One of the most powerful things, if not the most powerful thing, in hip-hop music is the ability to reach someone with a message. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five had their version of "The Message" in 1982, then came the politically natured messages of pioneers like Public Enemy and KRS-One. Sadly, somewhere along the way, the messages got torn up and rearranged, lending to the mainstream rap pollution on the radio today. Void of anything of substance or reality, it creeps into the young minds of countless children and gives them the wrong idea about what hip-hop truly is.
Fortunately, there are preservationists of the culture and Jahi is one of them. As a member of PE 2.0 (Public Enemy 2.0), the Oakland resident has a profound effect on young minds with not only his music, but also his day job. The Program Manager for the Office of African American Achievement/Oakland Unified School District, he has the honor of positively affecting young people every single day. His mission is clear.
According to his bio, "Jahi's task is two-fold. One is to take select songs from the Public Enemy catalog and cover them or revisit them. Two is to create new songs over new production and classic Public Enemy-Bomb Squad tracks to bring new consciousness, culture and spirit to Hip Hop worldwide." Backed by Oakland band, The Life, PE 2.0 collaborates with members of Public Enemy like DJ Lord, Davy DMX, T-Bone and Khari Wynn with special guest appearances by Professor Griff and Chuck D.
PE 2.0 dropped its first project, PEople Get Ready, last year and is now preparing to unleash its fiercest album to date. Titled insPirEd, it features guest appearances from the likes of KRS-One, production from the legendary Easy Mo Bee and brilliant social commentary blazing a trail for young people to follow. In Part One of the RAPstation interview, Jahi talks about finding balance, molding the minds of young people and, of course, the new album. PE 2.0's insPirEd drops October 1, 2015. Check out www.2-0pe.com for more information.
RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): One of the things I admire about you is you have a great career in the school district, but are also killing your hip-hop career. Is it difficult to find that ever elusive balance?
Jahi: It's a constant dance. That's the best way I can describe it. Sometimes I'm on beat and other times I'm off beat. Sometimes if I'm doing way too much school work and not enough music then I have my own person monitor. I kind of know when I need to spend more time on music. If I'm immersed in the music world and not spending time on my day-to-day, you know, I scale back. It's the dance. It's a constant check-in with myself. If I don't check in with myself at the end of the day, yeah, I could easily get immersed either way.
I'm really digging the new record. I mean, you have KRS-One on there.
Twice. Twice [laughs].
I really like the song "CRWDRCKRS." It takes you back to the golden era, straight up. When making this album, what went in to your creative process? What did you want to deliver to your audience?
I came up with a four-word description: social commentary over boom-bap. That is how I went into this whole project. I knew I was going to get KRS. I sent him two tracks and said either/or. He did both. [Laughs] It's all good. "CRWDRCKRS" is actually produced by the legendary Easy Mo Bee. To me, as a preservationist, I feel like I landed the record in the lane that is straight up hip-hop. If you don't understand that, I can't explain it to you.
You're talking to the right girl [laughs].
Yeah, you know. It's a way of preserving the culture. This is my whole thought like how can I top myself? People Get Ready was the first PE 2.0 record. It was almost like shooting a flare letting people know something was coming. I was talking to a friend of mine and I said, 'God forbid if I pass tomorrow, at least I got this record out.' I feel like it's a complete sentence.
I feel like you did a great job preserving the culture with this new record. You've got "Bambaataa" on there, "Beats and Rhymes" and, of course, one of the pioneers, KRS-One. What do you think of some of the messages mainstream rap puts out there?
First thing is, I don't hear a lot of stuff like that because they don't get my attention. They do not get my ear space. Just in terms of tag-teaming my day work with hip-hop work, I work with kids every day. They are tuned into it. As long as they are going to be unapologetically raunchy, disrespectful, promoting sex, drugs and violence, as long as they are going to continue to do that, then that actually inspires me. I'm inspired by some of their foolishness. I mean, it's garbage and it's upsetting to hear young kids singing it, but on the flipside, it drives me as an artist. It's like, 'How can I get that young person's attention?' I know if I get their attention, I'm going to give them something different. I encourage people all the time to turn off the radio, that nonsense, but don't just turn it off and leave a void. Turn on something new. Diamonds are not sitting on top of the surface [laughs].
Right [laughs]. You have to dig for them.
There's a reason for that because they're valuable. You can find dust, dirt and debris on the surface and I feel like that's commercial rap music.
And it's easy to grab. It does take some work to find it, but hopefully with articles like this and RAPstation it's easier for kids to find.
Absolutely. I mean, being in this lane is like being an art dealer. It's like you're selling an art piece one person at a time. But the good thing is I'm in certain spaces and places where I serve as the program manager to 500 youth. They all know I can bust, too. I walk in the classroom and they're like, 'You gonna bust today?' I'll say something just incredible over an instrumental beat of something they're into just to give them a certain look.
They must love you.
Yeah [laughs].
That must be a super empowering, amazing experience on the daily.
Thinking about the album, that's why I did the "Bambaataa" song because he told me early in life that when you're not on stage, you're in the community.
Jahi from PE 2.0: The RAPstation Interview - Part One
One of the most powerful things, if not the most powerful thing, in hip-hop music is the ability to reach someone with a message. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five had their version of "The Message" in 1982, then came the politically natured messages of pioneers like Public Enemy and KRS-One. Sadly, somewhere along the way, the messages got torn up and rearranged, lending to the mainstream rap pollution on the radio today. Void of anything of substance or reality, it creeps into the young minds of countless children and gives them the wrong idea about what hip-hop truly is.
Fortunately, there are preservationists of the culture and Jahi is one of them. As a member of PE 2.0 (Public Enemy 2.0), the Oakland resident has a profound effect on young minds with not only his music, but also his day job. The Program Manager for the Office of African American Achievement/Oakland Unified School District, he has the honor of positively affecting young people every single day. His mission is clear.
According to his bio, "Jahi's task is two-fold. One is to take select songs from the Public Enemy catalog and cover them or revisit them. Two is to create new songs over new production and classic Public Enemy-Bomb Squad tracks to bring new consciousness, culture and spirit to Hip Hop worldwide." Backed by Oakland band, The Life, PE 2.0 collaborates with members of Public Enemy like DJ Lord, Davy DMX, T-Bone and Khari Wynn with special guest appearances by Professor Griff and Chuck D.
PE 2.0 dropped its first project, PEople Get Ready, last year and is now preparing to unleash its fiercest album to date. Titled insPirEd, it features guest appearances from the likes of KRS-One, production from the legendary Easy Mo Bee and brilliant social commentary blazing a trail for young people to follow. In Part One of the RAPstation interview, Jahi talks about finding balance, molding the minds of young people and, of course, the new album. PE 2.0's insPirEd drops October 1, 2015. Check out www.2-0pe.com for more information.
RAPstation (Kyle Eustice): One of the things I admire about you is you have a great career in the school district, but are also killing your hip-hop career. Is it difficult to find that ever elusive balance?
Jahi: It's a constant dance. That's the best way I can describe it. Sometimes I'm on beat and other times I'm off beat. Sometimes if I'm doing way too much school work and not enough music then I have my own person monitor. I kind of know when I need to spend more time on music. If I'm immersed in the music world and not spending time on my day-to-day, you know, I scale back. It's the dance. It's a constant check-in with myself. If I don't check in with myself at the end of the day, yeah, I could easily get immersed either way.
I'm really digging the new record. I mean, you have KRS-One on there.
Twice. Twice [laughs].
I really like the song "CRWDRCKRS." It takes you back to the golden era, straight up. When making this album, what went in to your creative process? What did you want to deliver to your audience?
I came up with a four-word description: social commentary over boom-bap. That is how I went into this whole project. I knew I was going to get KRS. I sent him two tracks and said either/or. He did both. [Laughs] It's all good. "CRWDRCKRS" is actually produced by the legendary Easy Mo Bee. To me, as a preservationist, I feel like I landed the record in the lane that is straight up hip-hop. If you don't understand that, I can't explain it to you.
You're talking to the right girl [laughs].
Yeah, you know. It's a way of preserving the culture. This is my whole thought like how can I top myself? People Get Ready was the first PE 2.0 record. It was almost like shooting a flare letting people know something was coming. I was talking to a friend of mine and I said, 'God forbid if I pass tomorrow, at least I got this record out.' I feel like it's a complete sentence.
I feel like you did a great job preserving the culture with this new record. You've got "Bambaataa" on there, "Beats and Rhymes" and, of course, one of the pioneers, KRS-One. What do you think of some of the messages mainstream rap puts out there?
First thing is, I don't hear a lot of stuff like that because they don't get my attention. They do not get my ear space. Just in terms of tag-teaming my day work with hip-hop work, I work with kids every day. They are tuned into it. As long as they are going to be unapologetically raunchy, disrespectful, promoting sex, drugs and violence, as long as they are going to continue to do that, then that actually inspires me. I'm inspired by some of their foolishness. I mean, it's garbage and it's upsetting to hear young kids singing it, but on the flipside, it drives me as an artist. It's like, 'How can I get that young person's attention?' I know if I get their attention, I'm going to give them something different. I encourage people all the time to turn off the radio, that nonsense, but don't just turn it off and leave a void. Turn on something new. Diamonds are not sitting on top of the surface [laughs].
Right [laughs]. You have to dig for them.
There's a reason for that because they're valuable. You can find dust, dirt and debris on the surface and I feel like that's commercial rap music.
And it's easy to grab. It does take some work to find it, but hopefully with articles like this and RAPstation it's easier for kids to find.
Absolutely. I mean, being in this lane is like being an art dealer. It's like you're selling an art piece one person at a time. But the good thing is I'm in certain spaces and places where I serve as the program manager to 500 youth. They all know I can bust, too. I walk in the classroom and they're like, 'You gonna bust today?' I'll say something just incredible over an instrumental beat of something they're into just to give them a certain look.
They must love you.
Yeah [laughs].
That must be a super empowering, amazing experience on the daily.
Thinking about the album, that's why I did the "Bambaataa" song because he told me early in life that when you're not on stage, you're in the community.
