Illuminati 2G

I had the opportunity to interview a true revolutionary rapper in Jehuniko. If you are a fan of Shame's music and vision you will definitely dig Jehuniko. Think of a bilingual Bone Thugs N Harmony with a political twist. In this interview we discuss his album, La Pura Vida, which came out late last year, how he got down with Kemo and Dead Silence Records, the political injustices of the world, and much more. Another dope feature so enjoy.

D: First off thanks for doing the interview. Talk about your upbringing and growing up.

J: Thank you for being interested in the music, it definitely comes from the heart....Growing up..Moms, me and my older brother....Single Mom, working, hella poor and forced to create to occupy my time since day one. I've been writing songs and painting forever, my 2 most addicitive habits. About 9th grade, I started to learn about the World, the Government and began to get active in the Community protesting the Greed Machine and various aspects of Corporate America. After years of being in punk bands and doing open mics forever, I finally started recording and doing shows around 2001. 

D:  What inspired you to rap starting out and who are your musical influences?

J: I am inspired by the fierceness of Martin Luther King on the mic, the fire in his voice, people like Rage Against the Machine, Manu Chao, Bounty Killer, all people bringing knowledge and anthems of survival for the  Worker. By observing the current state of politics in Mexico, I witness the power being taken back by the people and I am forever inspired. I listen to alot of Cuban Son, Cumbia, old funk, Black  Sabbath, and instrumentals from my homie Carlos and also from the Life Support lab. DJ Fade and Genom blessing us as well with a soundtrack for survival. 

D: How did you hook up with Kemo Tha Blaxican?

J: My brother Que @ Cartel Design was hired by LowRider Magazine for something and they referred my brother to Kemo and his group for a project. I got to meet Kemo and Monomaniac shortly thereafter, and weve been grinding hard ever since. Check out kemotheblaxican.com and jointclothing.com

D: Your album, La Pura Vida, dropped last September on Dead Silence Records, what has been the feedback for the album?

J: The feedback has been good so far, the video is out, getting sales in the US as well as from around the world. Much respect to the people who blessed me with production and time mixing it all down. People downloading some of my darkest songs in Europe. It is a trip to see where my CD's are going. I have a video for Time Traveller gettng edited right now. We filmed it in Costa Rica in the jungles and beaches. The imagery is so beautiful. Hopefully that'll be done soon real soon. By now, you must've received your copy, what do you think of it? Make sure you send me your address and I'll send you a copy of some promos,etc...Our crew Almas Intocables is being received well, our homeboy got Almas Intocables tattoed, the homie Scoot who helps with graphic design got the U.N.eYe logo tattoed, we got believers on our side and perseverance in our hearts. 

D: Yeah I will get you that information. Appreciate it. I got a chance to listen to La Pura Vida. Your music is very revolutionary. Even with the constant English to Spanish wordplay you use. Very unique style you have, the only group or people I could compare it to is Bone Thugs N Harmony. We need more artists like that out that speak on all types of injustice within the government, no matter what country your from. Do you find that it's hard to reach people with your message flipping 2 languages like that or just the opposite?

J: Bone Thugs is ill no doubt. I reach more people with 2 languages. Hip hop in all spanish speaking countries is really vibrant with dope artists. For those that only speak English, I have some blazing joints for you too. I hear hiphop in other languages and whether I speak the language or not, I can appreciate the flow of sounds, how they turn their voices into instruments in their native dialect. Hip hop in Africa is banging, Brasil is super dope, they all doing it and all these countries have embraced US hip hop since day one, so we should embrace them as well and make our movement even stronger.  You know, people spitting gangster shit are equally revolutionary. As long as you keeping it gangster. Taking the power into your hands and making money on some Robin Hood type shit. We got families to feed and whether you in a office, or in the fields, people need to always remember that they have the power and deserve a good life.

Of course I love to get my fade on, laugh, chill with my people, but at the end of the night there will still be adversity plotting to keep people down. Be it in the form of racism ( Minutemen / border issues) or mandatory immunizations for babies so the cities can profit from the pharmaceutical companies. Either way, people making money off of all of us, yet we don't share in the luxury of comfort? Peace of mind that my family will eat tonight? Or that the Authorities won't pull some shady shit and fabricate some lie to incarcerate an individual? Look at Sean Bell in NYC getting killed on the way to his wedding? Or how about that fool Michael Brown who was running FEMA during Hurricane Katrina? That fool up in some comfortable spot while people still don't have homes. He was sending emails about what to wear to a Press Conference while mad people was dying. Hell No, peoples that are locked up need to know we ride for them. We ride for the working class family struggeling to survive, for the grafitti writers, the gangsters and drug dealers, for those slaving to get their degree's, for those working hard labor jobs looking for a song to hype them up as they deal with some lazy bossman. The time is now.

D: Tell me about the Spiritual Warfare mixtape.

J: DJ Fade cooking up some heat. www.myspace.com/djfade. On something Different, a meeting of the Vampires Will Travel. Alot of unexpected production. We gon bang these out as often as possible. Monomaniac got it coming too. www.myspace.com/monomaniac.

D: You are working on another album right? Tell us about it.

J: Almas Intocables ( Jehuniko, lady binx, Ikuestion www.myspace.com/uneyerecords) is going to put out an album, then the 2 mixtapes in preparation for my 2nd solo "Cold In the Hot Sun." Carlos and Life Support have the bulk of production on this one. It is a soundtrack for survival. No sugar coated nonsense, straight up staying numb to all types of adversity. My best music and production to date.

D: You have got to have the most unique album cover out there. What was the concept behind it?

J: Thats my brother Slangrocks, his myspace page has some ill samples. It is an image of the me, the human animal relaxing under the sun with my trees and headphones.  All of my releases will have his artwork. Slangrocks is the Art Director for our company U.N.eYe and he is doing alot of freelance work for people so hit him up for a quote. 

D: Any upcoming tours or shows you want to let the people know about? Especially any in Vegas?

J: This Wed., we have a show with GhostFace Killah, March 10th in Santa Barbara with the Reyes Bros who is Sen Dog from Cypress Hill and Mellow Man Ace, I'm bringing some people out to Tijuana in March and much more. This Spring, we are working on a tour in Oregon and Washington. I am down to come out to Las Vegas for sure. Get at me through myspace. 

D: You have any last words or shoutouts?

J: Much respect to the Illuminati 2G Movement for giving me this opportunity to speak. Watch out for Fourth Cycle Clothing and the 2nd issue of the magazine. Love to my baby and fam, to the Outsiders On Self Destruct and U.N.eYe families, Kemo and the DS, Maniac, Carlos, Fade, Genom, Federico and Nzinga ( Griot Collective / Produciones del Gafeto) for all those that come to the shows and buy the music, your help is appreciated and inspires us eternally. To sites like launion1910.com, brownpride.com, somoshiphop.com, chicanorapsource.com, LAhiphopcalendar.com, chicanoradio.com, indymedia.org, and of course Illuminati 2G for keeping us informed. Bendiciones para la gente de Oaxaca, Mexico

Jehuniko's album, La Pura Vida, is in stores now. Click on the album cover to cop the album. Check out this video, El Animal Humano from the album and a dope freestyle from Jehuniko.

El Animal Humano (VIDEO)

Jehuniko Freestyle