This year marks a decade in the game for veteran Cleveland, Ohio, by way of the San Francisco Bay Area, resident emcee, Jahi. The socially aware, highly intellectual rapper is celebrating this landmark event with the release of his 7th studio set, Less Is More…
MVRemix: Take it back for me -- Tell me your whole inception into music…
Jahi: Um…Well, I’m not gonna take it way, way back, I’ll just say that I started probably like most emcees rapping on street corners, block parties, street battles, you know. I’m from East Cleveland, Ohio, and in East Cleveland we had a lot of rap crews. We used to have these things called “Breakfast Battles,” and that’s kinda where…That’s where if you thought you wanted to be an emcee, that’s where you found out. If you wasn’t an emcee, that’s where you found out, too! But, I’ll say that professionally, 1998 is a good point of where I started deciding I wanted to take my writing skills and really get into Hip-Hop, and just started finding my way to open shows for a lot of different larger name groups that were coming through. And then, (I) released a…Kinda like an underground Cleveland hit called ‘It’s All Good,’ and things started from there. I released my first record, Higher Elevation, in 1999, and I was one of the first Cleveland acts to actually get a chance to perform at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and on that show was Slick Rick. That’s where I (also) met Public Enemy for the first time. It was PE, Slick Rick, Outkast, Goodie Mob, and…I think Nas was on that bill. So, for being in Cleveland, you know, really I’ll say…The early years that I’m talking about, the street battles, the “Breakfast Battles,” you know, nobody was trying to get deals or pursue music. It was just (that it was this thing) we just loved. The same thing that was happening in New York was happening in my neighborhood; breaking up cardboard boxes and break-dancing, and rapping over beats. But, fast forward into that whole, that show in particular, and getting a chance to get on that bill kinda set off the start of my career from Cleveland, to take off to all of the things that I’m doing now, so…
MVRemix: Who do you consider your strongest musical influences?
Jahi: Uh…You know, Um…I’ll have to say Run DMC, just because how big they took it. What Jay Z is doing right now, Run DMC did that in the eighties. So, definitely Run DMC, Rakim, KRS, you know. I have to say those, and then…But, I also have to say The O’Jays, (The) Commodores, The Whispers, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, because I grew up in a household that soul music was more important than the television, you know, so…
MVRemix: What drove you to come out here to the Bay Area?
Jahi: Well, you know, The Bay…Initially there was a brother by the name of Tony Coleman (who) was doing a movement called the Third Eye Movement. They were doing some protests and actions, community actions, against Prop 21, which was the building of more prisons out here in the Bay Area, and I had a song called ‘Power Moves 2000’ that Davey D, on KPFA, had just really (been) blowing up and playing, and Tony Coleman got a-hold of my CD, man, and just invited me out. I had never been out to the West Coast, and we did a community concert in (Crissy) Field Park in San Francisco, and I really fell in love with The Bay, man. I like the weather, the independent energy, the community activism, so it all kinda spoke to me. And, you know, man, it really was a leap of faith. You know, I knew I wanted to…I was still in the East Coast, (and) I was still doing music and pursuing some things in the East Coast that I knew I wanted to change. I knew I wanted to position myself in a place where I could, if I was gonna remain an independent, socially conscious, Hip-Hop artist, I wanted a platform and a place to be able to do that, and The Bay was very conducive to what, you know, my musical goals (were). And then, just for me, personally, it’s a leap of faith. I came out here and I had an album called Window of Opportunity that I was selling while I was out here, and then things just kinda progressively took off. What I did was I just hit a lot of open mics. Java House is definitely, you know, Dwayne Wiggins’ spot, Java House, is definitely one spot that kinda confirmed for me that I was in the right place, at the right time, with the right type of music, ‘cause it was just such a great response there, and that started off The Bay.
MVRemix: How do you define your sound?
Jahi: You know, right now I’m calling it organic Hip-Hop, soulful vibes, and conscious music, and I say “Organic Hip-Hop,” because, you know, it’s like, “You can buy bananas from Safeway and they cool, but if it has the organic tag on it (that) just makes you understand that maybe it was some extra care put into that particular product, or some fresher fertilizer went into making it,” and I think that really describes the type of music that I’m doing. Because it’s like profanity free, it’s really uplifting, it’s talking about images and landscapes in Hip-Hop that sometimes don’t get enough visibility, it has some integrity to it, you can still dance to it (but) it’s not freaky. So, I definitely would have to (say) the organic Hip-Hop is what’s been sticking mostly to the label of what I do as far as music.
MVRemix: Why have you opted to remain independent for so long?
Jahi: Well, you know, my last release was actually released on a major through EMI, but I was out of the United States. It was in Denmark. So, I did release one album on a major, and, you know, quite honestly I set out to see what was happening in the market-place, find where I could kinda either blend in or stand out, and just make good music. I never said that I’m just gonna be an indie artist and forget the majors, or I didn’t say I want to be on the majors and forget being indie, I just set out a course to create bodies of work that I thought were quality, had purpose and meaning, and I’ve been open to all different roads of (opportunity). I think every artist wants to get their music out all over the world, so it wasn’t that I was against majors or tried to stick to be indie. The fact that I remain indie, I feel there’s a lot of advantages to being independent. You have a little more creative freedom and control, but there’s pros (to it)...Now that I’ve released a record on a major label, I could say there’s pros and cons to each. If you’re an indie, there (are) good things and there (are) challenges. If you’re on a major, there (are) great things and then there (are) challenges as well. What I’ve tried to do in all of this business aspect, is to make sure that at the end of the day I’m making quality music, and try and be as creative and as open as I can be to make sure I get the music out to as many people as possible.
MVRemix: You titled the new project, Less Is More…
Jahi: Well, you know…A couple things. One, I think a lot of artists are making albums with 17, 18, 19 tracks. It’s like, you know, on a first date, don’t tell me everything. Don’t give it all (up). It’s like, man, you know, it’s like, way too much I think. And, even with as much as I love some major artists, I think that we’re in a digital age, everything is moving fast, it’s new albums coming out every five seconds, MP3’s are the new 45’s. It’s just a constant bombarding of images and messages, and I think in Hip-Hop some emcees just go overboard with it. So, I figured I would do the opposite. You know, I come from, you know, just again, the school of Hip-Hop that I come from is, you gotta be aware of everything that’s going on, but then after you see that, you have to be original. You have to find your place, (but) you can’t copy. You have to find your own style. So, I’ve been seeing a lot of people going overboard on their album covers and artwork, with super color and diamonds and bling bling, so I said, “Okay, my cover will be black & white.” A lot of people putting 18 19 songs, (and) I got 7 songs. It’s straight to the point, real beats and real rhymes, no filler tracks, you know. And then, also, it’s a subliminal message, ‘cause less is more can be used in a lot of different ways. You know, less using of the electricity, more opportunities to have a better earth. You know, less driving, better for the environment. So, I can take…That title is significant of my record, but it’s also a subliminal message that I’m allowing people to put their own meaning behind it, too.
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