Elijah Prophet:

Artiste - Singer

Interview by Rich Lowe
Copyright 2004, Jamaica Way Productions
Interview in Kingston 8, Jamaica, May 2004

Answer: I didn’t grow with my parents. I grow up with Garnet Silk, Uton Green and such. They are like an inspiration to me anyway. Ca’ they were all about music.

I was born in Westmoreland ‘an I grew up in Manchester. Uton Green used to be the godfather for all of us – Garnet Silk, Tony Rebel, Yasus, and myself, many more guys. He’s a Kingstonian, but he went to live in Manchester after that. That’s how it started. Rebel was a singer and Garnet was the dj! Bimbo was Garnet’s name, I don’t remember Rebel’s name at the time. Uton Green was like a teacher.

Question: When was the first time you ever step foot in a dance or studio?

A: Garnet take me to Ocho Rios. Courtney Cole used to have Roof Talent Show. I used to be a singer on the band. That was in 1991. I did my first recording in 1996 with Jimmy Hinds at Artistic label. The Hinds brothers are Carlton and Jimmy. I did “Mr. Badman” and “Mankind.”

Q: What was the general content of those lyrics?

A: It was talkin’ about those guys that say they are a badman an’ goin’ around killin’ people - as usual. “Mankind” is a part two of that. “Mankind” start how we should realize we are warriors. Why can’t we live as one? That was my first airplay.

Q: What was it like to hear yourself on the radio for the first time?

A: Richie, trust me, it was great! It was like the greatest thing that ever happen for me. Somebody call me an’ say: “Elijah, you are on the radio! IRIE FM.” It was Gary-G. It was a great feeling.

Q: You were around at the time of Garnet’s (Garnet Silk) passing…

A: I was in Negril at his rehearsal - was for a show he was going to do on Christmas day at MX3 Lawn – West End of Negril. I was supposed to work on that show too. Believe me, when it come to that point and I talk about it, I feel like cryin’. I don’t like talk about it. Trust me.

Q: Such a great loss. He just had a speck of time.

A: he was more than a brother.

Q: Do you get a fight from your lyrics? For example, “Shatter.” You’re talkin’ about the police are a gunman and the gunmen are gunmen sameway. Do people come up and question that?

A: Police look at me an say they like the song, but they don’t like the part that say police is a gunman, soldier a gunman. I say: “Look, it doesn’t matter who you are. Whether you got a license to kill or you don’t have a license to kill, every man with a gun is a gunman.” He say, “OK, you make your point.” Well that was it! Even the song “Put People First,” lotta people say it is a politics song. Anywhere in the world you go, you have the politicians claim they put the people first, but they don’t! They don’t put people first. They put themselves first. An’ we all know that. I did some ganja songs that get big forwards in the dancehall, but that tune “Put People First,” people love it more than even the other songs.

Q: What more should people know about Elijah Prophet?

A: Mi want all the people to know that Elijah Prophet will never give up and I will never stop being conscious. Never! Always being conscious, clean lyrics, positive – that’s Elijah. Tryin’ to live up to the name: “Elijah.” There is a tune already playin’ on the radio. It’s all about my life an’ I say I didn’t grow up with any parents. [Sings] “I’m all alone in the jungle with no one of my own. Now I’m standing on my own. I would like to be a soldier in Jah Army. To be one of Jah’s soldiers. It’s alone in the jungle with no one to call my own.”

Q: The message is being all alone in the jungle. What is there for the youth of Jamaica in your opinion?

A: Listen man, you and me know that ghetto youths can’t afford a gun. Right! They can’t afford a suit of clothes. So how can they afford a gun for 15 or 20 thousand dollars? An’ they have to buy bullets? So how can they afford it? How can they get it when they never leave Jamaica? Come on, it got to be the bigger heads who ship it here!

You see, Jamaica is not Jamaica anymore. A young artiste like me, I don’t have any money, I’m not making any money. How long the other order is gonna last? I think the world needs to hear something new from somebody with a new idea.

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