When we met Jonathan Emile in 2011 he was a recent cancer survivor who channeled the power of music to help him beat one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, and he made it his life’s mission to share his contagious passion for creative rhymes and rhythms with the world.
Young, up-beat and entrepreneurial, Emile was determined to use his music to spread its healing and restorative powers, as much as to entertain.
Not surprising for those who have come to know him that his debut EP, The Lover/Fighter Document, released on MindPeaceLove, his independent label, made it to the first ballot of the 2011 Grammy Nominations for “Rap Album of The Year.”
It was also the launch of an exciting musical odyssey that has taken him to stages across North America performing with luminaries of the Hip-Hop/Rap scene, such as Coolio, Nas and Naughty By Nature.
Reconnecting with Emile in 2020 and we find the same creative genius embarking on another phase of that journey, one that leads him back to his Jamaican roots: reggae music.
With the launch of his first full-length reggae album, Spaces-in-Between, the Montreal-born musician says for him it’s a coming-of-age in a genre that has been his foundational love.
“After years of producing cross-genre, and touching different types of music, I think I finally gained the confidence to do a reggae album.
It’s special for me because reggae and jazz are the music that I listen to most, mostly because of the emotional liberty they bring.”
Since the album was completed this past November, there’s been a lot of good vibes attached to it.
He said it just took one email from his management team and they were able to secure a deal with the world’s leading distributors of reggae music, Tuff Gong International Distributors for Spaces-in-Between.
“They were satisfied with what they heard and decided to get involved. To me that’s positive.”
So the album, which features ten hard-hitting tracks including “Moses” and “Savana,” two recently-released singles gaining in popularity on various digital platforms, as well as a collaboration with the sugary-voiced and community favorite Ezra Lewis on “More Than You Know” is well- positioed to earn him respect on the reggae scene. He also recently released a remix of “Canopy” from the album with the irrepressible Grammy-nominated, reggae Diva, Etana.
He describes Spaces-in-Between as his “most personal project so far” and looks forward to the prospect of taking it on to audiences around the world.
With three well-received launches in New York, Toronto and Montreal, Emile says the next move is touring the US and Europe with Spaces-in-Between where some audiences are already familiar with his music.
Even as he invests himself fully in taking this album to as many people as possible, the prolific songwriter that he is, Emile is talking about other projects that are in the pipeline.
He says he’s sitting on two albums, one is a (Hip-Hop/Rap), that are completed and ready to be released “when the time is right.”
He is setting the ground to release some of the current projects in French, as a way to capitalize on his ability to communicate with the duality of Quebec.
“It’s one of the advantages of being in Montreal with two (thriving) markets,” he says. “When it comes to music, for me, there’re no limitations.”
So now that he has conquered this other musical frontier, that is reggae with Spaces-in-Between Emile says he’s looking to future projects with heightened confidence, as if that’s possible for a youth that’s always overflowing with enthusiasm.
He will continue to use his MindPeacLove label as a platform to support new artistes and keep his musical creations flowing because as he says in a recent interview: “My art, my life is not a lifestyle, it’s a philosophy that reflects truth and promotes humanism and social justice.”
Spaces-in-Between is available on Google Play music and spotify. For info check out https://www.jonathanemile.com/
