Sir Jinx

Biography

Anthony D. Wheaton (born June 3, 1970), professionally known by his stage name Sir Jinx, is an American hip-hop record producer and rapper from Los Angeles. He is a cousin of multi-platinum producer Dr. Dre. He began his career as a member of the group C.I.A. in the mid-80s with Ice Cube and Kid Disaster. He has produced tracks for the likes of Westside Connection, Too Short, Yo-Yo, Tone Loc, Kool G Rap, CeCe Peniston, Xzibit and Kurupt among others, and also remixed songs for Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Toni Braxton.

1980s

Anthony "Sir Jinx" Wheaton began his career in the early-80s when Wheaton moved to South Central, not too far away from soon-to-be rapper Ice Cube. Wheaton already had inherited knowledge of the culture around hip-hop by then. Through Cube, Wheaton later met with Cube’s other cousin, Del the Funky Homosapien, and became close friends based on similar interests. Cube had been developing a career as a rapper. Along with Kid Disaster, they started a group which would later become known as C.I.A.
As part of the then-named Stereo Crew duo with Ice Cube, they signed with Epic Records and released their debut single "She's a Skag" in 1986, which was produced by Wheaton's cousin Dr. Dre and Dre's World Class Wreckin' Cru bandmate Alonzo Williams. Poor single sales caused them to be soon dropped off of the label. Joined by fellow rapper Kid Disaster, they were picked by Kru-Cut Records and changed the group's name to C.I.A. In 1987 the trio released their single "My Posse" and appeared on the cover of N.W.A. and the Posse. Cube and Dre later focused on the group N.W.A, which led to the disbanding of C.I.A. Wheaton produced fellow rapper Dazzie Dee's first extended play Turn It Loose, released in 1989.

1990s

When Cube left N.W.A and Ruthless Records over a financial dispute, all the former C.I.A. members along with several other artists formed the Lench Mob posse on Cube's founded Lench Mob Records label. Wheaton and Cube in collaboration with Chilly Chill and New York-based hip hop production team The Bomb Squad produced Ice Cube's debut solo studio album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and the follow-up Kill at Will EP, both released in 1990. Both these projects were certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In the same year, Wheaton produced "Ain't Nothin' but a Word to Me", the only song from Too $hort's Short Dog's in the House album, which also featured a guest appearance from Ice Cube
In 1991, Wheaton produced a significant number of songs on Yo-Yo's Make Way for the Motherlode, WC and the Maad Circle's Ain't a Damn Thang Changed, and Ice Cube's Death Certificate, including the N.W.A diss track "No Vaseline". He also produced Ice Cube's "How to Survive in South Central", from the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack, and Tone Lōc "I Adore You". Continuing into 1992 with Cube's The Predator and Yo-Yo's 1992 Black Pearl, Wheaton also ventured into the East Coast hip hop scene, producing the majority of Kool G Rap's final studio album with DJ Polo, Live and Let Die, and also provided additional production on two tracks for George Clinton's son Trey Lewd's Drop the Line, and the title track for Music from the Motion Picture Trespass. Wheaton created remixes for rap-rock outfits such as Rage Against the Machine's "Guerrilla Radio", "Bullet in the Head", and an unreleased remix of "Bombtrack", all of which were recorded in 1992.
After producing a couple of tracks on Ice Cube's 1993 album Lethal Injection, Wheaton stopped working with Cube and his group Da Lench Mob due to their controversial directions. He moved on to producing for R&B-oriented solo acts such as CeCe Peniston, Gerald Levert, Isaac Hayes, Teena Marie, and former Bell Biv DeVoe member Ricky Bell.
Following a low-profile independent solo album in 1995, Wheaton returned to production, producing on Gooch's 1997 album A Lot on It and Xzibit's 1998 album 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz. He also helped to produce skits on Tash's 1999 Rap Life and helped on Xzibit's 2000 Restless.

2000s

Wheaton provided production work on a song from comedian Eddie Griffin's 2003 film Dysfunktional Family soundtrack. Same year he produced a couple of tracks on The Comrads member Gangsta album Penitentiary Chances, as well as a posse cut on Westside Connection's album Terrorist Threats.
Outside of some minor production on Kurupt's 2004 album Originals and 2005 album Against the Grain, Xzibit's 2004 album Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Ras Kass's 2009 project Quarterly, Sir Jinx was relatively low-key during this period.

2010s

In 2010, Wheaton produced a song for Sadat X's Wild Cowboys II album, as well as the track "Life in California" from Ice Cube's I Am the West album, which marked the first time Wheaton and Cube had worked together on any new material together in several years. In an October 2010 interview for HipHopDX, Wheaton stated that he was going to help produce cousin Dr. Dre's long-awaited release Detox. In spite of his relation to Dr. Dre, it would have been the first album to feature both Wheaton and Dre producing; the album remains stuck in limbo.
Wheaton collaborated with Tri Star and Dat Boi Hop to form the group General Population; they released their album Sir Jinx Presents General Population: Rime Scene in 2011, featuring guest appearances from Butch Cassidy, Roscoe, Devin the Dude, Jayo Felony, Kurupt, and Ras Kass. The following year, Wheaton produced for Tri Star's project Trilogy. Together with Mike & Keys, Jinx produced debut Serial Killers single "First 48". In 2016, he and Dre produced T.I.'s non-album single "Dope", which featured vocals by Marsha Ambrosius.

Film and television

Wheaton has made appearances co-hosting BET's Rap City: Tha Basement.
He has also DJ'ed for various TV shows including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and "The Orlando Jones Show".
In 1993, Wheaton appeared in a cameo in John Singleton's romantic drama film Poetic Justice.