Smoke surrounded me as I stepped into SOB’s in New York City. Rastafari flags waved above the crowd. Jah9’s powerful vocals grooved on top of dub, sending a chest-pressing vibration through the room. Her words called upon the crowd to question our collective ideas of race, religion, power systems, and the self. Photo: Nickii Kane I later connected with the reggae artist, community activist, and yoga teacher over the phone to chat about her multifaceted journey. AS: What was your first experience listening to dub? J9: I don’t know if I remember my first experience, but the most profound experience I had was when I was up in the mountains at this rastaman house where they play dub music on a Sunday night out of these huge speakers, big subwoofers just really, you know, body shaking the base line [laughs]. That’s where I was introduced. There weren’t any words; it was just the dub, stripped down. It was so low that I could sing as loud as I wanted to and bring something forward, so easily, so naturally. AS: What is the importance for incorporating dub to your music? J9: I mean, that is the breath. That is the moment when you breathe, because singing is like a pranayama, ya man. You have to control breath and sometimes you have to breathe through your mouth when there’s that feeling that this will be worth it. And then there are times when you have to use your diaphragm very skillfully. But during the dub is when you get to breathe freely, when you get to return to your natural breath, and the music’s not makin’ the heart beat too fast either. That is necessary in the experience of healing. AS: At the end of the track Hardcore ft Chronixx you say, “We must look into ourselves, into the depths of our souls. We must become something we have never been and for which our education and experience and environment have ill prepared us…” What will prepare us for this? J9: You know, those words are actually from Haile Selassie, the former leader of Ethiopia, to the United Nations. He warned them about what was going to happen to Ethiopia… what Italy and Mussolini were going to do. He’s saying how history has prepared us, how history has been taught to the world, you know. It’s going to show that smaller countries that don’t have power are going to suffer at the hands of those who have power unless there is equality. Photo: Nickii Kane AS: It was part of a bigger conversation but why that particular part of the speech was so crucial is because he’s presenting a solution. He’s presenting a solution as transcending the whole issue of moving up, beyond race and religion and creed and looking within Self. Because that is how we’re going to find each other, you know, beyond flesh and beyond the physical and you know that is just a beautiful sentiment, a beautiful sentiment we have not been taught—but what we have been taught can be unlearned. AS: What do you think is missing from yoga culture today? J9: I think yoga culture today is like asana culture, right? It’s like fitness culture, it’s not really spiritual culture. Fitness culture is where the money is [laughs]. The spiritual part of it, no. Yoga is a key to achieving a transcendence, that’s going to help people move beyond just flesh and race and superficial things.That is the journey. But people breathe with it like it’s a fitness thing, they don’t take the fullest of breath with it. For them, it’s not about the breath. It’s not about mind, it’s just about the body and the yoga booty, ya feel me? AS: Your latest release, Feel Good is a self-care anthem. Do you find it difficult to make sure you’re nourishing yourself or have you reached a point where it’s a natural integration for you in your life? J9: Mmm, you know that is an ever changing cycle depending on the time of year, depending on if I am on the road, you know. It is an ongoing challenge, but that is another reason why we really have to put Self first. Like, you can’t serve anyone else if you’re not serving yourself first. I recognize my weakness in my discipline– you have to just, you know, be struggling with it and really make it easy for yourself. I try to, you know, put things in place to remind myself and to make it discipline easier. Certain things become automatic so that I don’t even have to think about it. AS: While on tour in 2015, you shared natural wellness, yoga, and breathwork with African refugees in Italy and Malta. Could you speak more about that? J9:What do you say to people who have gone through such extreme trauma—and you see sorrow deep in their eyes— but at the same time, their eyes come to life in moments of joy? You can see inside the human spirit and it just make you know that “…for he who comes from the depths of trauma, everything is possible.” I was able to share a breath practice with them. Being able to share that, especially from an African perspective, through kemetic yoga, and showing them this is part of our culture. To see them get benefit in the moment and have a key – a tool – that they can use to bring forward peace and stillness in themselves… ya man, that is the service. That is the service that is crucial. You can follow Jah9 and listen to Field Trip, out now, at Jah9.com
