Reggae Interview Introduction
Welcome to Team Upsetta and Upsetta.com’s Exclusive Reggae Interviews!
We are honored and blessed to present an exclusive interview with International Reggae Royalty, Jemere Morgan! The interview was conducted by Niko One Drop of Team Upsetta & One Drop Sessions, live on 105.5 FMRadixu Irratia, Spain.
We’d like to thank Jemere Morgan for taking the time for this reasoning and hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Jemere Morgan Interview with Niko One Drop
Niko: Joining me (now) is Jemere Morgan. Welcome to One Drop Sessions. Thanks for taking the time for us.
JM: Yes I. Bless up all massive listening and bless up to you my bredda.
Niko: Give thanks. First, let me start by saying congrats on the new album, ‘Self- Confidence’, which just dropped a couple of weeks ago, May 17, and debuted at number 8 on the Billboard charts. So congrats man.
JM: Yeah man, we give thanks and praise, yah know.
Niko: Yeah, it must feel good to release your work and have it be well received by the massive, by the public.
JM: Definitely, thank you, bro.
Niko: Let’s talk about how your career started. Obviously, if people don’t know, you are the son of Gramps Morgan of Morgan Heritage fame. Talk about what it was like coming up in that atmosphere with music around you and your family, And finally, what drove you to take up the family business.
JM: Well, I grew up on tour as a family, always been around them and music in the house or on tour. I used to sit on the side of the stage watching my father play the organ. I used to copy the same thing he was doing, I used to be like, ‘know what, one day I’m gonna do that just like daddy, one day I’m gonna sing on stage, just like him. Even during the shows, I used to borrow my uncle’s tambourine and I used to groove with the band during the show…
Niko: Nice, man.
JM: ..acting like I’m a part of Morgan Heritage. So it was bound to happen, yah know what I mean, just from being over den for years. Dem have a passion for music and I wanted to carry on the legacy and the responsibility of doing myself for the next generation.
Niko: Definitely, man. So how much, and it sounds like a lot, how much did your family influence you as an artist?
JM: Man, everything. I am my family, yah know what I mean, everything I know it’s from them in the life, whether it comes from cooking, whether it comes from how I treat people in the life, I learned it from them.
Niko: So, family is obviously super important. Actually, one of the big bad tunes on the record, in my opinion, is the tune ‘Proud’, which seems like its an anthem to your love from your family.
JM: Yeah man! (laughs) It actually is, yah know what I mean, because a lot of times people in this music business, well since I’ve been doing music, them have a lot of opinions. People are like, ‘you don’t need your family man, go tour with somebody else. And you should go build your resume.’ I used to listen people and I see them in the position… where it’s like, you show me. You show me the way, yah know what I mean? You show me the way that is good for me and that’s good for yourself. But being around my family man, they showed me the right way to treat people and to take your time in this business, because if you rush you end up doing things you’re not ready for, you are not prepared for. Touring with the family all these years, trust me, it prepared me for this journey I’m on now.
Niko: Yeah man. I believe that! So who were some of your other musical influences as an artist?
JM: Chris Brown, Otis Redding, Bob Marley, Frank Ocean, Michael Jackson. That’s about it. I could keep naming, oh! I can’t forget Steel Pulse. Steel Pulse was actually the first band I listened to besides my family and that’s what really led to discovering more Reggae music.
Niko: Beautiful. Ok, let’s step into the record, ‘Self-Confidence,’ which dropped a couple of weeks ago. It’s your album released under the Dada Son label, which is Gramps’ label, correct?
JM: Yes.
Niko: Ok. It was produced by you, Gramps and Gennaro Schiano of Stephen Marley’s Lions Den studio and Circle House. Talk about what the process was like of working with your father on the one hand and this well rebound reducer and engineer on the other. What was the process like?
JM: Well, it started off just wanting good for people, yah know what I mean, even just wanting good for me and him, Gennaro. We had a conversation before even working on the album was like, man, we tired of people talking about the same kind of concepts. We need people to feel real music and we need real messages out there because music is the most powerful tool we have in this world. Sometimes, we as artists or even DJs, we misuse it. We play music because of the hype (but) we should be in control of how the people react and their minds and the type of music they listen to, and their taste in music. The music has gotten so watered down. You listen to some songs and the people think its amazing and everyone loves it cause it’s the taste in music now. So, we wanted to change that and really put quality into the messages that we’re seeing and letting people hear.
Niko: So, the message of each song as well as the artistry or musicianship were equally important as you guys stepped into this project.
JM: Yeah man, of course. Memba seh, music is a frequency yah know. We have frequencies in our bodies too, so we react to these types of things. It’s just like when ya listening to EDM music, ya wanna turn up and the way you listen to Reggae ya just wanna cool down and really take your time and slow down the pace. That’s all frequency. So we wanted to make sure we were putting out the right type of frequency that can heal, whether it’s one person we heal or 25,000 people, we wanted to affect people in a positive way, especially when it’s coming from me, as a person who cares about the world and people.
Niko: Yeah man, I feel that. Let’s talk a little about the album’s title which is ‘Self-Confidence’ of course. I understand it was the primary message of the record. How’d you decide on the name, ‘Self-Confidence?’
JM: Just reevaluating myself, talking to myself and saying what do you need to fix yourself and go into the future, whether it’s fixing my business in life or fixing myself as a person, I realized I needed more confidence to approach certain things, therefore, I won’t have fear of approaching it. Anything you do in this life you need confidence to really go fully through with, some people approach it and they’re scared but that reminder of being confident for everything you approach, you get things done… Like even when you’re walking as an artist with you and your band. You, as an artist, can’t have fear (when) you walking into something and your family is gonna be like ‘aggh, I don’t know if I’m sure.’ But if that one man is walking confidently the whole unit will walk confident, yah know what I mean. I’m the oldest sibling of 14 brothers and sisters, so I can’t be the one who is fearful and all of my siblings is looking at me…..
Niko: You’ve got a lot of people looking up to you…
JM: Yeah, so I can’t be walking around with fear in my heart and doubt, I need to be walking confident so they can believe in themselves as well.
Niko: let’s talk about the title track, we’re talking about it now. The song is ‘Self- Confidence’ ft Keba, which we will jump into after we step out, that will be the first tune we hear from the record, as we go through a few of them. Anything else you want to say about the tune, how it came to be?
JM: ‘Self-Confidence,’ you have to believe in yourself before anyone else believes in you, everything starts with you. Even in the beginning of the song, it says, ‘start over, the sea not everyone have the vision to see how a plant grows straight from a seed and turn into something so beautiful.’ Say you have a seed and you plant it and its supposed to be a mango tree and the mango tree takes ten years fi plant, to grow and bare a lot of fruit, who is gonna sit with you those ten years and water that fruit? Not a lot of people. But you and yourself have to believe that after ten years if I keep watering and nurturing the same seed or dream or whatever it is, then one day it will be major for me, it would be very fruitful. But that only comes with believing in what you have, whether it’s small or big. And that’s why we came up with the song, ‘Self-Confidence’ to make people believe in their own reality and visions.
Niko: Yeah man. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once there is self-confidence it lifts everything up. It’s such a powerful message and important for so many people including myself who are always looking to find more self-confidence and belief in what I do on a daily basis, as a father, DJ and in all the things I do.
JM: It’s a real word man.
Niko: Yeah man.
JM: When I sat down and really meditated on it….even when I first started the album, I wanted to name the album ‘Feel Good,’ and I was like ‘wha mi a do?’ These messages on these songs are more powerful, and even the approach of doing this album. I had to have the confidence to even start it. I didn’t know how I was gonna start with my second album, but by believing in myself I said, ‘you know what? Let’s start with one song and then when you turn around I had 20 songs for the album and we only used 15. And was like, ‘wow, I didn’t even know how we did this.’ But by believing in myself, look what happened.
Niko: There you go, it’s the perfect example JM: Yeah man
Niko: So you’re about to kick off a tour, a summer tour in support of the record. Where can your fans expect to see you on the road? Are you doing some solo dates and some dates with the family? Tell us what’s going on.
JM: Yeah, I’m doing both for this year. We have a festival called the Tomorrow’s Leaders Festival, alongside my family, Stonebwoy, Yemi Alade, JBoog and a couple of other artists and then from there on we’re starting our Europe tour in July, I think we start in Spain…Yeah, we start in Spain July 5 and then we ending out August 25. Then we’re starting another tour after that, a US tour.
Niko: If people want to buy tickets, tell us where people can do that.
JM: You can follow me on Instagram at @iamjemere, and you should see all my other social media on there. But if you really want all the info whether it’s music, the new album, new merch, physical CDs, tour dates, go to www.jemeremorgan.com, and you can find everything.
Niko: Perfect. Well, before we step out I want to say thank you, good luck with the record, good luck with the tour, I definitely hope to find you guys out on the road. Thanks for taking the time.
JM: Blessings mi bredda!
Jemere Interview Audio (One Drop Sessions)
