Jords Talks Adulthood, The Importance of Community And His New Album Dirt In The Diamond [interview]

Take by Seif-Ali Umaar

Nostalgic but contemporary Dirt In The Diamond is a colourful project that is submerged in Jords’ West Indian roots, specifically Jamaica but he also draws inspiration from a wealth of personal lived experiences and the exposure to the different sounds he grew up surrounded by.

Telling the story of how his Jamaican father migrated to Manchester meeting Jords’ mother in the Northern city before eventually settling in Croydon, South London. We find ourselves chatting with Jords via Zoom.

He remarks “It’s funny knowing the different pockets that different countries found their ground to settle in.”

“Like in Croydon, there’s a strong Caribbean, especially Jamaican influence whereas in Peckham for example, it’s more Nigerian.”

Speaking about the title of the album, “Obviously it’s a phrase that people use is diamond in the dirt, a diamond in the rough and coming from somewhere I’m from when you make it out people call you the diamond in the rough but for me, that implies that everything around me is dirt and I don’t agree with that.”

“I think that everyone around me is the diamond, and we all have these bits of dirt in ourselves. It could be PTSD, anxiety it could be whatever and I’m really (in the project) trying to look at that and flip the narrative on it.”

Asking the rapper if he’s grown into himself since his last project Almost an Adult, and to reflect on the transition into adulthood.

“I feel that adulthood is something that kind of crept up on me and all of a sudden I’m 28!”, Jords said laughing. “Like I’m not that young up-and-coming guy anymore I’ve been through it all.”

“Even in my personal life, I’ve just got more adult responsibilities. I didn’t even have a car when I was making ‘Glide’, now I have a car and I’m living on my own.”

“I think with Almost an Adult I was coming to terms with a lot of firsts, losing grandparents was the first time that ever happened. Even falling in love and other adults’ concepts were things I had never done before. Whereas now been there done that got the t-shirt.”

Dirt in the Diamond is a way to look back at the past and be submerged in the transgenerational Black-British experience that we share with our parents, and our grandparents and currently live with now.

Sharing his thoughts on the themes of continuality of the album Jords shares “One thing that I have learned growing up and becoming this adult yeah is that it’s happened before it will happen again. Some of the things that I go through is the same things that my dad went through, my grandad, and my younger go through in the ends.”

“so it’s like we are all in this cycle and it’s a shared experience but there’s little different details in this experience that we all go through. One thing about music that I think is great is that you’re more capturing a feeling, and we all share only a fine amount of feelings.

Listing the feelings, “Love, loss, hurt, pain, anger, sadness, happiness so, it might not necessarily be my experience but it’s a shared experience but through my eyes.”

It's what makes the project so relatable, so timeless, Jords’ ambition to explore feeling through his lyricism and production, allowing an enriching musical diversity to form. An undeniable fact is how West Indian the album feels.

“I would say it’s fully Caribbean especially when you look at the videos", Jords explains. Jords released 3 short films in anticipation of the album dropping that take a close look at the 1970s West Indian community

“It's funny how exploring my roots and looking into my identity I realised how much of it is shared with other people and how much of it is universal”,

Speaking about the recording process of the album and how he managed to create an nostalgic album with a contemporary feel, Jords shares, “I’m quite an old soul so even the fact that I’m signed to Motown for example is part of the story. When we recorded a lot of the album it wasn’t on digital, it wasn’t using Logik it was analogue desk.

It’s very old school you record things from tape, and naturally by doing that because I enjoy it and because I wanted to do that you end up looking at it through a scope of a different time.”

The album took a long time to come together Jords reveals, it was actually his second attempt what we’re hearing. “Last year we went out of ends to this beautiful studio with all analogue equipment, and real instruments and just locked myself away.”

He credits his friends as a massive help during that time away where they become introspective and had therapeutic conversations that filtered into the album. “we really dug deep in the conversations, Jords shares.“The best music comes from real-life experiences and to make that you have to live and to do that it takes time.”

“When I think of the great albums that I listen to and that I’m proud to own it’s the projects that took time. It’s the projects like Good Kid Mad City, Off The Wall or What’s Going On or Ms Education of Lauryn Hill.”

“I deep dive into those projects to find out everything that made those projects great and a lot of time it’s the mindset that the artist was in and the time they took to make the body of work, take themselves away from reality for a minute and immersive themselves in the music.”

Circling back to his own album, “I just want them to feel something whatever that may be. I don’t want to dictate that, but for me great art provokes feeling. Even if that feeling is anger I’d rather that than think yeah it’s calm. It’s excellent or it’s terrible.”

Coming away from the conversation we come to the conclusion that Dirt In The Diamond, acts as a bridge to past generations and documentation that their joy and struggles are seen, as well as a window into the feelings felt from real-life experiences lived and still living.

Jords is scheduled to start his UK tour ‘Dirt in the Diamond: The Jords Experience’ on the 26th Sept performing in the Bodega, Nottingham before visiting other major UK cities.

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