Meet Joe Blakk: Rapper and tax accountant [VIDEO]

Noted New Orleans rapper runs thriving 17-person tax practice — with local flavor.

“I started doing taxes a long time ago, as soon as I got my first job,” says New Orleans rapper Joe Blakk, Joe Blakk Income Tax Service.

Blakk had his first regional hit with the song “It Ain’t Where Ya From” in 1993, during his senior year of college. By the time he debuted as a rapper, though, he already had nearly a decade of experience preparing taxes — a sideline he pursued throughout high school and college the way some kids might have had a paper route.

Today, during each tax season, he employs 17 people — including the bounce rap pioneers Cheeky Blakk, Dolemite and T.T. Tucker, as well as Rebirth Brass Band bass drummer Keith Frazier — at the three local offices of Joe Blakk Income Tax Service.

When he started, “I wasn’t even charging, it was just about let’s get it done, let’s do it right. Let’s start filing taxes, repair our credit, own our own homes, and leave something for our children when we’re gone.”

More Tax season is high note for New Orleans musician Joe Blakk’s second career

One Response to “Meet Joe Blakk: Rapper and tax accountant [VIDEO]”

  1. Inga Gettridge-Triggs

    I read the article in the paper and I was so moved by your success story. We need to hear more success stories like yours, all we ever hear is the negative press on black men these days.

    Continous success to you and continue to help others.

    God bless,
    Inga Gettridge-Triggs