Jahi is a Kiswahili word that means "dignity."
Style of Music: Hip Hop
Teachers: Chuck D / KRS-ONE
Jahi's music is...
"Social commentary over BoomBap."
Artwork by Amy Cinnamon
Born and raised in East Cleveland, Ohio, and now residing in Oakland, California for over 20 years, Jahi is an MC, DJ and CEO of his multi-media company Microphone Mechanics. As a MC, Jahi's career began in 1999 at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio as the first local artist to perform there, opening for Public Enemy. Jahi has released 16 independent albums, and one on a major international label EMI Denmark in 2006. Jahi's style of music blends introspection, cultural pride, knowledge of self with classic Hip Hop party rock rhymes more cerebral than celebrity.
In 2008 he joined the Public Enemy family as MC and host of their tours, and in 2012 was coined PE 2.0 by Chuck D to continue the cultural and political legacy of PE. Jahi is the VP of A&R for Spitslam Records, and is the writing, rhyme, and live stage partner of Chuck D in the prolific rap group Enemy Radio with DJ Lord and the S1W's. Jahi, in 2019, with Enemy Radio, performed on the Gods of Rap Tour with Wu-Tang, De La Soul, and DJ Premier to over 120,000 people.
Jahi's most recent albums include "Forward Future," a collaboration album with UK producer Configa, which has been dubbed one of the best Hip Hop albums of 2020 by Weekly Rap Gods, and Loud is Not Enough with Enemy Radio's first single "Food As A Machine Gun" reached #1 on the Hip Hop Gods Chart in March 2020. Future projects include a self help book for teenagers called The Twelve Jewels due to be released in September, 2020.
Jahi curates unique museum and educational experiences. In 2018 he was a key collaborator with The Oakland Museum of California and RESPECT:Hip Hop Style and Wisdom, and in 2019, Jahi was the Block Party co-curator for Soul of a Nation at the deYoung Museum. He has traveled the world presenting Hip Hop as a world culture with life affirming principles inside museums and creative spaces. Jahi is a former school executive and skilled in Education Design.
Jahi enjoys traveling to new places, ornithology, reading memoirs, and playing chess.