Who is P.E. 2.0
Being asked to be a part of your favorite group is a dream come true for a music fan, although that rarely happens in real life. But it happened for Jahi, who met and connected with Public Enemy frontman Chuck D backstage during a soundcheck at the 1999 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Little did the Oakland-based emcee know the chance meeting was going to change his life forever.
Asked to appear as the official opening act and MC for Public Enemy's 20th Anniversary Tour in 2007, Jahi was soon passed the torch of a historical and cultural legacy and expected to run with it.
The result? PE 2.0, the spiritual successor and next generation of the iconic socially and politically aware New York rap group Public Enemy. His task? To go inside of the PE catalog and find songs that still have power and punch, and either cover those, or revisit them in an entirely new way. And to create new songs to bring new consciousness, culture and spirit to Hip Hop worldwide.
So while some songs like “Rightstarter” are faithful remakes, others, like “Yo!” are fresh and new.
At his day job as the Program Manager for the Office of African American Achievement/Oakland Unified School District, the first program in the nation explicitly dedicated to lifting the prospects of black boys in the public school district, it’s all about finding balance and molding the minds of young people.
His music is no different. It’s all about profanity free, life affirming conscious hip hop that can positively affect the minds of young people every single day.
With two albums to their credit so far, ‘People Get Ready’ in October 201 4 and ‘InsPirEd’ one year later, PE 2.0 is billed as preservationists of the culture.
PE 2.0 is now all set to release its third album, "In The Tradition," this January. An amalgamation of emotions and deep lyricism over straight-ahead beats, In The Tradition salutes Muhammad Ali, speaks out against police brutality and also has fun with new styles and witty flows with conscious messages.
"Public Enemy stands for poetic justice, for the people to have a voice of inspiration, direction, motivation, and courage. In every line, in every song, the people are our motivation to fight on.”
We see the continued legacy of Public Enemy, influencing new audiences to resist corruption in government.
