Sojourn

Contrary to popular belief, not every hip hop artist is a self-absorbed misogynist who loves Cristal, gold teeth, gaudy jewelry and shiny cars. The media—conservative or otherwise—would largely have you believe this is the case, but there are plenty of artists who buck these stereotypes. Sojourn is one of these artists, and his debut solo hip hop record, Sojournalism: The Summer Articles, is a superb example of what happens when creativity and ingenuity are combined with integrity, honesty and insightful lyrics that tell it like it is.

Tres “Sojourn” Hodgens recently took time to talk with Soul-Audio about what sojournalism really is, what is wrong with the hip hop industry, what inspired him to write one of the best tracks of 2009 in any genre, “The Craving,” and what hip hop music means to him. (His three-year-old son also made a couple brief appearances to lament that an episode of Sesame Street had ended…these scenes did not make the final cut for this interview, but we feel his pain nevertheless and wish the little guy well!)

Soul-Audio: So tell us about your album, Sojournalism.

Sojourn: Sojournalism as an album has been a long time coming, really. It was born out of working in the confines of, well not “confines” but the construct of a crew, of a family of crews, trying to get out some of the experiences I’ve throughout the years. It literally started off as an EP and conceptually it was supposed to just be journal entries that were short in length, be it short narratives, battle raps or what-have-you.

But over the process of the years that it was being constructed and built and written, after Braille had approached me about the project in ’06 it just grew from there. It went from an EP to now being a full-length. So if it’s a full-length, is it really something that’s gonna be substantial, you know what I mean? I didn’t want to let down any of the cats who know me from Future Shock , but I also wanted to make a record that I’d be happy with. So here it is! It’s an honest window into me and I’m excited to get people to hear it.

SA: Sojournalism is a good record. It’s definitely one of the most substantial albums I’ve heard all year and hip hop is not a genre I usually listen to! After hearing “The Craving” on your Myspace page (www.myspace.com/sojournbeats) I knew I had to check out your music. That track is amazing. Tell us how that song came about.

Sojourn: Thank you, man. I appreciate that. The story behind “The Craving” is a good one because Dert is an amazing producer. He’s built a nice body of work over the years. He sent me a track, originally, that was different because it had pianos in it. “The Craving” was born out of me hearing that beat and the styling around certain places within the track, and the idea behind it was just humanity and dealing with the different cravings or pulls that people have for whatever reason. And mine happens to be writing a lot of times simply to write.

So that was the idea behind it and when I heard…cuz I recorded a version of it to the original beat which I thought was fresh, and then he did a remix of it and sent it to me and I was like, “Oh my gosh! That almost makes me not like the original!” So we went with that (remixed) version and the end result is what you hear on the record.

SA: That’s just a fantastic song. I love the beats and the piano flourishes, and I even like the parts of the song where you pause in the middle of lines. It’s off-kilter, but in a sense it works extremely well with the flow of the tune. Plus I’ve had the chorus running through my head for days now. “Humanity/We all desire what gets us fired up/Some people buy it up in mass quantities/It’s the craving.”

Sojourn: That’s fresh, man. Thank you. And that was the idea…the crazy thing is when I wrote the first verse of “The Craving,” I wrote it before I heard the actual track. And when I heard that track it gave me the idea of putting the pauses in there. You know, I paint images of styles and patterns and not where you put your words, but where you don’t, you know what I mean? Sometimes that makes for a more interesting listen. So that’s the whole art part of that song and that’s where that came from. But I’m glad you caught that because I wasn’t sure if people would dig it.

SA: I totally dug it and ironically that song is one of the most addictive songs I’ve heard in a long time, so kudos to you on that one.

Sojourn: Thank you.

SA: I want to talk a little about the album title. Considering the meanings of “sojourn,” “journal,” and even “journalism,” it’s a brilliant title. It’s very apt and descriptive of the album’s tone and content, so I’m wondering how and when this idea of sojournalism came to you.

Sojourn: The interesting thing is that going through college, just going through different majors and things that I wanted to do, I kind of gravitated towards music journalism. I studied broadcasting for a while and I did radio for a bit and then got into journalism just for a brief second so I could find out that, “Okay, this is cool,” and that part of it spoke to me.

And then my name Sojourn is that idea about it being a brief stay but wanting it to be more of an eternal thing.

SA: Right.

Sojourn: So it worked on that level as well. And then the journal entries because I wanted (the album) to be something that was honest. There are a lot of things that didn’t make the record simply because they were too much, you know? You think of that line between being too secular or too Christian if you say this or that or whatever, so some of these things from my books nobody will ever hear. (Both laugh.) But that’s kind of the idea of the record; it’s a brief little window into thoughts on what I’ve seen and those are the thoughts I want to share with you all. That’s how that plays into the album title, so the title ends up working on a number of levels which is something that I’ve always been a fan of.

One of my favorite crews, De La Soul, they make music that’s intelligent because it’s layered. You don’t understand everything that’s there on a first listen, and that’s something I’ve always been a fan of even though today’s music would suggest exactly the opposite. You hear songs that are more immediately palatable and then you hear it once and you’re done with it, which is probably why the industry is in shambles but that’s a whole other topic!

So with Sojournalism I wanted to make something that was observational and honest and personal.

SA: Now you commented on the industry being in shambles and that was actually one of the points I wanted to touch on with you. In your opinion, is the hip hop industry as self-seeking and negative as the media makes it out to be? Or is this a case of the general public making the mistake of taking what the media feeds them instead of looking beneath the surface to find hidden gems that disprove the prevailing wisdom about hip hop?

Sojourn: I think it’s a little bit more of the latter, but also I think originally the subculture, the tool that it is, was born out of making something that would be positive as opposed to, you know, the harsh realities of inner-city life and what-have-you. So it isn’t as self-seeking or glamorized as it makes itself out to be in the public eye, usually. I’ve worked with a host of artists who are just the opposite of that so I’ve seen that for years, and it’s typically always been underground. But now underground is more like this murky mindstate rather than a reality because it’s like, “Well, you sell too many records, so now you’re no longer underground,” and you get into semantics and everything. But to answer the question I think there are definite bright spots because I think it started off as a bright spot. Does that make sense?

SA: No doubt. That makes perfect sense.

Sojourn: So I think it’s just a matter of people are gonna have to dig a little bit because the surface isn’t pushed much and so people are gonna have to dig beneath it.

SA: And unfortunately that’s a part of the culture we live in where we look for instant gratification and we believe the first thing we hear on the news instead of looking past agendas. First impressions are so important. Whether we believe it or not people are watching us as Christians and forming their opinions about Christianity based largely on what they see in us.

Sojourn: Exactly. And we’re all guilty of presenting the wrong picture at least some of the time. That’s part of what I wanted to share in the album is, look, we all have our issues that we face whatever they may be.

SA: Mm-hm.

Sojourn: So we would do well to be more compassionate, understanding, to have more grace, you know what I mean? Mercy. We’re all shown grace and mercy, so what makes us think we should exhibit this harsh judgment on the world just because they don’t think the same way we do, and don’t hold the same world view? So that’s another thing that speaks to those isolation theories like, “You should only make music for this target audience.” Or, “If you say ‘Jesus’ enough then you’re an outcast, but if you don’t say it enough then I don’t know if you’re really a believer,” that sort of thing.

SA: It’s sad that so many people feel that way, like if you aren’t getting your Jesus on 24/7 or giving him enough shout-outs in your songs you obviously don’t believe in God. It’s like, “Really? That’s the basis for your condemnation?” These are usually the folks who don’t get a U2 for instance, or P.O.D.

Sojourn: Exactly. And that was one of the reasons my crew kind of got the flack we did. We were always trying to be true to what we believe God had called us to be, and that was original and intelligent. That was the thing. You look at the example of Jesus…he spoke in parables! He didn’t always put it out there in plain view, and as a matter of fact oftentimes the people were asking him, “What do you mean by this?”

So that’s the position and the perspective that I write from; that and the fact that I write for other MCs. It’s a funny thing because people say, “People don’t care about lyricism any more. All they care about is the beats.” But I think you are evidence of the opposite. People who are thinkers actually do listen to lyrics, and that’s who I write for.

SA: And don’t get me wrong, I love techno and film scores and those styles where lyrics are rarely, if ever, incorporated into the song, but if I’m listening to songs with lyrics and you’re gonna sing about how much you love your drug-addicted girlfriend and that sort of thing, sorry but I’m not interested.

Sojourn: Exactly. You lose interest once they open their mouth.

SA: Exactly.

Sojourn: Yeah, and that’s what a good percentage of MCs are doing nowadays. But what you just said has been the case across many genres for a long time, unfortunately.

Photo Credit: Chris Bermudo (www.chrisbermudo.com)

• www.myspace.com/sojournbeats

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