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Jeru The Damaja
The Interview
Jeru The Damaja: Still Risin
It’s been 13 long years since we first heard from the prophet and saw the World Trade center burning on the cover of his album “The Sun Rises in the East”. How irony plays itself out? Since then Jeru has toured the world and released 4 albums with the 5th album coming out October 16th called “Still Rising”. S1 recently caught up with the Brooklyn and this is what he had to say:
*MAKE SURE TO PICK UP HIS CD “STILL RISIN” DROPPING OCT. 16th*
Jeru The Damaja & S1
S1: Yeah, yeah, yeah….What’s going on my peoples!!! My peoples!!! You know who this is, this is S1 the mother fucking man Legacy Radio, Legacy, Magazine, legacymag.net…And today I have one of my best friends, no joke…He is a repeat offender here at Legacy Magazine…I got my boy Jeru The Damaja what’s good big dawg?
Jeru: I’m good baby what’s up with you? You know I’m always the same…
S1: Alright, alright…I’m actually pretty happy today you know what I’m saying…Again Like I said a repeat offender, this is like the 4th interview we’ve had with you…
Jeru: I even seen you at one my shows at The Exit…
S1: No doubt, no doubt…So it’s definitely a pleasure you know I enjoy talking to you…But today it’s a different story you got a new album coming out October 16th, the title of the album is “Still Rising” catz want to know what’s going on talk to us big dawg…
Jeru: Well you know I’m just waiting on my album to come out…I’m, you know, excited…I’m doing a lot of shows and performing man, just excited about my new record coming out…
S1: Alright that’s definitely wassup!!! Again the name of the album is called “Still Rising” dropping Oct. 16th…So listen man what can we expect from the album?
Jeru: Basically man I just wanted to do a regular hip hop album that was conceptual…Not all about money, not all about cars, not all about preaching neither you know what I’m saying…Just dope hip hop…What I wanted to do is a Jeru the Damaja album and I think I’ve achieved it…I showed a little bit of my joking side, I got my serious side, showing how I’m older how I think different…It might be some questions that people ask about me that might be answered in a song…I think this album is going to answer a lot of questions about Jeru as a human being know what I mean…
S1: Alright, alright…It’s funny but I’ve been around quite some time and hip hop has matured and a lot of us that were there in the forefront realize that we look at albums being dropped just a little different but we have an appreciation so were looking out for shit like that homey…
Jeru: Well definitely man…I think everybody is going to be excited and they gonna really like it…I really like it…
S1: Alright that’s definitely wassup…Now one of my favorite cuts is “Quantum Leap” talk to us about that?
Jeru: Well Quantum Leap is a song…Cause you know how sometimes you wish you could jump back and like change some things you know what I mean…I wouldn’t change everything but there some things I’d change so I’m saying in that song about how I would go back in time and I would change different things like Martin Luther King would still be alive, Malcom X, you know Michael Jackson would still be black…It’s like I’m just taking it there cause if I had a time machine I’d stop a lot of stuff, like there wouldn’t be a Ku Klux Klan…I’m just expressing what I would do if I went back in time…I think one thing I would still do even if I went back and changed everything else I still would have wrote my first rhyme…
S1: That’s wasssup…I mean that’s what put you on the path…That’s how we know you, you know what I’m saying…But on half a serious note obviously you’re a rapper, the music industry so on and so forth but we are grown men, we do have decisions we make within our lives…The question that I’m asking is with the presidential campaign coming up, and the Democratic side has a broad view, woman, they have Barack Obama so on and so forth…Anything in particular that you would want to throw out there? I mean anything in general…
Jeru: Well definitely I believe no matter you vote Hilary Clinton is going to be the president before Barrack Obama…I don’t think America is ready for a black man to be president and a young black man at that…I mean I voted…I mean my man didn’t win who I wanted to win…But I guess you can’t complain about the process if you’ve never participated…A lot of people don’t think voting works and I mean pretty much I know it doesn’t work but how can you prove that you know what I mean…
S1: Another question that I have J is currently your running your own label correct?
Jeru: Right
S1: Just bring us up to speed the name of the label? What it took to put it together, the in’s and out’s?
Jeru: Well the label is called Ashenafi Records and whats put into is every single blood, sweat and tear that I have because it’s definitely a job…It’s definitely difficult to be an artist, to manage your career and run a label but you know I’m making it happen because if I don’t do it, you know, who is going to do it? I look at it like this man, win, lose or draw I know that I can’t blame anybody but me…You feel me? I can’t blame anybody but me and I like it like that because at the end of the day if something doesn’t go right I get to blame Jeru then…And I get to learn everyday, you know the name of my label is Ashenafi which means winner in Ethiopian so regardless how everything turns out I’m always winning cause I’m always learning and I’m always able to push myself to the next level…
S1: Aiight that’s wassup, that’s real talk right there!!! I guess one of the last questions I have for you is what is it that you see the future of hip hop evolving into, you know, what are your aspirations? What would you prefer to see hip hop develop into as opposed to where it may be now?
Jeru: I can’t really say because hip hop has been so good to me…Even now when people think that it’s not what it was…Cause it’s not what it was…A car is not what it was 20 years ago you know what I mean? A television is not what it was 20 years ago you know what I mean? But as long as I’m able to exist within it and move the way that I wanna move…You know hip hop is…What I would like to see hip hop come into is a way for us to really start bettering ourselves as people and not just enriching individuals casue that’s where we seem to be now you understand what I’m sayin…I don’t have any beef with the south rappers but what I wanna see is brothers starting to spread the wealth with the community, the people who support them who are buying all of their records…Cause the hood is still fucked up…
S1: Its gotten worse actually!!!
Jeru: You know what I mean!!! So that’s what I wanna see…I wanna see it become a tool to be able to lift up our communities and not just enrich individuals so they can brag about what they got and the only reason why you can brag about what you got is somebody else don’t have it you know what I mean?
S1: Real talk…Any last words of advice for the up-in-coming rapper, the young label head…Any words of advice homie?
Jeru: Yeah I’m gonna leave you with what I always leave you with…Now yourself, love yourself, be yourself cause at the end of the day when you die 9 times out of 10 it’s gonna be by yourself, when you look in the mirror you have to like what you see…Don’t let people tell you that you can’t do things and you don’t have to follow any trends…get your own trend, be a leader and not a follower unless its time to follow…There is always a time to lead and there is always a time to follow…
S1: It’s been a pleasure... Legacy Magazine is out!!! Peace!!!
*MAKE SURE TO PICK UP HIS CD “STILL RISIN” DROPPING OCT. 16th*
Interviewed By S1
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