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With powerful, genre fluid tracks to his credit, and an upcoming album on the way (City of God),
Toronto’s own Jai Kent is making genuine waves in the R&B, hip hop, and rap communities.
Read on to find out what Jai had to say to theMOVEMENTZ about his music and his hopes for the future.
Jamal akim Ina has a key to his city, and he’s opening doors for himself.
Jai Kent is a rap, R&B and hip hop artist living in Toronto. This 22 year old musician has been
creating mix tapes ever since he was 12. Making music is his calling, and that is motivation
enough for him to craft and release quality work.
I asked Jai what his take was on being a Canadian artist and how it is different than being an
American artist. Though the rap, hip hop and R&B community is not as large here as it is there,
Jai is not discouraged. He pointed out that, “skills and talent can never be limited, no matter
where you’re from…”
Jai’s slow jams, such as “From Uptown With Love” not only have a classic beat, but the
content is real and relatable. Jai invests raw emotion into this particular song, and his feelings
can be sensed throughout the track. You empathise with him, and want what he wants. Jai talks
about what is familiar to him; and this allows for his words to draw strong feelings from and
create a connection with an audience. Jai has put himself on the beginning of Mario’s song
“Cryin’ Out For Me”, and it sounds as though the two artist were working together.
The songs posted on Jai’s MySpace page discuss mainly relationships, both the ups and down,
and capture those blissful or heartbreaking feelings that come along with those relationships.
Jai has made a personal choice to keep his work almost completely free of curse words.
Not only is this a rarity in the hip hop world, but it makes his work appropriate for any age
and offers a new style of music to individuals who are turned off of hip hop due to swearing.
Even though the songs Jai makes are placed into a couple of different categories,
there is no difference for him between making hip hop and R&B. “Once I hear the
beat I automatically know the way I want to sound on the track.”
As far as his inspirations go, Jai says Ghostface Killah and Busta Rhymes are two big ones
for him. He chose Ghostface for the lyrical content of his work, and Busta Rhymes for his
seamless flow. His favourite verse from Busta is on the track “Hurt” by T.I. Jai would like
to work with both Busta Rhymes and Mario.
Jai’s music can be heard and downloaded on his website page at www.jaikentonline.com
From there it is possible to connect to another page featuring Hillz High, a recording label
which is owned by Jai himself. He classifies it as more of a group than a label.
I asked Jai if there was anything in particular he wants people to get from his music.
He responded with a powerful couple of sentences. “I want them just to be able to know
that anything is possible. You may not have everything in your life right now and you [might]
be in a position where you feel like giving up. Just remember to keep god in your prayers at
night and on my word… everything will get better.”
Currently Jai Kent is working on his album “City of God” which he plans to have finished by
June of this year. He is also planning to release a mix tape titled “Out of time” and creating a
music video for his single “All you need.” Seeing as how young this talented artist is, and
how much he is doing already, he can only become greater as each day passes. Jai Kent
is just doing what he loves, and R&B fans might just love what he’s doing too. - Kim Brown
Discography
Immortality (Mixtape) 2002
To become the one (Mixtape) 2004
The Midnight getaway (Mixtape) 2004
The final testimony (Mixtape) 2006
From Uptown with love (Mixtape) 2007
From streets to justice (Mixtape) 2007
City of God (Mixtape) 2010
Photos
Bio
At 22, R&B/hip-hop artist Jai Kent has come a long way. Born and raised in Toronto, his family separated when he was only 9, and his teenage years were spent going back and forth between parents. Settling down was hard, and Jai attended six different high schools in just four years.
Jai turned to his music to express his hurt, his anger, and to get away from the troubles in his life.
“Not being with both parents at all times when I was young put me in a place that I didn’t wanna be,” he says. “I gave a lot of trouble when I was young, so you could say I didn’t have a good childhood. I always wanted to be alone. So when I was 12, I stared to rap. As I got older, I got better. I’m a very soft-spoken person so instead of talking a lot and being social, I would just make a song about how I was feeling for that day.
“I was told that I was no good,” he says. “Not just good in my music, but that I would just never amount to anything.”
Now, Jai’s poised to break out into the Canadian music scene with his original songs, and an album due for release in the summer of 2010. After receiving rejections from most Canadian record labels and Toronto’s Flow 93.5, Jai’s forging his own path through the music industry, distributing his music via the popular online networking site MySpace. With a popular online presence and four original songs available for streaming, Jai has managed to acquire fans all around the world.
Jai’s trademark style, a twist of R&B and hip-hop, evokes a smooth sound – R&B vocals with a bit of rap, with a hip-hop backing that blends seamlessly.
“I have R&B vocals, but at the same time I can rap. I like to do both as a mix.” he says of his music. “I feel that even if I do a hip-hop song, I still gotta put a little R&B twist to it. The music I make does not include any aggressive lyrics at all, it’s not my style. It’s the way I am. I try to keep myself clean, there’s too much negativity already in the world.”
Jai’s songwriting has evolved from a pen-and-paper process to a personal freeform session.
“The music I do is on a different level for me, I feel free whenever I get on the mic,” he says. “No pen, no paper. Just the thoughts in my mind. I no longer write my music down; I just create it all on the spot.”
Growing up with a father who was a DJ, Jai was very much into the popular music scene, keeping up with the changes in the industry while gaining an appreciation for all kinds of music. Now, for Jai, inspiration comes from other artists – 2Pac, Busta Rhymes, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – and his personal life.
“When I make music, I get my inspiration from the feelings that come from my heart. If I’m feeling like I’m in love, I express it with music. I’m not making a love song, but just taking about how I feel about the issue.
“Also, before I get on the mic I pray. And when I pray I ask Jesus to please give me the strength to make all my emotions turn into a musical form. That way, I can express my story in full.”
With his belief in God and the past as an example, Jai has overcome a lot of adversity and seeks to turn his music into a positive force:
“What I try to achieve first and foremost is to set myself free. When I make music, it puts me in a place where nothing could ever bother me. It doesn’t matter what I’m going through in life, as long as I can create music every day, I believe I can make it through the crazy world we live in.
“I want to be able to reach out, to help others be everything they can be,” he adds. “No matter what happens in life, no matter the journey you take, you are the future. I want to be able to tell our youth that, give them hope for the future. It’s okay to be yourself, to be a leader, and to lead into the future.”
As a high school graduate, Jai plans to attend seneca for Independent music production, where he can continue on his path in music.
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