MOSES | The Crossroads.

Album Cover. Get your copy on Bandcamp

“I pride myself on innovation”. He said it in his usual tongue-in-cheek way. But this is just one of the things about MOSES that I found inspirational to begin with. This young Nigerian gospel rapper based in Manchester, UK saw off 2013 by releasing his debut album, The Crossroads.

The Crossroads is simply a musical manifestation of the artists life, his struggles and triumphs as a Christian; “Nothing too abstract or indie unfortunately”, he punctuates with humour. But for all its simplicity the album touches on scenarios that most Christians will understand or have experienced. From Questions where he samples a track of the same name by Nigerian artist Asa, to the title single Crossroads MOSES addresses real life Christian issues with humility and understanding.

When asked about his favourite track from the album MOSES replies “the truth is my favourite track changes pretty much like Manchester’s weather. At first it was Because Of Your Grace then it was Bar For The King then Questions and now it's New Dawn” I’m no expert but I guess this is what they call a labour of love: “The concept for The Crossroads was pretty much based on my life. I wanted it to be fully based on my life experiences and decisions”. I myself have struggled to find a favourite, fluctuating between all 10 tracks on the album as they shuffle on my MP3.

That might be the hardest part for us, but not for MOSES. For a young artist the work only begins after recording. “I had to then start promoting and letting people know about it.” Most international or well-known artists come complete with their own publicity team that take care of all the running around for them. All they have to do is sing. But for MOSES he also got the chance to flex his promotional muscles and sell himself: “It was all very fun though”.

Bold Renegades Never Back Down

After all his hard work no one would really call him out if he decided to get something out of it. But in typical MOSES fashion he blindsided us by making the album available for free on Bandcamp. “I made the project as an introduction to my music, for everyone to then be able to make a decision on how they feel about my music. So it didn't feel right charging for it.” He called his debut a free gift that he had intended to be free from the start. 

Although there are no other artists featured on the album MOSES was privileged to work with some inspirational people from the gospel genre. “I did have the pleasure of working with a good producer ‘big brother’ friend of mine Barry aka Arc Beats who you might have heard doing his thing on the new Levites3:12 track 'New Season New Day'. I also had another friend of mine Tim Gosden of CrossFya doing some post production work on it.” It seems this young man has his foot firmly in the door.

Now if you were hoping for an epiphany about the message of this album I hate to disappoint you. The final message is what you chose to take away from this musical sermon. For MOSES it was two of Christianity’s most popular mantras – grace and love. “I don't think I would have even been in a position to make the project without God's grace & love and that's the message I tried to instil in some way or another in the tracks”. Simple enough but powerful all the same.

Hard work pays off

What’s next for this young up and comer? Well the New Year brings new promise for all and MOSES is no exception. He became an associate artist with MJK & Crossfya in November 2013. What this means for his fans around the UK and Europe is a lot of events and a lot more of MOSES. For veteran fans that also means that Retro Days is about to be developed into an EP with Arc Beats so watch this space. He’ll be featuring on a few projects with established names on the gospel scene. “Finally a collective which I am part of called 'R.I.S.E' is going to be releasing a debut album this year so it's a very busy but exciting year ahead. Thank God.” Of course there are many other possibilities in the pipelines but you’ll just have to stick around to find out.

Find him!

For more some social media stalking you can find MOSES here: Twitter @imjustmoses and Facebook facebook.com/imjustmoses

For his work and more MOSES news find him here: Facebook Fan Page facebook.com/imjustmosesUK; Soundcloud Soundcloud.com/imjustmoses and YouTube Youtube.com/imjustmosesTV

For your digital copy of The Crossroads album visit his Bandcamp imjustmoses.bandcamp.com

For bookings and any queries, information etc. drop him an email on imjustmoses93@gmail.com.

Montage...Express Yourself

Art forms like graffiti and tattoo have always intrigued me. Don't get me wrong I do not encourage vandalism nor do I agree with permanently scaring your body. The art form itself is what piques my interest. Furthermore my creative writing blog should be enough evidence that I am very much a fan of self expression in all it's forms. This is one of the greatest purposes of art. 

Also I want to say a big thank you to Rashad Iqbal, a fellow student who graciously let me pry into his life for the purposes of this article and whose great insight made my article relevant.

So without further ado, my third montage piece...

Express yourself

When the staff of my high school got tired of watching students doodle on tables, walls and bathroom stalls they started throwing out hints about a graffiti wall. The concept meant that everyone could scribble their heart away on a wall built solely for that purpose if we stopped marking our territory on the body of the school.

There was hardly a part of Manchester that was truly devoid of graffiti and although it wasn’t always the most attractive, the brashness and the hurried feel that came with it was always attractive to me. After a while, seeing large spray painted letters and bold colours became the norm.

Dubai was a rude awakening for me. It felt like I had spent my life dreaming in colour and woke up to black-and-white. That was when I first started to recognise graffiti as an art form. I was sure that there was no graffiti here. But that isn’t strictly true. It might not be the invading kind you find in most of the western world, but it’s there if you look hard enough. It might not be all over the walls in between clean-cut buildings or on the busy streets, but the art is recognised by some here.

One of my first graffiti experiences in Dubai came from Rashad Iqbal, a 2^nd year student here in our very own Middlesex. As soon as I saw his work I asked him to do some things for me one of which he handed to me and has been with me ever since.

Speaking of the challenges of being a graffiti artist in Dubai he says that “there isn’t much support and at the same time all the paint supplies are really expensive here which makes it really hard to practice.” He also goes on to explain that not being able to see other people’s work around you on a daily basis like you would in other parts of the world means that he often lacks motivation and inspiration.

So how do you overcome these challenges? Well according to Rashad you need to develop your own interest and find an online community; his would be deviantart.com. He finds that although there are graffiti artists here in Dubai, they don’t have the strongest community presence. “When it comes to a community the strongest I have experienced was at deviantART.”

What you might find even more surprising is the fact that Rashad has actually displayed his work on a wall in Dubai. In fact he and about 350 other people were part of the charity event at the Graffiti Tunnel in Dubai Festival City organised by GYEM in 2010. He says that “they provided legal areas to do graffiti.”

As much as we laughed at our teachers in high school for making a big deal out of nothing, there was a tiny part of me that felt like a vandal when I took my marker pen out to hurriedly scribble “MiiMii was here” on my science desk. Maybe that was part of the thrill but more than anything was the recognition that graffiti could also be an art form.