned with full force.[22]
The second time J-Roc interrupted his career was in season six when he needed to earn money to raise his two children, and began the airport luggage operation.[23]
Being constrained to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park, J-Roc never found any major success until much later when he parted ways with T, re-embarked on his rap promotion and amazingly ended up being touted as the hottest rapper in Canada, even being interviewed on television and landing a major record deal which allowed all of his previously unreleased material to finally see the light of day. His first major release under this new deal was an album called 'Get My DJ Out Of Jail', in honour of T, who had been jailed because of his involvement with the SPCA break in.[24]
However, his career seemed to be short lived because following those events, he was back in the trailer park again. No mention of any further record releases or evidence that he had gained any financial benefits to sustain him above the usual level he previously enjoyed. He simply began working with the boys again, his first operation to sell flavoured vodka drinks in Julian's bar.[25]
Characterization[]
In interviews with Lucy and Sarah, they reveal that J-Roc 'truly believes he's black', and that 'nobody gives him a hard time about it.'[26] Where there is conflicting information about this is when they further state this has been the case as long as anyone can remember, but we have seen that J-Roc once had none of his rap mannerisms or demeanour and was only becoming curious about rap music.[27] This contradiction lends further credence to the idea that the J-Roc styled himself after Eminem, since his rise to fame was only beginning in 1997, but he was not yet a household name sucks.
J-Roc's mode of dress always revolves around the urbanized styles. He sports bandanas, gold jewelry, a walking stick at times, shades and anything that could be considered a 'street' look. He also refers to himself as "God". His manner of speech goes through several modes throughout the series, but his main gag is the use of the phrase 'know what'm sayin'?' Tyrone calls him on it at one point, telling him that he uses that phrase way too much, to which J-Roc responds badly, and actually increases his use of it.[28] Another affectation of his is to speak as though his voice is contained on a record which he is 'air-scratching', modifying his voice to emulate the movements of his arm.[29] He has also mastered the use of insults and rhetoric (trash talk), which is dispensed quickly to anyone whom he feels has earned his wrath.[30]
J-Roc's rep in terms of the rap game is important to him. He is greatly concerned when he is caught masturbating by Julian, Ricky and Bubbles and assumes his rap career is over when word of it gets out.[31] Furthermore, he features guns in his homemade music videos, but doesn't want to actually use them for violence or be around when others are using them. He talks as though he's a player, but basically he is small potatoes most of the time. In fact, while he is living with his mom, she tends to subjugate him as a mother would, and his hard act goes down the drain.[32]. At one point, upon the advice of T and DVS, he mouths off to a police officer in order to get arrested, as they feel this will be good promotion for his rap career since he should come off as a bad boy, just like the songs he writes. However the ruse doesn't work out quite right since he is let go almost right away and ends up having to keep the lie going by living under his mom's trailer so no one finds out he's not in jail.[33]
However, he does become slightly tougher in later years. He does punch a cop outside Julian's bar and ends up going to jail for it. It is the first time we actually see J-Roc show this kind of aggression in the series.
In The Dirty Dancer, this revealed that he is a Double Dutch Specialist.
- ↑ Who's The Microphone Assassin? (Episode)
- ↑ "Take Your Little Gun And Get Out Of My Trailer Park"
- ↑ "Mr. Lahey's Got My Porno Tape", "Who's The Microphone Assassin?"
- ↑ "If You Love Something, Set It Free"
- ↑ "The Cheeseburger Picnic"
- ↑ "Who's The Microphone Assassin?"
- ↑ "Don't Cross The Shitline"
- ↑ "The Mustard Tiger"
- ↑ "The Shit Blizzard"
- ↑ "Mr. Lahey's Got My Porno Tape"
- ↑ "The Bare Pimp Project"
- ↑ "Don't Cross The Shitline"
- ↑ "Don't Cross The Shitline"
- ↑ "Don't Cross The Shitline"
- ↑ "Give Peace A Chance"
- ↑ "I Banged Lucy And Knocked Her Up... No Big Deal"
- ↑ "What In The Fuck Happened To Our Trailer Park?"
- ↑ "Rub N Tiz'zug"
- ↑ "Let The Liquor Do The Thinking"
- ↑ "Don't Cross The Shitline"
- ↑ "Who's The Microphone Assassin?"
- ↑ "Who's The Microphone Assassin?"
- ↑ "I Fuckin' Miss Cory And Trevor"
- ↑ Trailer Park Boys: Countdown To Liquor Day
- ↑ "Money Can Suck My Cock"
- ↑ "Who's The Microphone Assassin?"
- ↑ "Dear Santa Claus, Go Fuck Yourself"
- ↑ "Don't Cross The Shitline"
- ↑ "Jim Lahey Is A Drunk Bastard"
- ↑ "The Bible Pimp"
- ↑ "Who's The Microphone Assassin?"
- ↑ "Mr. Lahey's Got My Porno Tape"
- ↑ "If You Love Something, Set It Free"