In 2009 J. Period and K'Naan made a mixed-tape and did what hip-hop does so very well - sample great music and new material to make a modern powerful composition. They called the mixed-tape The Messengers after three artists that changed music and act as a source of inspiration for K'Naan: Bob Marley, Fela Kuti and Bob Dylan.
From a HipHop DX interview with the artists:
J. Period: If people hear good music they can instantly put that next to bad music and they know which is which. For me, the more people push the envelope in this way, the more Hip Hop goes back to where it began. It was always about taking the breaks and finding the best bits and pieces everywhere. It didn’t matter where it was from. You just put them together in a way that is fresh and new. In essence that is what I try to do with mixtapes. That’s what we’re doing here but on steroids because we have completely different things that are powerful on their own.
K’Naan: Both Black Thought and Wyclef [Jean] were in the room tonight. Both of them had the same thing to say to me about the project and how they’re really inspired and moved. They wanted to do something. They wanted to go and create. That’s ultimately the job of art. It’s to make us feel like we need to do something.
