JT the Bigga Figga

Biography

Joseph David Thompson (born November 8, 1973), better known by his stage name JT the Bigga Figga (also known as Figg Panamera), is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive from San Francisco, California. He founded the record label Get Low Recordz in 1991, which signed fellow California-based rapper the Game in the early 2000s, prior to his mainstream breakthrough. The label has also signed Messy Marv and San Quinn.

Music career

In 1991, Thompson founded the independent record label Get Low Recordz. The label started as a basement operation.
Thompson's rap debut came in 1992 with the self-released album Don't Stop til We Major, at the age of 18. In the following year, he followed it up with Playaz N the Game. The album's first single, "Game Recognize Game" received significant airplay, thrusting Thompson into the spotlight. The success of his album led to a bidding war among record labels, and he signed with Priority Records in 1994. Subsequent albums released through Priority Records were unsuccessful, however. In 1996, the label elected to release Thompson from his contract. Thompson guest performed on No Limit Records's May 1997 soundtrack album, I'm Bout It, appearing on the song "Game Tight" with The Fast One. Both Thompson and The Fast One produced the song.
After the dissolution of his contract with Priority Records, Thompson went back to self-distributing his albums through Get Low Recordz. With the earnings from his deal with Priority, Thompson invested in a recording studio and began producing beats for other artists. In 2000, after signing a modest distribution deal with Bayside Records, Get Low began expanding productions.
In 2002, Thompson published an E-Book, The CEO Manual.
Thompson is credited with discovering fellow California rapper The Game, with Get Low having released his first album, Untold Story, before his signing with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.
In fall of 2005, Thompson was named A&R of West Coast operations for the Houston, Texas-based Rap-A-Lot Records.
Thompson's film credits include the Spike Lee film Sucker Free City (2004), and SKUZZ TV (2007), a documentary DVD released by 3MZ Productions.
In 2006, Thompson worked with Snoop Dogg on the documentary DVD Mandatory Business, which featured Russell Simmons, Spike Lee, Xzibit, Young Buck and 50 Cent.
In 2015, Thompson founded the on-demand service Trapflix, which showcases urban films, documentaries, and concert footage. Thompson has since renewed focus onto filmmaking, as well as discussions of Pan-Africanism in Burkina Faso on his YouTube channel, Trapflix TV.