Jah Eye Bio
As a youth in 1960’s America growing up in a creative, artistic and socially active family, Jah Eye was was witness to MLK and the civil rights movement, the self help philosophy of the Nation of Islam with Elijah Muhammed and Malcolm X, the rise of the Black Panther and Black Power movements as well as the turmoil (riots, political assassinations etc.) that were common place during those times. He also fell in love with the music of the era. Artist like Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, Sly and the Family Stone, the Temptations, Nina Simone, and Marvin Gaye, all artists who wrote and performed “message music”.
Fast forward to the 1970’s. While in college Jah Eye expanded his music taste to include Jazz and eventually the Roots Rock Reggae music that was coming out of Jamaica during that time. In 1977 Jah Eye attended Festac 77, the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture held in Lagos Nigeria. This event would change his life. It was here that he first realized the universality and the commonality of people of African Decent. It was here that he would also discover the revolutionary music of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. While listening to Fela, Bob Marley, Burning Spear and others, Jah Eye gravitated to the spiritual and revolutionary ideology of Rastafari.
Fast forward to the year 2000. After two decades of being a photographer, shopkeeper and an art dealer, Jah Eye launched his career as a recording artist, recording his interpretation of the music that influenced him so many years earlier. With four albums and some singles under his belt. Jah Eye’s music has consistently spoken on behalf of the poor and oppressed peoples of the world while bringing a message of universal love.
In 2018 Jah Eye’s song Jah Music (Rasta Music) was selected as part of the soundtrack for the movie Equalizer 2.
Artists
Unity Works Music Label
Queen Nzingha
Queen Nzingha is a roots vocalist out of Los Angeles, California who has performed with artists such as Brenda Holloway, Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, the Fully Fullwood Band aka Soul Syndicate and Carlton Coffee of Inner Circle fame. Her debut album on Unity Works , BLACK POWER addresses the social issues of our time as well as the relevancy of Spirituality in these confusing and dangerous times
Albums Reviews
I Sight (2003)
Serious Roots, with a sound somewhere between Prince Lincoln and Pablo Moses.
– Ernie B’s Reggae
JAH EYE pulls out all the stops on I SIGHT utilizing such disparate elements as rap, dub poetry And falsetto…a stellar lineup of LA’s finest musicians including Lesterfari, Mark Tyson and original Soul Syndicate drummer Santa Davis for a roots tour de force. The songs stick to cultural themes With standout tracks including “ Black Liberation ”, “ No More War”, “ Children of the Ghetto “, and “ In This Time”. Through it all the sound is relaxed and rootsy, exemplifying the message
music that helped establish reggae as a living force.
– Chuck Foster The Beat Magazine
World Wide Deception (2004)
Based in Southern California – he is by day the reggae buyer for one of LA’s better independent record shops – JAH EYE returns with WORLD WIDE DECEPTION (Unity Works), an uncompromising solo release that’s not afraid to tackle the big issues on songs like” Slave Name”,” Terrorist”, and” Revolution” and shows an ability to act locally while thinking globally on cuts such as” Neighborhood Crisis”,” Cell Phone Abuse”, and” Global Fiyah”. Co Produced with Boom Shaka’s Lesterfari and featuring players like Santa Davis and Mark Tyson the disc has a crisp sound and an up tempo feel with a message best exemplified by the quote from His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie which graces the back cover:” We must become bigger than we have been. More Courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become neighbors of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.
– Chuck Foster The Beat Magazine
