June 11, 2014

Exclusive Interview with "Jehuniko"


LatinHiphop.co has been following the career of Jehuniko for many years and we finally had the opportunity to catch up with him in an exclusive interview.

LHH: Tell the readers of latinhiphop.co a little about your career, your music and your message:

Jehuniko: Peace brother and thank you for your interest in what I do and thank you for supporting our community in the ways that you do. I have been doing music for some time now, I have released 14 projects (3 released in 2013), I have done 4 European tours, 4 tours in Central America and performed all over Mexico and the US.  My music has always sounded different and I feel that more than ever,
it is more organized and polished. I have many messages and perspectives but the most frequent message is probably self-empowerment and self-respect. I feel that if we keep it 100 with ourselves, a lot of “other” things wouldn’t happen. My perspective is to champion someone thus truly speaking to the hearts and minds of the people rather than desecrate a person.


A few months back I dropped “The Fire Within,” my mixtape written and recorded in 7 days and in March I dropped “Silent Running,” yet another mixtape. This one features my little girl, rapping for the 1st time.  I have been working on my album “Bittersweet” for some time now and this features female vocalists, conga players, guitarists, piano players, producers who have worked with Parliament, Geto Boys, Beyonce/Destinys Child. “Bittersweet” will be broken up into 3 EP’s and I’m about to film some videos for this project with award winning director Miguel Martinez who also directed my video “22 Years Old.” Also, I have a brand new website built by DavidKnikols.com the mastermind behind Empty Belly Magazine. Also, I’m about to drop another mixtape entitled “Forever Free” pretty soon while my videos are being shot and edited.



LHH: With years in the music business and several albums under your belt, what advice would you give to independent Latin Hip-Hop artist's just starting out?:

It is critical to work hard. Of course you want to attack things from a creative perspective, but also you must grind hard. I want to see my people excel so I am a fan and supporter 1st.  We focus on our own creative output but support others as well. It is true, there is strength in numbers so the tighter our community, the stronger our momentum.

LHH: What is your creative process in putting together a song, from start to finish?:

Jehuniko: Every song is different. For “This Is That” off of “The Fire Within,” one Saturday morning minutes after waking up, I heard the instrumental and within 30 seconds I had the hook and the entire song within an hour because the music spoke to my heart.



Other songs I put together a “word bank” if you will, pages filled with lines, thoughts, ideas, rhyme patterns, etc. and then I draw from that crossing out sections after using them. It is always the music that dictates the song but I’m not opposed to taking weeks on formulating something special, though rare and not really necessary, I certainly have taken my time on songs just because. More than ever, I focus on rhyme patterns and melodies. At this point, it is 50% lyrics and song concept and 50% focus on rhyme patterns / cadence and melody. Being a single parent, I hear a lot of kid’s songs and analyze why they get stuck in kids heads.

Music takes us away on a dreamy journey away from hardship but music also becomes an anthem for our journey and harsh realities therefore I have always sought to combine the two similar to how a parent gives you medicine with something sweet. I am also very open about my faults and triumphs in my music so maybe people will not make the same mistakes as I did similar to the music I listened to growing up. Also, my recording process has changed a little since beginning to work with Wade Edwards Jr., Preston Middleton and Anura Neysadurai in that they work with a very diverse group of artists and Wade especially has helped me to dissect and examine my vocal range. The aforementioned individuals helped me to understand why pop music or major label artists have trained the masses to understand a certain level of sonic quality, regardless of how bad the content of the music is and thus applying that standard to my world.



LHH: What is your creative process in putting together a music video, from start to finish?:

Jehuniko:  Where I’m at with that is leaving it up to Miguel Martinez. Even though I’ve worked with Capital X and Federico Peixoto, both great visionaries, Miguel Martinez is currently integrated into my album cycle so I look to him to bring my songs to life. It is his area of focus, his skill set and I trust him with my music. He is so refined in the process that I’ve seen him edit parts in minutes just because
he is a passionate visionary and excels in his craft and I appreciate that. It gets me hyped up actually, that someone is so skilled and enthusiastic about what I’ve created. Check him out at www.migmartinez.com 

LHH: What 1 or 2 major changes do you see happening in the music industry within the next 5 years?

I see our people excelling and gaining even more momentum in the music industry, in the US economy and in the global economy. Music consumption and it’s impact on society is at an all time high therefore I foresee more of what you already see, music speaking for a generation of passionate hard working
survivors bent on standing up for what’s right, opposing what is wrong and living this crazy life to the fullest. Hip Hop is still fairly new in some places like Nicaragua and in other countries like Chile or Mexico it is exploding therefore I see hip hop continuing to be a voice of the people.

I want to thank you again for your time and for the work that you do with yoursite, like I said I am a fan first. Look out for my upcoming mixtape “Forever Free” and my album “Bittersweet” featuring Sick Jacken from Psycho Realm and more. Also, my new Jehuniko Guerrilla Republik shirt is available here.


Shout out to Los Animales, Kemo and the Dead Silence family, Guerrilla Republik
and the warriors worldwide putting it down, for those holding me down around the
world I appreciate the support!

Hit me up - http://www.jehuniko.com

https://twitter.com/Jehuniko1

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jehuniko/102887339333

http://www.youtube.com/user/Jehuniko

via Cristopolis