For Molefi and the BLK JKS, a cornerstone of their identity has always been authenticity. As an indie group shot into the stratosphere of international acclaim, keeping and developing that instinct isn\u2019t obvious. It takes patience and\u2026time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs time goes on,<\/em>\u201d Molefi elaborates, \u201cwhen the After Robots glory subsided, to give space for the next experience, we had to experience all that a normal human being can experience in life. To gather that honest content and put it across as honest as it is. It\u2019s not really about the glamour or this and that, the bling blings and all those\u2026 If they come they come. That will be our rewards<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what then are the BLK JKS about? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are about reality. BLK JKS is about life man. And when you talk about life then you are talking about the reality of our existence, our day to day experiences. It\u2019s about love, it\u2019s about hate, it\u2019s about politics, it\u2019s about non-political life, it\u2019s about connectivity to the higher beings, the higher powers, the ancestors. It\u2019s about happiness, the joy that we experience and the good and the bad and the ugly that we come across in life, that our fellow human beings experience. The situations that affect us everyday in life.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This may sound like a tall order for most groups, but for the BLK JKS, it\u2019s a matter of closing circles, of drawing the line between polarities. The titles bring this concept into full view; Before Humans, After Robots. Everything that\u2019s left is in-between. The song titles also drop the hint. Take the track \u2018Running – Asibaleki \/ Sheroes Theme\u2019 for instance. Asibaleki is Zulu for \u201cwe\u2019re not running\u201d, so the title reads, Running – We\u2019re Not Running. A contradiction or something more? Mmao Wa Tseba – Nare \/ Indaba My Children translates roughly from Zulu to \u201cYour Mother Knows \/ Story of My Children\u201d. Again we see a contrast of time and meaning, of reality and abstraction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you look at those titles they are short abbreviations, summarised subjects in life,<\/em>\u201d says Molefi. \u201cRunning, for example, there is a lot of running happening in the world. We are running around right now like confused molecules. There\u2019s this pandemic that makes us run around, we don\u2019t know what the solution is yet but it is here it is the experience. And there are people running for higher powers. People are running for power; for good and for bad. Some people are just running for power because it\u2019s just their nature. They want to be powerful, but as to what they do with the power, it\u2019s something else, it\u2019s another story. Whether you use your power to preserve life, to do good, or whether you use your power to destroy life in order to feed something. It\u2019s all in there. Those are our titles, they speak<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I prodded into the obvious contradiction between their status as underground heroes and their position as International ambassadors and how this has informed the BLK JKS creatively. Was there any blood drawn from the double edged sword of popularity in authenticity, in the vein of BLK JKS fan David Grohl\u2019s ex frontman, or was there an empowering sense of duty and representation for a scene that doesn\u2019t oft see the spotlight? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce again, unfortunately we cannot run away from the time factor. It\u2019s all in time and time is the builder. It allows us and gives us the opportunity to build and to evolve as life evolves<\/em>,\u201d says Molefi, totally at peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor example when we started, we just knew that we wanted to make this music and as we made it we wanted to build our own follower-ship. Our own fanbase. We knew that, in all the people that exist in this world, a couple of them are bound to understand what we are about. That fanbase, we came a long way with them, we grew up with them. Even though we were absent for almost 10 years. On the shelves. *laughs* People understood what we are about. We are honest. We are loyal. We are loyal to the music, so our fans are loyal to our music as well. We are also loyal to our fans.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BLK JKS aren\u2019t alone in navigating the rough path from a local African scene into the eyes of the world. One such figure who accomplished that evolution with grace was Ali Farka Tour\u00e9, the Malian guitarist and musical pioneer who passed away in 2006. It happens that BLK JKS were able to tour with his son, Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9, and find, through the strong bonds of ancestry, the formative inspiration that can be heard in BLK JKS music and in Molefi\u2019s memories. He shares these insights between musings of inspiration and influence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur inspiration. I prefer inspiration over influence. They both have roles to play in our life as a band and also as individuals, in our musical journey. Inspiration is something that sustains us. In our musical journey as a band, we were inspired by many many greats; Ali Farka Tour\u00e9 and Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9, his son. I had listened, just a little bit, to Ali Farka Tour\u00e9 when I was young, very young. I got to know Ali Farka Tour\u00e9 and I was like \u2018wow man, this is rock\u2019n\u2019roll, but it\u2019s blues, but it\u2019s African, and it\u2019s in Mali. As time goes on I join the band and here were are on stage touring with Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9, his son. You know, the inspiration come all the way, it\u2019s a build up.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blk-Jks-1010x673.jpg\")