Eclectic and Electric
by Michael Herman | posted 2/01/2003
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The new sibling trio known as Souljahz has been likened to groups such as The Fugees, Arrested Development, and dc Talk but defies easy categorization. Are they hip-hop, R&B, pop, or Latin? If you answered "all of the above and more," you're absolutely correct. The three Washingtons (23-year-old Joshu'a, 21-year-old Je'kob, and 18-year-old Rachael) were eager to discuss their unique sound and their desire to use it to carry the Good News of the gospel.
How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn't heard Souljahz before?
Je'kob It's really hard to describe our music style. I'd say it's rooted in hip-hop, but this album touches on so many different genres of music. It's eclectic, it's soulful, it's … wow, this is really tough. Just remember the sound is rooted in hip-hop, and we'll let each listener define our sound by what they hear. How's that?
That'll work for me. Would you talk a little about Tonéx's influence on your work?
Joshu'a Tonéx has created full rock albums and has an incredible catalog of material. So he has a very large influence, and he encourages us to try new things. The cat does exactly what we do vision-wise. We share a studio together in California, and he's just an awesome guy. Musically, we all listen to a lot of different kinds of music and we're all eclectic in our tastes.
Chris Rodriguez also encourages and influences us in the same way. He also produced on the album.
What are your live performances like?
Rachael "Electric" — that's a good word to describe us live. The show itself goes through a lot of different moods. It brings you up and encourages you, and then it shoots around like a roller coaster. Our album is a lot like that, too. The songs flow into each other and make up the entire experience. We always like to have a live band for our performances. That adds so much.
Our performances are probably unlike any you've ever seen before. We go from a worship song to a latin song, then a hip-hop song to a soulful R&B song, and then on to something else. It's a lot of fun to do.
It sounds like a jukebox on the fritz.
Rachael A jukebox. Exactly! I like that.
Tell me about your parents' involvement in your careers.
Je'kob Our parents ARE our career. The only reason we're doing this is because of them. They brought us up and taught us everything about life. And the one thing we thank God for the most is for our parents. They're so open-minded to what we're doing.
When we first started, my dad didn't know what we really wanted to do musically. But when he started listening to the lyrics and hearing us, he realized it wasn't just a little "thing" we were going through. He saw that we wanted to tell others about the
things that he and my mom taught us. Our parents have been there
for us completely, and they couldn't support us more.
What themes are found in the songs of The Fault Is History?
Joshu'a The songs are about life situations and issues — issues everyone from young to old deal with while simply living life.
We talk and sing about racism in, "The Color Hate." But it's really about understanding each other and about racial equality. The song explains how God created us all equal, and how we're fighting over stuff that animals don't even fight over.
The song "Keep Risin'" is encouragement for kids to understand that when someone puts you down, you need to rise up, work harder, keep the faith, and not give up.
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