Melek the Messenger – Q&A Interview

Tell us a little about yourself. Where you are from?

I’m originally from Freehold, NJ and spent have my life there. I then moved to Lakewood NJ around the early 80’s, when my parents had separated for a while. My father past that same year I had moved and it was difficult at first, but then I learned to adjust. I met some cool people around 1991 in my neighborhood and we started an R&B group called Make a Wish and were doing local gigs covering songs throughout most of our high school years.

How long have you been making Hip Hop?

I rapped, but my first actual album was a gospel club instrumental album called (Anointed Club Tracks Volume 1) I put out in 2003, which you can still buy on iTunes, but to answer the question. I started rapping my junior year in high school around 1992 but didn’t get into beat making yet, because I didn’t know too much about it. I was introduced to beat making by one of my brotha’s I went to church with. He had this software called Ejay, which was loop software. I never knew this kind of technology existed. Once he put me on, I was hooked and kept evolving from there.

What influences you in making Hip Hop?

I use to work with this manager who was a minister that did gospel rap music. He invited me and one of my co-workers to his crib after work to hear some of his music. It was refreshing and something new at the time and I wanted to be a part of it, but to do so I had to understand it and live it. The manager and I, became close friends and he taught me a lot about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how he loved mankind and the free gift of salvation (John 3:16). I soon gave my life to Jesus Christ and that’s when God gave me the gift through the Holy Spirit to write and produce music.

Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs?

I’m more on the righteous and moral side of hip hop. Just as the writers of the bible were inspired by the Spirit of God, I’m also inspired to write truth and educate people on the truth of Gods holy word through what I do as an artist. God gave me the gift to tell stories that will connect with the people that hear and influence righteous thinking instead of immoral thinking that leads to spiritual death.

Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?

I’m solo now, but in the future, maybe Mc Jin or The Ambassador, formerly from the Cross Movement!

Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”? I would say that it is not commercial, but raw. What I mean my raw is that, you do it because it’s a passion and not just a money machine. I had times in my life, where I was homeless, broke, struggling with life, but always never lost my passion for the music. Why? Because, I had purpose and purpose drives your passion. My music changes lives for the better, because the bible says,” All good gifts come from the Father of Lights.” This gift I have is good, because it’s straight from heaven.

Production wise, who are your influences?

I don’t really have any solid influences, but sometimes you might here the 80’s and 90’s era in my music. I like creating in the moment of inspiration mostly, but mostly I just pray and ask God what he wants and we go from there.
Who does your production? I do all of my production, but send it out to get mixed and mastered. I tried that mixing stuff, but it’s not for me. I love the creative part Na Mean!

And who would you like to work with?

Theirs a couple of local artist I would like to work with, but I’m not going to say their names just in case things change in the future. I’ll just keep it in prayer for now. My main thing is working with the best mixing and mastering engineers to get the best quality sound for my records. Got to do your homework you dig!

Any current or future projects you are promoting?

I’m starting to promote a 4 song series; I’m going to be putting out to finish out the year and maybe the beginning of next year. The Project is called Think. It’s a simple concept of songs to get people really thinking about their lives and where they are going to spend eternity after they die. First, song release (Big Boyz) is coming this summer!

Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of I’m A Man Yall (SINGLE)?

It’s crazy; I wrote this record like 10 years ago. I went through so, many beats over the years and finally, this past Christmas, I purchased the Maschine 2.0 software and was learning my way around the software. I created this beat and was like, Yo this is hot! I had already made a beat from a sample from Dennis Edwards (Don’t Look Any Further) record that was dope and complete. I saw that clearing the sample was a crazy process, so I prayed and asked God what he wanted to do. He told me to use the track I created, that I was using to learn my way around the maschine software. For, days I couldn’t get the track to fit the song, but if God tells you to do something, you do it. Finally, the Lord helped me edit the track to his liking and I was going nuts. Recorded the vocals, sent it out to London, to my engineer Bobby Bloomfield and the rest was history.

Also / what was the idea or concept description about your Single Art Cover?

The concept was based on the song. I and my wife went through some trying times in our marriage and we humbled ourselves to God and asked him to fix it, because we truly loved each other and didn’t want our family destroyed. The picture of me and my wife represents our unity and the angel in the white robe is holding a sword, which symbolized the Word of God and the cross in the middle of the sword represents the Blood of Jesus Christ which covers those who believe in him and as you can see the devil in the background is trying to get through, but can’t because God is covering us. This is real life, don’t get it twisted!

Where can we find your music and info?

You can go to www.2kprecords.com for more info, or hit me on twitter @akajerzyboy/www.facebook.com/2kprecords
To purchase song you can go to these online stores: Amazon, Rhapsody, Spotify, Xbox Music, Rdio, and Samsung Music Hub Shazam, Google Music Store, iHeart Radio, NoKia and eMusic!

Any shout outs?

Like to shout out to My Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ My Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit for making this all possible. My Mother for putting up with me and loving me at the same time. My beautiful wife Cristina for loving me and giving me 3 beautiful children. Big Ups to Darran Blount and DJ Ran from the S.A.I.N.T.S for being spiritual fathers to me in the Lord, My lil bro S.O. Antuan Joyner for introducing me to beat making. Also, Underground Hip Hop Blog for accepting me on your blog. If, I forgot anybody ya’ll know who u are, One Love in Christ Jesus!