New York transplant by way of Canada, emcee and former pro basketball hopefull, Jair Dynast talks with OneTwoOneTwo about his new album V.I.A.L.E.N.C.E (Vicious Ignorance Amounts to Little Except Negative Consequences N’ Expression. ).
Tell me a little bit about Jair Dynast. A little history, the name, etc. Jair Dynast: Jair Dynast is a regular dude trying to live up to his name by doing something irregular. Elevate our community through positive music speaking on the negative aspects of day-to-day life in the inner-city. Jair is my given name meaning “One whom God has enlightened”. I was born in Barbados to a beautiful and courageous young woman who brought me to North America at a young age. From there, I earn myself a basketball scholarship and thought I was going to be a pro at some point but God had different plans for me, so here I am.
Overseas, it seems that underground Hip Hop is more respected than in the US. Being from Canada what differences have you seen between the Hip Hop scene in Canada and US.
Jair Dynast: The only real differences I have seen since moving over here is that in Canada there are 32 million people whereas in New York alone there are 8 million people. It’s a much bigger market with a lot more fans of the music. Other than that the only other thing I can point out is that each region in the states has its own Hip Hop identity whereas in Canada each region has still not found their distinct sound or style.
What do you like about Hip Hop today and what don’t you like?
Jair Dynast: I like that if you care to search you can find and enjoy so many different styles of Hip Hop. There are so many different sounds out there it’s amazing. I guess I don’t like that mainstream Hip Hop doesn’t have a balance in terms of what is allowed exposure on a grand scale.
Tell me about the new album.
Jair Dynast: The album is my offering to the world both by way of introduction and experience. I put my heart into the records on a personal level, telling the story of my life and those around me; while at the same time offering the listeners an education from my experiences. You see, to me life is a very long learning experience and if you aren’t capable of learning from your experiences, you probably won’t have a very long life. So I give to you my life, my experiences and what they have taught me about moving forward in life.
What makes you and your release different from any other?
Jair Dynast: Well, I have lived on two continents, in three countries, and various regions of these countries. I have lived at the bottom as well as seen what it’s like to have a middle class existence. So I have my Caribbean culture, my North American culture and the experience of living at different socio-economic levels. Add to it all my love for various sub-genres of hip hop as well as other music and you have a very eclectic listen that’s probably unlike a lot of what’s out there at the moment.
What cut should people check for in particular on this album?
Jair Dynast: They should check for Watch It, My People, Promise, Spread Love, That’s Us, The Intro… ah! I think they might wanna just check for the album before I end up just listing all the tracks (laughs). Nah, but for real, I would urge people to give it a listen and see what they think. There is something on there everyone can relate to.
Apparently cats are feeling what you are bringing as I’ve seen your chart positions on various charts. What kind of feedback are you getting from people, like at shows and whatnot.
Jair Dynast: Yes, the DJs have really embraced the record. I’ve even seen it grab the #2 spot over commercial heads like Ludacris, as well as going #1 in the underground over amazing records from Little Brother and Talib Kweli. So that’s dope. The response from the people has been amazing! It’s quite apparent heads are feelin’ what they have heard. One only needs to take a look at the comments on my myspace page as evidence. It’s definitely a blessing and I’m glad people have embraced the music. As for shows, those are on the way but I’ve had an amazing response to the records when I performed them at CMJ.
Why the V.I.A.L.E.N.C.E. acronym? I see where you are going with it but why not base the positive meaning off of positive word?
Jair Dynast: Well, all my life I have had a bunch of negativity thrown at me and I have become accustomed to turning negatives into positives. So the title really speaks to my life on various levels. Also, lets be real… We live in a society where negativity is glorified on a major scale. If I was to call my album “The Good Works LP” or “The Goody Two-Shoes Album” or something like that then, cats would run for the hills before they buy my record (laughs). Nah, but seriously I think the negative word made positive has a powerful impact ‘cuz people always ask me this question.
What’s your stance on the “Stop Snitching” movement in Hip Hop. Especially towards violent crimes. Personally I think it’s ignorant and sends a bad message.
Jair Dynast: I see where you are coming from. However, in the streets “Stop Snitching” refers to individuals who are down with a certain team or crew who have previously agreed to a certain unwritten code of conduct as well as agreed to a certain way of doing quote unquote business and therefore when they say “Stop Snitching” they are referring to their peers who betray this code. It’s a code for survival. You can’t go and agree to do x or y knowing that x or y can get you caught and then once you are caught turn and snitch to get out of it. The only problem I see with it is that as with Hip Hop in general, things we speak about in our songs get misconstrued and taken out of context. The intent is not to promote acts of violence on members of the community. The intent is to speak to disloyal partners in crime. In others words, don’t do the crime if you ain’t prepared to do the time. Even the bowy dem (cops) have a “Stop Snitching” unwritten code of conduct.
My man is doing this DVD about Hip Hop and he’s been asking cats, “Are you Hip Hop ? And what makes you Hip Hop? So it’s stuck in my head, so I put those questions to you.
Jair Dynast: Well, “Hip Hop is Poetic Commentary on Life” and I poetically comment on life so therefore I am Hip Hop and that’s what makes me Hip-Hop! Sounds like it’s gonna be a dope DVD!
Ok, what do you want people to know about?
Jair Dynast: I want people know about knowledge of self and that we are intelligent people regardless of what anybody says!
Where can cats pick up the album and find out more about you?
Jair Dynast: To find out more about me heads can log on to http://www.jairdynast.com or hit up the myspace at http://myspace.com/jairdynast The label is in negotiations with a big distributor so when the album drops they’ll be able to order it from all the normal spots like Amazon, Virgin Mega, iTunes etc. or just hit up the eMultimedia Group online store at http://www.emultimediagroup.net
Any final words?
Jair Dynast: Yeah, I just want to thank you for taking the time to build with me and thank everyone out there for taking the time to learn more about Jair Dynast and his music. Bless up!
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Interviews 
New York transplant by way of Canada, emcee and former pro basketball hopefull, Jair Dynast talks with OneTwoOneTwo about his new album V.I.A.L.E.N.C.E (Vicious Ignorance Amounts to Little Except Negative Consequences N’ Expression. ).
What makes you and your release different from any other? 
