Today we’d like to introduce you to Jelani Aswad.
Jelani, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Jelani Aswad, short for Jelani Aswad Nkosi Pinnock. My name is a combination of Swahili and Arabic. It translates to mean “Mighty Black King.” My story begins in the Bronx, NY, where I was born and raised in the late 80s until I was 11 years old. The remainder of my years that shaped my passion for art and storytelling took place in a 2 square mile town of a modest 33,000+ people called Spring Valley, NY, 30 minutes Northwest of Harlem. I was raised in a dichotomy of sorts. My mother was a career corporate woman, and my father is a tradesman with a Rastafarian background. They raised us to be inquisitive and resourceful and to know and love our Jamaican heritage and African roots. These cross-cultural realties helped shape my passion for so many things. I grew up hearing great music and watching my father work on electronics and sound systems which probably gave seed to my passion for creative arts. When my family moved from the Bronx, NY, in 1997, I began attending a small church named Faith Assembly of God in Chestnut Ridge, NY, after being invited by my next-door neighbor. This church championed the creative arts in youth and allowed us to sing, act, rap, play instruments, and explore the creative arts in a safe and non-judgmental environment. When I got in trouble in school and with that law, the leaders at the church supported me and loved me through tough times. These experiences allowed my passion for songwriting and art to grow aggressively in these optimal conditions. Though church became less and less a part of my life as I matured into adulthood, it shaped my FUTURE current career path. A few years later, at 18 yrs. old, I would sign an independent record deal with a startup record label, eventually dropping out of The City College of NY in Manhattan at the age of 21. I wrote nearly 5-10 songs a month for what felt like years, started a rap group in my hometown called H-Cide, and played venues in New York City like The Blue Note, BB King, Village Underground, Hammerstein Ballroom, and bars and pubs that would allow us to perform. A highlight of my musical journey was being able to play on live television for BET’s Inauguration Celebration on a show called 106 & Park to commemorate the Presidential Election of Barack Obama. The following year, we traveled to Haiti and Jamaica to perform, and that’s when my heart broke for international humanitarian work and community through music. My bad choices, my great experiences, and my future hopes all came together to lead me back to college at 26 years old. I felt what was missing in my life was a connection with God. All those years ago, I had unplugged from the source of my gifts and the cultivation of those gifts in both safety and excellence. The year prior to going back to college, I picked up an acoustic guitar and taught myself how to play at 25 years old. This led me to choose a degree in sacred music and pastoral ministry at the soon-to-be-closed Nyack College in Nyack, NY. 2012-2015 could be called “The years I never thought I’d get through.” I was married for less than a year, had a honeymoon baby, was working front desk at a nearby hotel, and somehow decided to become a part-time college student. I thought of my mother, who obtained a law degree as a single mom, raising 3 children with virtually no help while working full-time corporate jobs in the NYC area for decades. My plight was possible; God made it probable. In 2015, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, Cum Laude, and ready to take on the world of serving and equipping people in churches through sacred music the same way I was helped and equipped as a middle schooler. I moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and settled in Lakewood. I opened a GO FUND ME campaign before I left New York, funded the production of my first solo album, created T-shirts, and released The Revival Project in 2018. After the untimely death of my mother in 2020, I began cataloguing my thoughts and grief in Hip-Hop form and decided to continue to release music in that style in 2021. To return to Hip-Hop was out of a necessity, grief, and healing, knowing this was one of the best tools I had to share the truth of how I had been feeling. Slowly, what emerged out of all this was a freedom to begin expressing my heart and art through various mediums and in various spaces (i.e., Churches, conferences, pop-up events, Art Exhibitions, etc.). The need to continue to create in an economically sustainable way (beyond the limitations of streaming music online) brought about the idea of starting a sustainable, fair-trade company that not only sells products but also equips emerging artists of all kinds to start economically sustainable art-based businesses as well. Here it was born Messianic Supply Co. We have officially existed online since 2020, but now have a retail space at an indoor/outdoor mini-mall on West 28th Street in Ohio City called City Goods.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. Some of the struggles stem from not having a musical background within my family or clear examples of how to be a healthy entrepreneur. There have always been people along the way who have empowered me and shared a resource with me that I previously did not have access to. I am eternally grateful for that. I played a lot of gigs at bars and venues in NYC with no pay and 15-minute sets or super long sets. I wasn’t trained as an instrumentalist as a child, so I taught myself Acoustic Guitar at 25 years old and practice almost 5-7 hours a day for several months. That was grueling but it paid off. Nevertheless, beginning any art-based career in New York, from being a full-time musician to a museum curator, would be difficult. When I moved out of NY in 2016, the opportunities began to open up as well. Leaving New York helped me to put my talent + work ethic in perspective. I found that if I worked just as hard (promoting, creating, sharing) it paid off more. People value what I have in Cleveland different. There may be many reasons why, but I am grateful for the support I find in those who listen to my music and those who purchase from my clothing brand. The main challenges have always been having a steady team of people who are not in it for the compensation (though time and availability seem too big, the biggest commodities) and the eco-system needed to be successful. When I say ecosystem, a creative like myself, in 2024, often has to write the song and record it, dream up the artwork and produce, start the merch brand and maintain it, yet remain a slave to the algorithmic tempo and preference of the day. I was motivated by not having support people as a teen, but now I relish and hunger for a team with every project I consider.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
People who have known me for 15-20 years know me solely as a musician and a producer of sources in terms of curating and creating music around hip-hop and live bands. I have played mostly in a “world music” context in my earlier years through my 20s but have played sacred music of several genres as a worship leader. Since 2018, I dived head-first into graphic design as a way to save money using simple programs online like PicMonkey and Canva. I would get professional pictures taken and overlay them with solid typography in the early stages of my design work. Along with the album I released in 2018, I began the “merch” process, releasing a t-shirt I designed that went along with the release. That merch design was a seed that has grown into my company, Messianic Supply Co. (www.MessianicSupply.com), which is a streetwear brand using Organic Cotton, Fair-trade, and American-made products. I am also now the founder and curator of THE GALLERY (https://youtu.be/FrniRBSXUng?si=ythTZKBIIJH6hCDn), a series of pop-up art exhibition events featuring Cleveland-based contemporary artists/painters of some sort, 2-3 upcoming streetwear brands, and a musical performance element (Live musicians, DJ, etc.).
I am most proud of my event, THE GALLERY, because it merges all my creative passions, promotes economic sustainability and advancement among artists, and is a free event. The top 2 things I believe artists ask themselves is, “How can I continue it make art without stress? And “Where will I be able to let real live people see my art?” The integrity of providing an “invitation-based curated” space allows newer and less economically able artists to be featured and have a captive audience is a major thing for me. Brands at The Gallery and Artists do not and cannot pay to be featured. This is a word-of-mouth process developed within the community of musicians, artists, and supporters our brand has amassed over the past 3 years.
How do you think about luck?
I do not believe in luck. I believe we are all endowed with gifts and abilities, and since the application of “luck” can never truly be identified, it is a word that can often give too little or too much credit to the hard work of individuals and groups, the happenstances of life, or the hard work of people’s parents concerning nepotism. I think our role as people who are the “haves” is to share. Having beauty, health, wealth, talents, connections, or opportunities, when gone unshared, creates a bubble of futility and makes success or sustainability in life very difficult. If I do not do the Gallery, if Kenyatta Crisp does not mention me, or if my mother and father do not instill all the wisdom and knowledge, they have into me, this interview does not happen. That isn’t luck; it’s the generosity of humanity and the inclination many follow to pay it forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MessianicSupply.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jelaniaswad/
- Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/JelaniAswad
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelaniaswad/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JelaniAswad
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jelani-aswad
- Other: www.JelaniAswad.com
Image Credits
Jelani Aswad
Michelle Loufman Photography
Messianic Supply Co.
Davis Evans Photography
Joey Medlong
Kevin Cekanor
