TBGB Chat with Canton Jones

Earlier this month, gospel hip hop phenom Canton Jones spent some time with The Black Gospel Blog to talk about his latest project, Kingdom Business.

TBGB: Where did you develop your love for singing?

CJ: I grew up in the Church of God in Christ, Thomas Temple COGIC in Pompano Beach, Florida. I had a Pentecostal background and went to church every Sunday. We participated in the church conferences. Later, my dad was the pastor of Showers of Blessings COGIC and my mom was the choir director.

I always wanted to sing gospel. I was in the choir; mom kept us in the choir, which was like fifteen altos, nine sopranos and two tenors. Mom allowed us to do gospel rap and hip hop in the third or fourth grade.

I listened to the Winans, the Canton Spirituals, Commissioned. It wasn’t until I went to high school that I started listening to mainstream music, as well as gospel. My musical appetite was kind of different, like gumbo: a mixture of a lot of stuff. Plus, my dad had a quartet called the Nobleaires.

TBGB: Your dad sang quartet? Tell us about the Nobleaires.

The Nobleaires. They were like the Jackson Southernaires. At that time, every quartet had to have “aires” in their name. But imagine an eight, nine year old kid – the members would push me out in the front to sing. I learned to relate to old and young through my experience with the Nobleaires

TBGB: When did you begin pursuing music professionally?

I began writing songs for others. One, “I Trust God,” was featured on some projects. I am more into writing and production now. I produce much of my own music. Really, I’m just trying to push a new sound and a new variety to give younger generations more positive options and a greater variety of music.

TBGB: Tell us about Kingdom Business.

When Jesus came on the scene, he wasn’t working within the four walls of a church. He was in the streets, talking about a new way of thinking, because the Kingdom of God was at hand. We don’t have to operate how the world operates, we can operate based on the kingdom, God’s way of doing things.

“Kingdom business” means just doing it. You must be a do-er of the word, not just a hear-er of the word. We’re taking the message outside the four walls of the church. We’re taking the message of Jesus Christ to the neighborhoods, the streets, the schools, clubs, the malls.

The album has songs of encouragement, such as “I Won’t Stop.” “My Day” is a song that will help get you from Sunday to Sunday, through the work week. People need encouragement every day, not just Sunday.

TBGB: Your song “Hater Day” is generating quite a lot of enthusiasm.

“Hater Day” is basically a follow-up to a previous song of mine, “Stay Saved.” That song said you have got to stay saved, despite people’s foibles. “Hater Day” is the next phase of that. You must not only stay saved, but you must also do something good for those who don’t like you.

Matthew 5:44 says pray for the people, love your enemies. “Hater Day” means take your hater out to lunch, give him a hug, go out of your way to do something good for the people who don’t have good intentions for you. Attempt to show Jesus Christ’s love to someone who doesn’t deserve it. The message of Jesus Christ is, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Sometimes people are just using you to vent, because they have gone through so much, and when they get to work or school, they have an attitude. But you never know what is going on with that person at home. When you love that person, that person might break down in your arms, and you can help heal.

TBGB: What is Canton Jones working on currently?

CAJO International is a production company that my wife Ramona and I run. We have a project coming out October 7 featuring the CAJO family of artists. It will be pure, uplifting music, real entertainment. We plan to put out a new CD release every month. It’s time to fight fire with fire. The world is putting out some negative music and we’re going to counter it with positive music. It’s an all-out war on music.