From Souljahz To Commanders
The Washington Projects are one of the finest new acts to emerge from the urban gospel scene. Except they aren’t new. Back in 2000 there was a San Diego trio, Souljahz, consisting of siblings Je’kob, Joshua and Rachael Washington. Their ‘The Fault Is History’ (2002) blew me, and just about all the other critics, away and I met the trio in the Nashville Hilton. As well as their genre breaking music I was impressed by the group’s passion for God, creativity and down to earth approach. But after the critical accolades for ‘The Fault Is History’ a long silence followed. It was only broken this year when the group, now just Je’kob and Rachael, emerged with a new name, The Washington Projects, and a devastating album, ‘Commanders Of The Resistance’.
Ironically it’s to the same hotel that I walk to meet them to conduct the conversation you’re about to read. The pair are about to perform at a lunchtime concert and both are in fine form. Je’kob’s afro is looking wild and free and is the visual image that accompanies music that has been created in a free space where the band have not had any label pressure. Their debut album is an independently produced release and sounds as fresh and startling as anything recorded by Souljahz.
One of the things with the Souljahz’ ‘The Fault Is History’ was that the trio created an album that was almost too innovative. The industry struggled to pigeonhole the group. Were they R&B or gospel? It must have been a frustrating experience for the group. “Yeah it was,” Rachael agrees. “I think creatively we had a really good time making the record but then something can be really good creatively and then not work formula wise for certain formats and certain markets so it was something that we had to understand. So that was a growing process for us but it feels really good now to be able to do what we want to do and pitch it wherever we want to and hopefully people will be able to ‘get it’ this time.”
In the interim as Souljahz they did put some stuff out on iTunes but it seemed to be aimed more at the mainstream. “Yeah we did”, observes Je’kob. “We had a couple of tracks during the last three years of working with the label and trying to do some stuff. I think the goal we’ve always had in our hearts is to make music. This is what we write about. Whether it’s a love song, whatever song it is, it’s coming from our hearts. We’re Christians and we write like that. So we weren’t really focussing on a certain industry, we were trying our hardest to say, and to help the record label understand, that that’s where we’re at and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Article Written by Mike Rimmer. Read entire article at: CrossRhythms
