![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/J-boog.jpg\")
<\/p>\nL.A.-born, ethnically Polynesian and musically immersed in the sounds of Jamaica, reggae artist J. Boog is an international and multicultural sensation. Buoyed by the success of his latest single, \u201cFire Up Di Roses\u201d \u2013 a collaboration with The Green, Common Kings and mentor Fiji \u2013 J. Boog is in the midst of a world tour that takes him as far as New Zealand. Nestled among those concert dates was a September 22 performance at San Jose\u2019s Music in the Park.<\/p>\n
Born Jerry Afemata, J. Boog was introduced to reggae at a very young age thanks to an older sister who played him cassette tapes of Bob Marley\u2019s music. At the time, he had no understanding of how the music was made, but it moved him. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it could be replicated,\u201d he explains. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about instruments.\u201d But he says that when his sister sat at the family’s piano and started to play Marley\u2019s classic \u201cJamming,\u201d it was a revelation. \u201cI was in shock,\u201d says Boog. \u201cAnd that groove was the spark of me getting into the music.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
J. Boog\u2019s parents were both born in American Samoa. His family’s Samoan identity finds its way into his music, albeit in subtle ways. \u201cI was blessed to have both of my parents be really strong in church and in the [Samoan] culture,\u201d he says. \u201cGrowing up in Compton was kind of hard, especially in a big family.\u201d The musician and youngest of nine says that rock-solid values \u2013 \u201crespect your elders and that kind of thing\u201d \u2013 colored his approach to making music. \u201cThat\u2019s why I don\u2019t do a lot of \u2018slack\u2019 music,\u201d he says. \u201cNot a lot of curse words come out of my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the after hours away from his job at a local oil refinery, Boog paid his dues singing in clubs. And as he began to secure gigs farther from home, he learned an important lesson. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna have to sacrifice a lot,\u201d he discovered. \u201cIt\u2019s not all glitz and glamour; it\u2019s rough out there when you\u2019re trying to make ends meet.\u201d He says that early on, he realized that even finding the opportunity to take a shower was a privilege. \u201cBut that\u2019s life on the road,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the time I wasn\u2019t married and didn\u2019t have kids, so it was easier for me to stay on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
A trip to Hawaii led to J. Boog moving to the 50th<\/sup> state. Once settled there, he pursued his music in earnest, creating and distributing a mixtape of his work. He recalls a breakthrough gig at The Shack Waikiki on Oahu. The place was packed, but the audience was more than just Boog\u2019s regular crowd. \u201cEverybody was singing along at the top of their lungs on every song, word for word,\u201d he says. \u201cIn my head, it was like, \u2018Something\u2019s going on, but I don\u2019t know what it is.\u2019 It felt like the change of a scene.\u201d<\/p>\n Boog credits his popularity among Polynesian audiences as a key to the success he has achieved. \u201cThey were a huge support for the start of my career,\u201d he says. He makes special mention of help from Fiji-based musician and producer George Veikoso, known professionally as Fiji. \u201cHe took me under his wing,\u201d Boog says. \u201cI got to learn a lot from him.\u201d The two would first collaborate on J. Boog\u2019s debut, 2007\u2019s Hear Me Roar<\/i>. The album reached the Top Ten on the reggae chart.<\/p>\n A visit to Jamaica around that time would have a major impact on Boog\u2019s approach to music. \u201cI had never been there,\u201d he says. \u201cI had always loved the music from Jamaica. I wanted to learn more about it, and make sure I was going off on the right foot.\u201d He spent time in some of Kingston\u2019s most notable recording studios including Bob Marley\u2019s Tuff Gong. \u201cWhen we go to Jamaica, it\u2019s strictly work: rehearsals and studio time,\u201d he says. After a brief pause, he amends his statement. \u201cWe do have some down time; we take advantage of it. The food over there is amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n Boog\u2019s love of reggae stems in part from its sound. \u201cIt\u2019s easy on the ears, and at the same time it\u2019s technical,\u201d he says. But his appreciation for reggae goes deeper than just its sonic qualities. \u201cMost of my music is about love,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s about relationships, the world and even trying times, because we all go to that; we can relate to it. That\u2019s what makes reggae so universal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" L.A.-born, ethnically Polynesian and musically immersed in the sounds of Jamaica, reggae artist J. Boog is an international and multicultural sensation. Buoyed by the success of his latest single, \u201cFire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,63],"tags":[5518],"class_list":["post-28235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-reggae","tag-j-boog","cat-41-id","cat-63-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28237,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235\/revisions\/28237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}