Jah son emerges, New York-based artiste heads to Jamaica to create change

Garfene Grandison, Gleaner Writer

Although not short of challenges, the music industry has provided former Iraqi war veteran Jerome Young with a way to reintegrate himself into society.

Young, also known as Three Star, in a recent interview with The Gleaner, said he loved the creative process.

His third album, entitled Jah Son Emerge, was set to be released soon. "I'm loving the creative part but there are a number of challenges. Promotion is essentially the biggest problem. It's not even about the music anymore but more about the financing. However, I don't want to engage in any illegal activities, so I'm going about it the right way. The songs are getting pretty good reviews but for it to be played continuously, I have to compensate people and I don't think that I should have to pay for something that the public needs," he said.

Keeping busy

The entertainer has been keeping himself busy with hope of perfecting his craft. He recently completed his new mix tape, which is also entitled Jah Son Emerge.

In order to become a well-rounded entertainer, White has also gone into engineering, producing and mixing his own songs with the skills set that he garnered at the Institute of Audio Research and the LaGuardia College. "Most of the time I do everything for myself. I'm going to be releasing my third album soon and I still do a lot of producing for underground artistes. Basically, I'm just exploring all the knowledge that I am gaining from school," he stated.

The first two albums were done when he was in combat in Iraq. The first was called Out Of Many One People and the other, released last year, was Nothing But Real Talk.

"These two albums spoke of what I was going through during combat in Iraq but this new album talks about the new energy that I have now found from that experience, especially since I'm back in the real world. There are a lot of party/happy songs on this album, songs I think people would be surprised to hear from me," said Three Star.

Good rotations

On his new album, there is a track featuring Max Romeo entitled Tribal War Inna Babylon. There is also another single that he is currently promoting that is called Hardcore Loving and these two, he said, were receiving good rotations on radio stations in New York, where he is based.

Young admits that the other albums are filled with sad songs (due in part to his time in combat in Iraq) but Jah Son Emerge is a welcome change. As part of this promotional campaign, Three Star is looking forward to coming to Jamaica to get his career into a higher gear.

He admits that he is still learning and networking both via the Internet and in the streets and, according to Young, "people keep telling me that I am good and that I am the next big thing, so I am basically working towards becoming a household name".

Three Star is a little bit disappointed with the music in Jamaica because he thinks that artistes are taking their art in the wrong direction. He wants to make a change and has said he will be coming to Jamaica to represent good, positive music.