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Amanda: How would you describe the album?
Jahaziel: I would say musically it’s a hip hop album with different musical influences; some rock influences, reggae influences and soul. The content- lyrically I tried to present an overall picture of my faith and showing the relevance of God in today’s society and also share my experiences and my beliefs.
Amanda: Even though it’s a rap album I can hear a lot of reggae influences coming through, did you grow up listening to reggae?
Jahaziel: Yeah, reggae was the first style of music I heard, I can’t get away from it, and it’s in my blood. I grew up on the likes of Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs and my uncle Maxi Priest was a big influence.
My next project will properly be a reggae album.
Amanda: What’s the story behind the naming of the album ‘Ready to Live’?
Jahaziel: There were different reasons. One of my favourite albums used to be ‘Ready to Die’ by Notorious B.I.G. and I wanted to throw a twist on that. There’s a Bible verse that can summarise his whole album about being ‘Ready to Die’ which is part of John 10:10, in which it says that the devil comes ‘to steal kill and to destroy’, but in that same verse it goes on to talk about that Christ came so that we may have life and life more abundantly and so I want my album to be one that encourages abundant life.
Amanda: How long have you been involved in music?
Jahaziel: I’ve been rapping for about thirteen years but it’s been about nine years since I started taking it more seriously.
I started off doing mainstream music but it never really came to much, it was my intention to do it but nothing seemed to happen, but when I got saved that’s when things started to happen.
I went through a three-year period of doing a lot of mainstream remixes, I rapped on remixes for the likes of Lemar, Craig David and for Daniel Beddingfield’s album and I also performed on Top of the Pops. I got convicted that my gift was really to be used exclusively for God and so I stopped doing all this stuff and started focusing on my own stuff and hence I got the album put together.
Amanda: You allow yourself to be very transparent on the majority of the album, why is that?
Jahaziel: When I first became a Christian and started listening to Gospel music, I found the hip hop stuff very positive and powerful but I found it very preachy and that it didn’t give much in terms of a personal perspective. It didn’t highlight much of the trials, tests, temptations and struggles of everyday life and those were the reality of things that I was experiencing. There didn’t seem to be any music reflecting this and so I was left wondering ‘am I the only one out here that’s going through these things?’ Because of this I wanted to make lyrics in my music that reflected the reality of Christian life from both the highs and the lows.
The way that your lyrics are put together is quite poetic.
Jahaziel: I’m into poetry. I wrote my first poem when I was about six, growing up I used to love writing poetry. Essentially that’s what rap is because it’s an acronym for Rhythm and Poetry, so it’s poetry to a rhythm.
Amanda: Why do sing what you sing about, for example your song ‘In My Neighbourhood’?
I write all my own material and a lot of it’s about my own experiences.
The song ‘In My Neighbourhood’ was one that I wrote because of being involved in violence as a young person. Last year there were 28 teenagers murdered in London and so that song is really about encouraging peace in our neighbourhoods and exercising two of the greatest commandments; to ‘love the Lord thy God’ and to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’.
Amanda: How would you describe your life since becoming a Christian?
Jahaziel: My behaviour and the direction of my life changed. My goals and my ambitions changed, things that I really deemed as important changed. Whereas before gaining money and being popular were the kind of things that were important, I now have a greater purpose for doing things particularly with my music. I recently performed at a venue where 20 people got saved and that is more valuable to me than being on MTV.
Amanda: The sounds on each track are quite varied.
Jahaziel: Yeah, I’m quite eclectic.
Gospel is not a style of music it’s a message and I hope to display in my music that the Gospel can be communicated in different styles. It’s like Paul says about being ‘all things to all men’, so in some ways that’s what I try to do.
I hope that it will open me up to different audiences because one person might like reggae, one person might like rap, and another might like soul. For me it’s been about creating a variation of styles without compromising the message.
Amanda: What do you hope to achieve through this album?
Jahaziel: What I hope to achieve is that through the lyrics people will be encouraged and know God is real and for people to get closer to God. I hope that believers will be encouraged and non-believers will come into the faith.
Also, my heart’s very much for the young people because of my experiences growing up. Essentially what I’m saying in the songs is probably no different to what a Pastor may say in a Sunday service but I say it in a language that young people will understand, my heart is to see young people reached.
Amanda: Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
Jahaziel: Still making music but perhaps from a managerial point of view or mentoring or working for a label.
And In some way being involved in sowing into the lives of young people, maybe in a leadership capacity. In some way I want to be involved in helping to bring up the next generation.
Amanda: Who are you favourite Christian artists?
Jahaziel: It changes. When I first got saved it was the likes of Cross Movement and Ambassador, now I’m really feeling’ Lecrae, Da Truth, Flame, and Trip-Lee amongst others.
Amanda: What is your goal?
Jahaziel: To spread the Gospel through music and in doing so to hopefully break some mind-sets. I hope that it will give people a different outlook; some people have a misguided preconception of what it means to be a Christian.
I hope that the album will help to break down some walls as well; I hope that Gospel music will become less boxed in and categorised because Gospel is a message and not a style of music. God is so very creative; He created the Heaven and the Earth.
Amanda: How can people find out about your forthcoming events?
If you could describe the album in one sentence, what would it be?
Jahaziel: Love for God, love for mankind and love for music.
Interviewed by Amanda Hemmings – May 2008 |
