Good fortune has smiled on Jah9 in a time of pandemic, panic and pandemonium. The renown singer and songwriter, no stranger to intuitive action, has been residing unexpectedly in Tanzania for the last few months. While she lives her best life in East Africa’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, she opens a window into the “ethnographic approach” to her artistic career, revealing observations about her personality, her new album and matters affecting the world-at-large.
Which African countries have you visited to date?
I first visited South Africa maybe a decade ago, then traveled to Kenya for three years consecutively after that. This is my fourth time on the continent and, on this trip, I traveled to Kenya, Ethiopia and then Tanzania, where I am currently.
How did you become marooned in East Africa during the global lockdown?
I came to Africa to launch my third album, Note To Self. It’s always important to me to launch here on the continent and I got the opportunity to do so with the 9 album in 2016 and now this one, which was launched in Ethiopia. That’s when the world started to go crazy. I was supposed to leave Ethiopia and go to the UK, and I started noticing the trend of people in Jamaica getting the virus from people who were traveling through the UK. I didn’t want to be quarantined or interact with that whole energy, so I opted not to go to the UK. I wanted to go back to Kenya but they closed the Kenyan borders very early, even before Jamaica. The option was to try and go back to Jamaica but going back to Jamaica is like two days of travel and I didn’t know what the state of the world would be, and everything inside of me said, stay in East Africa. One of the people on the team, from Rockers LDN, has a foundation here in Tanzania. My other team member, Malaphi of Black Lion International, made the suggestion that we should go across to Tanzania instead of trying to head home. I took that immediately as a divine calling to stay and the decision was made in less than twenty-four hours. So, I acted on that and we ended up here in Tanzania and have been here ever since.
What thoughts and emotions have you felt being “stuck” there?
There is a great relief being here. I feel very very blessed to be here in East Africa, and in Tanzania in particular, because it works with the state of mind that I’m in. They didn’t really have an actual lockdown. Things kinda slowed down because information was coming in but their president is a very interesting character and I’ve enjoyed watching how this whole thing has unfolded. Not enjoying watching the state of the world but just how people react in these situations. For me, as somebody who kinda studies human behavior as a hobby, these are really exciting times for me to observe. I’m just observing myself as I observe others too but I feel very blessed to be here. A part of me wanting to do reggae music was about Africa, and it’s always been important to me. That’s why I launched two albums on the continent. And so, to see that when this global, spiritual shift has happened, I am here, I feel very well placed. I feel this is a reward for good behavior or for living in my purpose. You can’t really be here for a short period of time and understand the space, so being here for the past few months has given me a lot of perspective, a lot of inspiration and a lot of clarity for my life going forward. A lot of reflection about the past ten years and a lot of inspiration for the next decade to come.
For me, as a Jamaican, Africa just feels comfortable. It just feels right. It feels like all the things I love about Jamaica are expanded and the potential here is incredible. There is no limit on what is possible here.
In what ways do you feel at home in Africa, different from Jamaica as home?
Food. It’s extremely important. Just access to good food! Also, the cost of living here and understanding what it would take to be here and realizing how very easy it would be to acclimate into this space and to find my place with not very much. Especially because I am unmarried and have no children, making a move like this was very easy for me, to kinda fit into the motion of this space. And it is still East Africa. I have a foundation in Kenya from before, a community that I’ve been building, and they are not really that very far away.
The people here in Tanzania are easy going people. I get that it’s people who are being drawn toward me, so the law of attraction is also playing its role, but what I’m finding here is a community of creatives that are very inspired by reggae music in the way that I’m inspired by it. Meaning, it’s the culture and it’s the idea of a principle of righteousness and service and collective security. I’m finding a home for these ideas. I’m finding resonance with the other people in this space. So, that’s a part of what makes it a very smooth transition for me, and I can see myself pivoting from this space into the rest of Africa and into the rest of the world to do the other work that I have to do.
Do you think Black Americans enjoy a similarly positive experience when they visit Caribbean countries?
I can totally understand how Black persons living in the USA might feel a similar joy when they visit the Caribbean. I think that Jamaica, for example, is a very positive first step for somebody who is trying to liberate from that space, and Africa is the inevitable next step. I was a part of a retreat with a few Black Americans and it was their first time on the continent. For some of them it was their first time outside of the USA. They experienced a great deal of culture shock, not in a negative way but in a very emotional way. Just being in the midst of so many Black people and seeing how at ease the people were in their environment and in their way of life, it was a profound experience for them. So I totally understand that a visit to the Caribbean could be life changing enough for Black Americans. For me, as a Jamaican, Africa just feels comfortable. It just feels right. It feels like all the things I love about Jamaica are expanded and the potential here is incredible. There is no limit on what is possible here. There’s a limit on how far Black people can go in the USA and similar spaces. There are barriers that are set in place. Here, the only barrier is your imagination and how much you’re willing to research and do the work, but abundance is truly the reality on the continent.
On the song ‘New Race (A Way),’ featuring Akala, you lyrically mention being “born of the first race, now of the new race.” What is the first race, what is the new race and how can people of the first race prepare to become members of this new race?
People of any race can prepare themselves to enter into the new race. I happen to be of the first race. And when I say that, we are talking about melanated people, the original people of this planet. We all mix up in some kind of way at this point. Well, there probably still are pure Black people on this continent. I know those people exist but as far as the other races are concerned, most of them stemmed from this original, heavily melanated source. As they’ve interacted with Europe as the eras pass, you see all of us lose that original depth of color and substance. So the idea of race is not really that these original people were of a race. We call it race and that’s already making it a layman term because race is a social construct. It’s a socioeconomic, political construct that was used to justify turning people in cattle.
The idea of a new race is transcending race altogether to become members of the human race. And this is the challenge that was put forward by His Majesty [Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia], for us to transcend this. But in order to get somewhere, you have to go through it. The journey is always through. So you can’t just bypass the issues, and this is what we’re seeing now in the world. In order for us to get there, in order for the majority to reach that space where they can transcend that idea, they have to face it, they have to go through it, they have to feel the feels that come with it, so that they truly can be on the other side of that and no longer triggered by the things that they are. Particularly people who have to interact with the oppressor race, they have to feel it, they have to move past it and move past the fear and trauma that is deeply embedded through generations and cellular memory, so that they can be in that space where they are human now, just living in the potential of their own capacity, and there is no villain or oppressor in their mind holding them down. That requires transcending, more than the concept. That is inner work. That is self work.
Rastafari is a living, breathing concept that evolves with the generations that come. And it means different things to different people.
What made you declare yourself Rastafari?
My journey into the culture of Rastafari was inspired by my learning about His Imperial Majesty in a way that I will probably not be able to explain if I tried to explain the metaphysical relationship and the spiritual impact that he has had on me. Most of my drive to affiliate myself has been through my research of HIM, through reading his speeches and being honored to represent him, more than even my knowledge and awareness of the culture. I’ve participated in each of the mansions and have had beautiful and negative experiences in those spaces just as I did in the church space. I understand the importance of organization but I also understand that these are stepping stones to the inevitable and crucial journey of self awareness. So you take what you need. You take the beautiful things, you observe and learn from the negative things, and take it on the journey toward yourself. I think that is the journey that His Majesty took. It was a very personal journey and, when you read his autobiography, you realize he has a context. Yes, he was born prophetically into a space and time and to a particular people and to particular parents and in a particular era and everything. You can see his place in time and space but you also see a very personal journey of someone who has been self aware from very early, and the impact that it makes to be self aware and to practice life in that way, and I think that is what Rastafari is for I.
What are some distinctive characteristics between Rastafari, the community, and Ras Tafari, the man?
That would be a dissertation. I will say a few of the most profound things that stand out to me about His Majesty are his politics, his diplomacy and his political placement in the world, and how the world had to deal with HIM. Being at that level and still being humble and diplomatic and just being completely different from what you would expect a monarch to be, based on what we’ve experienced from the monarchs of Europe. Not a life of opulence and oppression but just service – and he’s at the highest level of leadership that a man can be on this Earth – was a huge inspiration. His stance on peace versus conflict, and yet still being able to be on the frontlines. Impressive to me.
But the thing that sets HIM apart from even the culture of Rastafari, to an extent, is his relationship with woman and his relationship with Empress Menen [Asfaw] in particular. And how he found her, made her his wife and built a family and a nation with her, and had uninterrupted years of marriage. And the reverence with which he spoke of her. And that whole journey, HIM as a family man. That, for me, stood out a great deal because in the culture of Rastafari, a lot of times you will hear – not wholesale but enough of the case to almost think that it is something that goes along with Rastafari – this idea of a man and multiple wives, and how man treats woman and the woman’s place and this patriarchal kind of thing that has leaked into the culture, which is really something that leaked into the culture not from the King but from the state of the world and religion. That is something we adopted that doesn’t have to do with the principles that were brought forward by the King. So that is the major difference for me. The other things are just his life in practice and there are a few Rastafari ones who have really lived an angelic kind of trod, who I can really see that light in. But, for the most part, the major difference for me is the relationship and place of woman.
Is the gender balance within the movement inherently skewed because it was named after a man?
I think the particular man that the movement got its name from gives it an opportunity to still be in balance because of how important balance was to that man. So, I don’t think that is a detrimental thing to the cause at all. I think that it is man’s own mind that is his limitation. Yeah? And Rastafari is a concept that has transcended the boxes they have tried to hold it into. It is a constantly evolving thing. Rastafari is a living, breathing concept that evolves with the generations that come. And it means different things to different people.
[Watch Jah9 decode her Note To Self album in collaboration with Dr. Isis Semaj-Hall and the Literatures in English department at the University of the West Indies, Mona.]
Your album’s title song, featuring Chronixx, released in divine time when many in the Western world needed to hear it. What is its message and why do you think it became an anthem during an unprecedented time of mass anxiety?
The question kinda answers itself. It became an anthem because it was an unprecedented time for people in a space where there was mass anxiety. I think what’s irie about it is just the timing of it because it was to have been released at a different time and the world wasn’t going to be in this space. The work that is presented in this album and the work that it is supposed to do, I knew this is the work that needed to be done. I fought for those songs to be presented in that way. Even though this is the most collaborative record that I’ve done and this is the most I’ve allowed other people into my creative space from a label perspective, from a producer perspective, from a featured artist perspective, I knew. And that’s what made it even more crucial. I was not going to compromise on what needed to be said on this record. I had this passion to do it this way and when I was defending doing it this way, I remember not even being a hundred percent sure of why it was I was fighting this battle but I knew, Following your intuition is what has gotten you through this industry, Nine. Just continue to do that. It’s not a team of advisors but really intuition that has helped me to decide what it is that I’m going to do, which has thankfully kept me from certain opportunities and provided others. So the path is really one of dharma. It’s one of purpose and understanding. This is my purpose and has been from the beginning. So the third song – three is an important number for me – it has to culminate. It has to bring forward a particular thing. When I saw the album being pushed back and pushed back and pushed back, I moved from a space of frustration to a space of, Okay, there is no force more powerful than the Most High, so if the singles and these things keep getting pushed back, there’s no point in getting frustrated. I have to resolve that this is what Jah want. This is how it has to be. By the time I got to that space, I was no longer struggling with it. I was like, This cyaa be the label. They don’t even have the amount of power that it takes to govern my life. It must be the Most High, so just surrender, Nine. And upon surrendering and seeing how it unfolded, it really brought me a sense of peace, like, oookay! That’s why!
I give thanks that ‘Note To Self (Okay)’ has been of service to people because that is what it is for me too. It is in the most detrimental times of my mental space that I draw on that mantra, “I’m going to be okay,” which is why I had to turn it into a song.
You encourage people to keep journals or to somehow incorporate writing practice into their personal lives. What is the importance of writing to your life?
For me, journaling and documenting was something that started very early – from as early as like 5 years old – and was a very intense and integral part of my evolution into personhood. I was reading very early and I had a relationship with reading because, if you’re a pastor’s daughter, you have to be able to read hymn books, the Bible and all that. So you have a relationship with reading very early. Once you learn to read, there’s a lot to read all the time. My parents were studying when I was very young, so their books were around too. The particular literature available in abundance was either theological works, church specific works or sociological works or psychological works. I mean, I got thrown into the deep end. There were children’s books and whatever but, when I got into reading, it wasn’t so much picture books. It was a word relationship.
Being the last child of my family, and being born late – almost like they didn’t really plan for another one [laughs] – gave me a chance to be very reflective. You know when you’re the last child, by that time the parents figured out, Okay, the kid’s not gonna die if they eat a little dirt. It’s fine. Everything good. So I got a lot of time by myself. And my brother got ill when I was very young. So, even watching him be this giant figure in my life, the most influential figure in my life and the apple of my father’s eye, and watching him melt as leukemia ate away at his person, it drew me further into a lot of reflection as well. His passing was really a turning point, when a lot of lessons got cemented into my mind, and the journaling process really was helpful for me. I continued journaling right up through high school. I think the introduction of social media and certain levels of technology probably shifted the way I journaled into being more in my head and not so much on paper. And then my relationship with music – writing and sharing it with the world – also affected my journaling process. I’ve seen the detriment of that because I don’t journal in the same way. So, Note To Self is my own kind of recommitting to that relationship of documenting this journey. Because of that conscious decision, I see how it has unfolded and allowed me to use this whole time and the whole process of creating the album as something to revive journaling process in myself and to introduce it to others as a powerful way of keeping tabs on yourself by making sure that your day to day activities are actually in line with the person you want to be, so that you can manifest the things you want. That is how you make things happen, through concentration and meditation and actually pulling your senses in and using your manifestation powers in a very intentional way.
Jah9: “…when I think culture, I think Africa.” [Photo: Nickii Kane]
What recent or favorite book(s) would you recommend to readers?
It depends because I don’t just recommend to wholesale readers. I like talking to people one-on-one. If you are a person who prefers fiction and you don’t really read occult books and that kinda thing, I don’t want to throw you in the deep end. So I might say a good book to read is Haile Selassie’s autobiography, My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress, Volumes 1 and 2, because His Majesty was an avid reader and writer and it will kind of introduce you to a lot of things when you observe his journey. And it’s a story, so it’s a good read. There is none other like this man in our history right now, so it is good for especially young people to see that somebody like this existed and hear his story from his own mouth. I would recommend you read his speeches as well. There are some thick volumes of speeches out there. Almost every speech he has made to his people and to the world are documented.
I’d recommend authors more than books. Go see what of these authors you’re interested in. If you are interested in ancient African culture, and you want to get into that more hidden knowledge, before you do that I would recommend that you read Walter Rodney so that you understand. Especially for people who are coming out of the European or North American context – or contexts where the idea of Black is a “minority” idea – it’s good to read How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Also books like The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. Perspectives that are a little radical but it’s good to be radical because you’re trying to pull people out of darkness. They didn’t expect us to read Fanon.
For the Black American experience, I would recommend books by Amos Wilson. I would recommend the Metu Neter series of books by Ra Un Nefer Amen. Powerful, powerful, transformational reading, especially for people who are coming out of the Judeo-Christian context, especially Black people coming out of Christianity. Because our spirituality is so deep in our DNA, it wants to express itself but it is ignorant, so the only way a lot of us have is Christianity. That’s why His Majesty promoted Christianity, because it is a way. It’s our story that has been translated over time and given to us by those who have potentially exploited the story. But there is a truth in the story if it is read in a particular way with the mind to go deeper than just the surface information or just the organization of religion. So, I recommend reading Ra Un Nefer Amen’s series, particularly the first one. He also wrote Ma’at: The Eleven Laws of God. Study that.
I would recommend The Secret Doctrine of the Order of Melchizedek in the Bible by G.C.F. Grumbine. That is a book for those who are drawn toward the Abrahamic version of God to understand the principle of that Melchizedek Order. When you go deeper into the concepts that are presented, you realize that these are concepts that are beyond religion. You realize how much you have in common with other indigenous cultures. And you understand the principles of yoga. I would recommend reading the Bhagavad Gita because it is a powerful anecdotal story that kinda is conversation between man and himself, or man and the Most High, depending on how you define certain things. I would recommend reading Lao Tzu, the Tao Te Ching. I read that when I was closing out my high school journey and it set a precedent for how I entered into my tertiary education. We can stop there.
I kinda have stopped reading now, in my life. I read a lot in my earlier, formative years and now I’m more into practical application of the things that I’ve read, and synchronizing the knowledge that I’ve amassed to make it make sense in this real world that is my life. But still reading, still interested, still promoting reading definitely.
Who are people throughout the Diaspora (past and present) who have shaped/influenced you?
My mother, C. Marine Cunningham, my father, Harris Cunningham, and my grandparents have been the most influential people in my life. I’m one of those people who grew up in a family bubble. Very close to my parents, even now. They and my grandparents are my circle of trust. They lived exemplary lives, like some of those people who I could never imagine, like it’s already too late for me to be that decent a person. The lives they’ve lived, how they’ve lived their relationships, to just watch how people relate to them and the reverence that people have for these people who are not related to them. These are not wealthy people but these are powerful people because of the level of love and service that they’ve given to the world. I am born of servants. I am a third generation servant of people. I pale in comparison to these people. I guess it had to kinda wane after a while, so hopefully my children will lift it up again. [Laughs.]
Apart from that, I would also say Walter Rodney and, without a doubt, His Imperial Majesty – it just has to be that way – but Walter Rodney was one of the most powerful figures. Marcus Garvey yes, in his practice, but I have to say Walter Rodey even more so. This might be an unpopular opinion. I relate to his experience a lot.
There are women too. I want to say Nanny of the Maroons and I want to say Harriett Tubman. There are other women too, and there are women in my immediate circle, like women I’ve met in more recent times. I’ll be impressed by a woman who carries herself a particular way. So, the way that women affect me is different. It would have to be a different thing for me to say that they are influential. It’s more admiration for womankind than their influence because the most influential women have been my mother and my grandmothers for me.
Who are some other artists you’ve come across who really exemplify mission music?
Vaughn Benjamin – the Akae Beka. It was a transformational thing for me when I started listening to Midnite. I needed it so much at that time. Sizzla Kalonji was that for me when I just started delving into the works of His Majesty. Sizzla was a great comfort to me. I-Wayne was a great comfort to me. You know, vintage Sizzla when he was singing from that reverent fire space, it was exactly what I needed. I felt the mission. I felt and understood that the mission was Africa. That has always been my understanding and that’s what reggae music in particular gave to me.
People outside of the reggae genre that made a huge impact on me… Dead Prez was the first experience I had of letting hiphop into myself and I felt like, even listening to that, the mission was still Africa because there’s no life in the West. There is an obvious cap for those who are really aspiring and they realize there is no way to really, truly thrive in the West without major compromise to yourself as a spirit, especially as a Black woman. All of this music resonated with me. Tracy Chapman was life changing too. Before all of them was Tracy.
If culture is the last stand, what is culture to you?
[Read for context: Culture is the last stand]
I think culture is the healing. And when I think culture, I think Africa. Not the Africa of now that is defined by the word “Africa” but the principle of Africa, of original, of indigenous source. Looking back to be able to look forward. We have to get back to our foundational understandings of life and community and family because it is the self work first. It is the individual, the smallest common denominator. It’s the thing that pulls us all together, that we can bring forward. What exists now, this pseudo culture of trends, it is so young. It is so minuscule in the scheme of all that is culture that I want to abandon it completely to find what true culture means and represents, and the power it has to heal and to regenerate and to enliven, because the revolution is love and culture is supposed to promote love. Your culture is supposed to promote life. It is the way of life that ensures the generations forward will have health and wealth and knowledge, and will be able to sustain a positive and fruitful and productive relationship with the planet that we are on, with the Earth, with all the elements. For me, culture is a holistic approach to regeneration through traditions that work and that are ancient and that sustain the body and that are not just for entertainment. That is the work I am doing. That’s what I am studying. That is what I am researching and documenting as I go along.