Jasiri Media Group

Activism takes many different forms. So does art. The Jasiri Media Group combines these elements--a model for empowerment with the essence of hip hop--to create a street-savvy production company. Jasiri has steadily built a dedicated community based around their artists and their principles. Members organize shows at local community centers, lend support at benefit concerts opposing police brutality, and develop relationships with club owners and shop keepers. They appeal to a broad audience, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or age. All of this sounds less like a record label, and an awful lot like progressive grassroots organizing.

Jasiri started with the music, then expanded into much more. Jonathan Moore, who helped found Jasiri, combined his MC skills with DJ Kamikaze and producer Negus One to create hip hop group Source of Labor back in 1989. As their popularity grew and their philosophy cohered, they started to court record labels for a deal. It was the wisdom of a friend and producer, says Jonathan, that provided the last inspirational push towards a commitment to forge their own company. "Why take what you create," Jonathan remembers him saying, "and sell the ownership rights in both a financial and cultural sense to someone else? Set up the means to do it on your own."

Along with soul/hip hop duo Beyond Reality, Source of Labor established Jasiri in Seattle in 1992. Along the way they added artists Felicia Loud and Maktub. The multi-purpose organization is not only a record label and a promoter, but, Jonathan adds, a "model for how things will be done in the next millennium." Jasiri, which means "courage" in Swahili, stresses empowerment and independence in its governing ideology. The artists use insightful lyrics that touch on universal themes to empower themselves and those who support them. "Music can be created and shared by everyone," he says. "Hip hop is our soundscape." Hip hop, like all art throughout history, is a reflection of the culture at the time, Jonathan explains. "Jasiri is the medium for what we express, the means of channeling what we create," he adds.

But as Jasiri was starting out, hip hop was suffering growing pains. The record industry was unabashedly pushing gangsta rap, which limited the style's diversity. Also, club owners and booking agents were hesitant to promote hip hop nights partly based on the violence associated with such shows--both realized and fabricated. Source of Labor wasn't having it. The group exuded positive energy and respected an ancient lineage of using music and words as a life-affirming celebration and a mode of education. Besides, who is defining hip hop, if not the underground innovators?

"KIRO 7 and KING 5 are telling you what hip hop is, but that's not what we're about," Jonathan says frankly. When the media pigeonhole hip hop and "talk about 'the community,' they are talking about us without our permission." Mega-companies such as Time Warner are discrediting hip hop and simultaneously profiting from huge record sales. You must reclaim control over your opinion and your art, he advises. "If you give [the media] all of the power to control you, then they don't need bondage," says Jonathan, referring to Source of Labor's namesake. Television news, for example, can show that "this is how you respond when you are in this neighborhood and you see this kind of person." However, he doesn't lay all the blame on the usual enemies: the industry, the media, the system. "There has been a lot of conditioning that perpetuates the notion that the media is a super large thing that controls our lives," he points out. "But we are the media." Jasiri began humbly, just like many large companies, with the passion of a couple of individuals and the funds from an investor (in this case, Jonathan's mother saw early promise and bought the initial Akai sampler). Thankfully, Jasiri is dedicated to empowering artists and fans, not exploiting the music, which may involve seeking support from allies working for the major labels.

Jasiri's commitment to community building was evident early on when the group boldly organized a performance linking traditional African music with contemporary hip hop at the Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center in early 1994. Soon after, the group hosted weekly open mic nights, providing local MC's the opportunity to hone their skills. "This was a cultural necessity," Jonathan says, and it "provided cohesiveness to a scene where previously nothing was around." Ever since, Source of Labor has been headlining shows throughout the Northwest and Jasiri has dropped impressive EP's, 12" singles, and promoted countless shows.

Jasiri is more like a cultural movement than a record label. The artists involved have taken control of the means of production and effectively assembled an impressive following using methods normally associated with a grassroots political organization. "We want to redefine success," Jonathan says. "We are already successful," he emphasizes, referring to the community around him and the inspiration they all give each other. "We want to keep growing and want the music to be heard--to multiply that feeling, multiply that inspiration," he says. "A lot of people create out of ego, but we create to make people feel good about themselves."

Source of Labor, Felicia Loud, Maktub, and other bands can be heard this Thursday, Oct. 1, at Aro.Space, 925 E. Pike St. on Capitol Hill.