Despite its ability to sell in large quantities, mainstream pop music typically earns a lowly rating from the critics. Its endeavour is to ingratiate listeners, rather than provide a challenging and thought-provoking listening experience. But perhaps this issue isn’t as serious as it’s often made out to be – critical opinions are somewhat arbitrary anyhow. And while many artists’ careers are defined by their commercial fortunes, others have different priorities in mind.
Los Angeles hip hop sextet Jurassic 5 originally split up in 2007. They left behind four records, all of which gathered fervent interest from listeners across the globe. The group’s commercial success actually kept growing as their years together went on, but they never ascended to chart-conquering superstardom. Ahead of Jurassic 5’s forthcoming Australian return, one of the group’s four MCs, Chali 2na, tells the BRAG that dominating the mainstream was never their chief priority.
“I always felt like you don’t choose the people who like you, they choose you,” he says. “So if we’re popular, we’re popular. If we not, then we’re not. If we have a platinum record, it’s because that’s what’s meant to happen and people like us like that. If we don’t, we don’t.”
Looking back now, Jurassic 5 are responsible for a classy body of work. Each of the group’s vocalists has a uniquely distinctive flow, but in a manner akin to the Beastie Boys or Wu-Tang Clan, they weave together with fortifying effect. On top of this, having in their rank two of the craftiest and smoothest DJs in the biz gives the recorded output even greater distinction.
“I don’t want to make bubblegum music, where they take the wrapper off, chew out the flavour, when the flavour’s gone, they ready for the new song,” says 2na. “It has no real nutritional value. It doesn’t mean anything to the body as a whole, it’s just something to pass the time. I don’t want to be that. I want to be something that lasts.”
Speaking of making it last, in 2013 J5 regrouped for a tour celebrating their 20th anniversary. They’ve since toured the globe many times over, proving their music still resounds with longtime fans and appeals to stacks of previously uninitiated listeners. Additionally, last year the reunited Jurassic 5 dropped a brand new single, ‘The Way We Do It’. The track – which prominently samples The White Stripes’ ‘My Doorbell’ – illustrates that the six-piece hasn’t lost the knack for making tough, intelligent and feel-good music.
It’s now nearly a year on from the release of ‘The Way We Do It’, and despite J5’s ongoing live commitments, no more new material has surfaced. “Something’s going to happen, we just don’t know exactly what,” says 2na. “I can’t really speak for whether or not we’re going to record. Maybe we want to keep it a secret [from] the journalists for a second. You never know…”
While 2na equivocates his way around talk of fresh recordings, he doesn’t hesitate to elaborate on the group’s broader agenda. “We want to make the brand grow,” he says. “So whatever it takes to make the brand which is Jurassic 5 [grow] – not just the music, but the whole thing of it all. At this particular moment we’re having fun trying to give the fans what we do best, which is the show.”
This mission sends the group back to Australia in April for what will be 2na’s second Bluesfest appearance in a row. J5’s reunion campaign began at Coachella and they’ve subsequently made a habit of showing up at stacks of the world’s biggest music festivals. While festival gigs frustrate certain artists due to potential crowd indifference, J5 value this opportunity to spread their gospel.
“We’ve always been about touring the world and performing and trying to bring our brand of music, from a live perspective, to our fans and to new, prospective fans,” 2na says. “Speaking of prospective fans, there are people who haven’t seen us before, but maybe have heard about us – maybe they haven’t heard about us – but once they see us, they want to know more about us. What better place could that take place but at one of these humongous festivals?
“From the festivals in England and America, to the festivals down there like the Byron Bay situation, these places breed opportunities for us to present our show to new potential fans, whether they be young or old. It’s most important for us to continue to pop up at these major events. Meeting the people at these new shows, new fans that have stumbled on our music and appreciate it from a different perspective – it’s beautiful to be able to still mean just as much to those people as we did to the fans that were there from the start.”
As we’ve already acknowledged, punching out skyscraping hits wasn’t what built Jurassic 5’s global profile. Rather, they always looked to create music that would defy the limitations of context. The fact that plenty of new listeners have enthusiastically latched onto J5 in the last couple of years further emphasises the enduring quality of the group’s releases. Even though this is what the band aimed to achieve from the get-go, 2na is somewhat incredulous that the music has stood the test of time.
“I’m always amazed at that,” he says. “I’m happy that we had the foresight to think, ‘OK, let’s try to make music that can transcend time, that can be as good 20 years, 30 years down the line.’ You have to think about people like Earth, Wind & Fire or Stevie Wonder; all these different artists that we consider great nowadays, whose music has the same effect, if not more so, to what it did when it first was created and was first pushed out to the public. I want to make that kind of music.”
When Jurassic 5 broke up in 2007, the members embarked on a number of separate projects. Notably, 2na kicked off a solo career, which has given rise to the Fish Outta Water LP and two instalments in the Against The Current EP series, while Cut Chemist enacted a fruitful collaboration with DJ Shadow, with whom he still regularly tours. In spite of these (and a variety of other) endeavours, getting back together wasn’t a major struggle.
“We have never stabbed each other in the heart while we were asleep or stolen money from each other,” 2na says. “Ain’t nobody slept with nobody’s wives. We’re a pretty functional group of people. It’s love. It ain’t never anything that can’t be resolved with a civilised conversation. We ain’t no dudes who try to front like we the most perfect people, but we not sitting up here trying to act like our lives is a shamble. God has blessed us. I feel like we’re definitely grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to us every day.”
Catch them at Bluesfest 2015alongsideThe Black Keys, Zac Brown Band, Alabama Shakes, Train, Rodrigo y Gabriela and many more atTyagarah Tea Tree Farm fromThursday April 2 until Monday April 6. Also appearing at Newcastle Panthers on Thursday March 26 (tickets here) and the Enmore Theatre on Saturday March 28 (tickets here).
