Jackson was born in Harlem, New York City, receiving his "Spoonie" nickname as a child because the spoon was the only utensil that he used to eat with. His mother died when he was twelve years old, and he went to live with his uncle, the record producer Bobby Robinson, in whose apartment he began to practice rapping.
He has been credited with originating the term hip hop and some of the themes in his music were precursors of gangsta rap. His first recording came about after Peter Brown visited Robinson"s record store and mentioned that he was looking to make a rap record. Spoonie"s name was suggested, and he recorded "Spoonin" Rap", which was released on Brown"s Sound Of New York, United States of America imprint, featuring a lyric that included jailhouse references that would later become common in Gangsta rap, and with echo applied to vocals in a similar way to many Jamaican deejay records.
Spoonie Gee has been described as "the original gangster rapper".
He then recorded for Robinson"s Enjoy! Sunshine and Kool Moe Dee. The group added Special K as a member when Jackson left to record his first single.
The group was named Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three when Jackson returned for a period before going solo. He left Enjoy! and moved to Sugarhill Records, where he enjoyed further hits with "Spoonie"s Back" and the collaboration with The Sequence on "Monster Jam".
He moved on again to Aaron Fuchs" Tuff City label, on which the majority of his later output was issued, including "That"s My Style", on which he attacked Schoolly Doctorate for copying his style.
By the mid-1980s, he was also working in a rehabilitation centre for people with learning disabilities. His career took off once again in 1987 with his debut album, The Godfather of Rap, produced by Marley Marl and Teddy Riley, and issued on the Tuff City label. His career has since been hampered by several spells in prison.
In the mid-1990s a compilation of his work, Godfather of Hip Hop, was issued on the Ol" Skool Flava label, In the mid-2000s he returned with a new European Parliament, The Boss is Back.
In 2008, "Love Rap" was ranked number 65 on Video Hits One"s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.
Jackson was a founding member of the Treacherous Three, along with Los Angeles
