Jack King, aka Parker Edison, is a TedX speaker and a member of award-winning rap group Parker Meridien. He came to local notice in Parker & the Numberman, a hip-hop trio also featuring Jamal Smith (aka 10 19), and Brandon Zamudio. According to the band, “The proclaimed college graduates would contribute to Negro advancement by grabbing the bull by the horns and leading the uneducated masses to the Promised Land. Du Bois dubbed the future leaders the Talented Tenth.”
Their EP Early was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Album at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards, and then the band (having become a duo) won Best Hip-Hop Album at the 2012 SDMAs.
Edison executive produced a 2015 compilation called Reclaiming the Community, featuring Aki Kharmicel, Odessa Kane, Tiny Doo, and others. In 2016, he won a local peacemaker award from the National Conflict Resolution Center for producing the “Reclaiming the Community Music Project,” which showcases the storytelling community of Southeast San Diego.
In April 2016, Edison released his own Parker Meridien EP, produced by Mr. Ripley. The EP was promoted with several live performances teaming him up with local jazz cats like drummer Nathan Hubbard and bassist Harley Magsino.
“Halfway through this EP,” Edison told the Reader, “I told Nate how I wanted to do a live band for my stage show and started funneling the demo versions of my songs to him before they were even mixed. He’d get them and compose and arrange these completely different renditions with sheet music for Harley, who came on his recommendation.”
A new Parker Meridien album, Fists like Gotti, was released in November 2017.
In early 2021, Edison hosted and co-created a podcast series called The Parker Edison Project, where he says “I'm specifically looking at it through the black lens, because that’s my lens.” Episodes broadcast every two weeks featured Latanya Lockett discussing “Womxn On Film,” Oranje Space revealing how music helped him to stop stuttering, and additional topics included sex, food, fashion, money, religion, the theater, and cinema.