Jaja Soze

Jaja Soze was born Elijah Kerr on 16 February 1980 in Birmingham,[1] England, to parents from Jamaica. He is the oldest of five siblings and grew up in Handsworth, Birmingham. Kerr attended the Westminster Primary school where he grew up, looking up to the local sound systems of the '80s whilst also being inspired by a popular local gang called the "Incheyes" who later would split up into the Johnsons and Burger Bar gangs.[7] Because of domestic disputes in his family, Kerr moved to Brixton, on the Angell Town Estate in South London in the early '90s[8] where he then became heavily involved in crime, and convicted in 1996 at the age of just 15, for a bank robbery. He would then later be convicted and jailed at age 22, for drug-dealing.

Soze grew up heavily influenced by gang culture,[9] especially that of a well known, early '90s gang that he had grew up seeing in Brixton, called the 28s. Soze then grew to be a part of a well known London gang known as the Peel Dem Crew, of which he later founded and transformed into PDC rap group, also known as Poverty Driven Children or P.D.C. as told in a book written about his journey called Street Boys, written by himself and Tim Pritchard and published by HarperCollins.[10]

Soze began creating music at the age of 12 years old (1992), heavily influenced by his upbringing of Rastafarian music with a mix of early American '90s hip hop like that of Public Enemy and UK London Posse which was rumoured to have sparked his interest in starting his own street type movement.[11] Him and his friends would later go on to set up PDC rap group and create a massive platform for young disadvantaged youth, to be able to express their opinions and struggles of the UK street culture, via music.

Soze's music today is seen as a controversial message of revolution and street culture,[12] with a deep message some will consider as "black power" or music with a humanitarian feel. His music even though sometimes can come across aggressive, continues to inspire many and create progressive waves in the music industry. Soze has won awards such as outstanding work recognition by Starlight music group, and also outstanding achievement at the Official Mixtape Awards.[13]

• PDC First Cassette (mixtape) (1999)
• PDC Pray Days Change (album) (2004)
• Boss of the Bosses (mixtape) (2005)
• I'm Not a Rapper I'm a Revolutionary Mixtape
• Street Boy (2008)
• I Love Music (2009)
• Illegal Download (2010)
• The Last Message (2012)
• Power (2014)
• The Creative Struggle (2014)
• Frequency (2016)

jaja mtv wrap up interview 2013[1] Elijah kerr guardian interview 2007[2] Jaja soze bbc asain network 2017[3] Ashley walters presents top dad ft jaja soze t4 on demand[4] Evening Standard interview 2008[5] street boys book by harper collins[6] bbc world services interview 2008[7]

Mtv showcase young poets 2014[8] complex magazine 2017 rap king jaja[9] huffington post creative spoken word 2014[10] bbc radio 1 live interview and freestyle 2014[11] Danny Dyers Deadliest Men on Netflix 2009 featuring Elijah Kerr[12] PDC BBC RADIO ONE 2017[13]