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PM: Through your music and your first CD “Keministry” you are
definitely ministering to the audience. There is a spiritual meeting of
the minds even though it’s in a musical way, the audience responds to
you so well, you don’t come off preachy or with that in your face
attitude, you gently and calmly pull your audience in with a jazzy
melodic energy. Will that continue to be the style of “KEM”?
KEM: Absolutely, yeah it’s easier and I think it’s more effective to
get people to hear you and drawn that in so they can listen to what it
is your trying to say. So yeah I drawn people in gently and it’s
definitely a spiritual exercise.
PM: As a female I can appreciate
what you’re saying. You talk to the women in the audience with your
sexy vocals, but somehow you know how not to cross that sexual line.
You treat us with respect. You pay homage to women but at the same time
the message is there for women to stay strong but also to respect our
men and support them. So here again through your music you are
ministering about relationships and you make it easy to follow what you
are saying regarding nurturing relationships.
KEM: Yes, and I think about all those things in trying to be a
spiritual person to the best of my ability and also in my role of being
a father. As a man when you have a daughter it makes you think about
how you treat women because it’s been said your daughters model for her
mate is going to be model from her dad so I try to be mindful of that.
PM: How old is your daughter now?
KEM: She is ten years old.
PM: I had the pleasure of speaking with Al Jarreau and I asked him
what did he think about your musical style and would he ever consider
doing a concert with you. Al Jarreau’s response was he thinks you are a
great artist and you’re a young brother doing his own thing and he
would be willing to do a concert with you. It would be called
AlKeministry. How do you feel about that?
KEM: Al Jarreau is a very sweet man and we talked on a couple of
occasions about doing something together. It would be the bomb to do a
concert with Al.
PM: How do you spiritually prepare yourself prior to a concert when
your not necessary in front of an audience that is part of that
atmosphere. How do you keep yourself spiritually grounded and not cross
the line.
KEM: Prayer and meditation is my routine and it’s definitely a
spiritual exercise knowing that we are all put here for a purpose and
there is a point in time for all of us to be doing what were doing, any
talent that you have that is God given, and if it’s God given than
can’t nothing be wrong with it so, there cannot be anything wrong with
you just being who you are, that’s all we ever have to be just who we
are. So when I’m in front of an audience I just present who I am and
it’s difficult sometimes if your in front of a hip-hop audience or your
in front of an audience that’s not your core audience, but you still
have to go out there and just be yourself and represent your craft
regardless of what people think because at the end of the day it
doesn’t really matter, what really matters is that you do the best job
that you possibly can.
PM: At your concerts you always talk about the trials and
tribulations you have had in life. Why is it important for you to make
this public and how did you survive it all?
KEM: His grace. It was
through God’s grace and willingness to try and cooperate with what I
believe is his will for me. I still struggle in some areas of my life
you know, but we all do which is really not an excuse but my faith is
the foundation I stand on and I make it public and I talk about it
because what we say and what we talk about manifest things in our live
so anytime I have the opportunity to contribute something positive to
make my own case I will speak about it and also to inspire people to
overcome what they struggle with. My whole career is based on that.
That’s what it’s based on, it’s not about money it’s not about bling
–bling it’s not about all that stuff, there’s a place for those things
and I embrace those things and I try to do it in the proper way but the
real thing is about me getting on stage and talking about how good God
has been to me and hopefully uplifting somebody else, witnessing it’s a
ministry you know, my music is a ministry, my career is a ministry and
I minister to people who are not going to, well I’m sure a lot of
people go to church but I’m ministering in a industry where you know
people may not go to see T.D. Jakes or they may not go to church you
know I may be the only witness that somebody may get to hear. I’m in an
arena because our society is built on the celebrity you know whatever
the celebrity says we consider that to be the most important thing so
why not use that for God’s glory and be able to affect people and touch
lives on his behalf. So I do it through my concerts, when I’m at the
club I do it, wherever I am I talk about God because people who are
going to church and who already have an understanding and a
relationship with God, those are not the people that need to hear about
it, we need to be out here in this place in the world like Jesus in
Symria so yes my music would be consider to be secular and that’s |
