Darrin Jackson was born a musician. He played in the Jazz Band, The Marching Band, and The Orchestra. He started rapping at 13, and bought his first keyboard and mixer at 16. At age 22 he assumed the professional name of Nomad. Unlike the rest of his crew, he had to work to eat, so Rap remained an after work hobby. However, after a bad accident that left Darrin Jackson homeless, jobless, and depressed, he had a dream. A voice told him to get up and go.
So he did exactly that. The Nomad traveled through all the back room studios and music spots of Long Beach, Compton, Los Angeles and Hollywood. With the personal recommendation from Sir Mix-Alot, Nomad acquired Mix’s old ProTools System. Newly armed with a gym bag, stuffed with his Mac and his Digi001,he was able to bring ProTools directly to the street. Through Reputation and Word of Mouth He soon connected with Legendary West Coast Producers like Battle Cat, Meech Wells, Keith Clark, and Chilly Chill. This landed him a gig with Marvin Gay III, the son of the Motown Legend Marvin Gaye. Now a partner with MGIII productions, living in the pool house of Marvin Gayes Hollywood Mansion, he worked with several Motown legends, and hip hop artists including George Clinton, Malia Franklin, One Way, Phillip Gordy, June Pointer, RBX, Short Khop, CPO. In 2001 he worked with Marvin Gaye III on the Artists Against Aids: Whats Going project as an assistant to Jon Nettlesbee. John Nettlesby was the engineer for John McClain the current owner of “Marvin’s Room”. This was the first “professional” engineer Nomad ever came into contact with. He showed him how the professional did things and provided a blue print for a professional work ethic.
Well one bright summer day, perfect for a video shoot. West Coast Legend RBX (of Dr Dre’s Chronic Album) invited Nomad to a video shoot with Snoop Dogg and Kokane. Snoop Dogg saw Nomad, and Said “I heard about all the work you have been doing around the streets. Come by the studio at 3pm on monday”. Little did Nomad know, Snoop Dog’s engineer was gone “Turkey Hunting” and had locked the studio down. Snoop Dogg was upset, because the studio had been shutdown for 3 weeks. Unsuspecting Nomad showed up. Snoop said “set up the mic, call me when you are ready to record”. So Nomad did what he knew how to do, and made it happen. A few minutes later, Snoop Dogg was recording vocals, and the old engineer had lost his job.
Quickly, Nomad moved through the ranks and made a name for himself as a member of rap label “Doggy Style Records”. He went form Engineer, to Studio Manager, to Personal Assistant to CEO. He touched virtually every aspect of making an album from Label Sheets, Sample Clearance, to Mastering at Bernie Grundman with Brian “Big Bottom’ Gardner. He worked with the “who’s who’s” of the hip hop world at the time including Swizz Beatz, Nelly, Ludacris, 50 Cents, Nate Dogg, Warren G, DJ Pooh, Kanye West and John Legend. He also acted as the direct liaison to Snoop to help facilitate movie deals, video’s, dvd, and even video games. This put him into direct contact with entities like P-Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Iovine, BET, MTV, MGM . If it was a part of the music business, Nomad did it. The last album he did with Snoop Dogg was called R&G. It featured the Hit single “Drop it Like Its hot”. In 2006 Nomad exited from the fast paced music scene to have a family and to raise his kids. But he did not let that time go to waste. He also continued to hone his skills by earning a Bachelors Degree in Music Production from Full Sail University. Today the Nomad is crossing the field of music at full throttle, and shows no sign of stopping.
