With powerful, genre fluid tracks to his credit, and an upcoming album on the way (City of God),
Toronto’s own Jai Kent is making genuine waves in the R&B, hip hop, and rap communities.
Read on to find out what Jai had to say to theMOVEMENTZ about his music and his hopes for the future.

Jamal akim Ina has a key to his city, and he’s opening doors for himself.

Jai Kent is a rap, R&B and hip hop artist living in Toronto. This 22 year old musician has been
creating mix tapes ever since he was 12. Making music is his calling, and that is motivation
enough for him to craft and release quality work.

I asked Jai what his take was on being a Canadian artist and how it is different than being an
American artist. Though the rap, hip hop and R&B community is not as large here as it is there,
Jai is not discouraged. He pointed out that, “skills and talent can never be limited, no matter
where you’re from…”

Jai’s slow jams, such as “From Uptown With Love” not only have a classic beat, but the
content is real and relatable. Jai invests raw emotion into this particular song, and his feelings
can be sensed throughout the track. You empathise with him, and want what he wants. Jai talks
about what is familiar to him; and this allows for his words to draw strong feelings from and
create a connection with an audience. Jai has put himself on the beginning of Mario’s song
“Cryin’ Out For Me”, and it sounds as though the two artist were working together.

The songs posted on Jai’s MySpace page discuss mainly relationships, both the ups and down,
and capture those blissful or heartbreaking feelings that come along with those relationships.
Jai has made a personal choice to keep his work almost completely free of curse words.
Not only is this a rarity in the hip hop world, but it makes his work appropriate for any age
and offers a new style of music to individuals who are turned off of hip hop due to swearing.

Even though the songs Jai makes are placed into a couple of different categories,
there is no difference for him between making hip hop and R&B. “Once I hear the
beat I automatically know the way I want to sound on the track.”

As far as his inspirations go, Jai says Ghostface Killah and Busta Rhymes are two big ones
for him. He chose Ghostface for the lyrical content of his work, and Busta Rhymes for his
seamless flow. His favourite verse from Busta is on the track “Hurt” by T.I. Jai would like
to work with both Busta Rhymes and Mario.

Jai’s music can be heard and downloaded on his website page at www.jaikentonline.com
From there it is possible to connect to another page featuring Hillz High, a recording label
which is owned by Jai himself. He classifies it as more of a group than a label.

I asked Jai if there was anything in particular he wants people to get from his music.
He responded with a powerful couple of sentences. “I want them just to be able to know
that anything is possible. You may not have everything in your life right now and you [might]
be in a position where you feel like giving up. Just remember to keep god in your prayers at
night and on my word… everything will get better.”

Currently Jai Kent is working on his album “City of God” which he plans to have finished by
June of this year. He is also planning to release a mix tape titled “Out of time” and creating a
music video for his single “All you need.” Seeing as how young this talented artist is, and
how much he is doing already, he can only become greater as each day passes. Jai Kent
is just doing what he loves, and R&B fans might just love what he’s doing too.

Written by Kim Brown,