Washington Projects: Back Strong
12-04-2007
by Kevan Breitinger

The hole left behind by the disappearance of Souljahz was a big one, so many fans are giving big thanks for The Washington Projects, the return of two thirds of the original group of siblings.

CMCentral (Kevan Breitinger): I’ve been listening to the new album a lot, and gotta tell you: I was a big, big fan of Souljahz.

Je’kob Washington: Oh, cool.

I was so sorry to see you guys disappear. That must have been rough.

Yeah, it was. But when you’re dealing with record companies and such, you gotta just roll with the punches, you know?

Well, let me start at the beginning, back there with Souljahz. Did the three of you have a strong music background, from your family?

Actually, me and my brother were more into basketball, getting ready to go to college. My sister was dancing and doing a few other things as well, but then God just gave us something else to do (laughing). I don’t know how else to explain it, really. Our family doesn’t have a background in music: Dad doesn’t sing, Mom doesn’t sing, nobody plays any instruments (laughing).

That’s a surprising answer.

Well, that’s really part of why we feel so called to do this, and to do it from the perspective that we do it from, because it’s definitely a gift that God has given us, that no one can argue with.

Wow, that makes it even sadder to think of how you got so hung up by the record company. My understanding is that new staff came on that didn’t share your vision, but you were stuck in the contract so you couldn’t move forward?

Yeah, pretty much. Within the time that we were there, 85% of the people on the label were replaced, including the president. A big part of any record is having a team of people in place to move it forward, and we lost that in the switch. We didn’t really see eye to eye with the new people coming in. It was rough for us, not being able to get out there and do the music on our hearts, but we had to keep going out on tour in 2004 and 2005 promoting the first album that had come out in 2002, so it was getting weirder all the time.

We have a distinct style that is ours, that we believe in, and there was a lot of talk about how we needed to sound like Out of Eden, or more like this band, or that one. But we never got into music to do that, and it just wasn’t us. Not that we don’t like Out of Eden, it just isn’t us; so that’s where the label dispute came in. We ended up moving out to Hawaii, where we had some family. We hung out, did a whole lot of praying, soul-searching, and it took this long, but we came back around to get back to what we really want to do.

You toured in Iraq during that time, right?

Yeah, we did and that was probably one of the coolest experiences of our lives. We did it in 2005 and 2006. It was really cool to see the faces of our guys over there fighting for us. The media paints them in a bad light sometimes, which is so sad, because those guys are just out there doing their job. We tried to support them, and we had a great time.

What do you think the Lord’s most prominent message to you was during those hard years of waiting?

It was very much a learning experience for us, a time to learn about faith and trusting in God to show us His plan. It was all we could do; it was either that or give up, you know? It was the big turning point in our lives.

What is Joshua doing now? (Washington brother and third member of Souljahz)

Because of the nature of the industry, people tend to assume there was a fall-out or something, but it’s nothing like that. We’re so close, all of us in our family. And the three of us have been doing this for almost twelve years, so we have to be close (laughing)! We all have an understanding that we are there to support each other in whatever we decide to do in our lives.

There’s only so far you can go with music if your heart’s not in it anymore, and that was one result of some of that label situation for Joshua. We’re out here, all of us getting older, and trying to start families and things. It’s that much harder without artistic and business support. We’re pretty much starting all over now, and he chose to take a break for now. He may be back with us at some point.

Life is full of change, you’re right. That’s what happens… The new project is very different than Souljahz’ earlier work, much more hip-hop oriented.

Yeah, definitely. It’s a breath of fresh air for us. This record is really more of us going back to where we started. Souljahz had put out two independent records before The Fault is History, and they were more hip-hop. We were a mix of hip-hop, R&B, and soul, but it all originally derived from our urban hip-hop perspective. So we were able with this record to get back to that.

I loved the worship tracks especially, like “Interlude (Deliverance).”

Cool, thanks. That song was really a last minute thing. I was really praying a lot, for deliverance actually (laughing) from everything that was going on. It just came out in a song. I started just playing the guitar and didn’t even have any lyrics written down. I just started singing into the mic free-style praise.

Yeah, that’s what I enjoyed about it. Are you out there touring the new album now?

November 3^rd will be the beginning our first tour, headlining the Dare To Share Tour. We hit about 9 cities. We’re independent now, so we have to put the whole puzzle together ourselves, arranging the bookings, etc. (laughing).

Well, I’m sure you’ll do well. It’s great to see you guys back, it really is.

Cool, thanks so much.