Sep 12, 2024
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UM Interview: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush
Many artists today are constantly evolving in their artistry, whether that be personally or musically, through their image and sound. This Atlanta trio is no different. The trio made up of Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush are bringing a new sound into the music industry, creating music under a genre of music, called "Afroton". A blend of Afrobeats and Reggaeton, which the trio introduced to the world with the release of their debut EP, 'Rice & Stew'.
Amandah Opoku sat down with Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush to talk about their new record ‘Rice & Stew’, embarking on a solo career and more!
Amandah Opoku: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush, thank you for doing this interview today! Before we kick off please tell our readers about yourself and one random fact people do not know about you? JIMAH: Hey, my name is Jimah, I’m a Cameroonian artist based in Atlanta and it’s my pleasure to do this interview. As far as one random fact goes, I used to go to boarding school in Cameroon when I was younger which was a crazy experience. EL CÉZAR: What’s up! To start off, I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. I love to make music, i love to game and i love to eat good food. Me and the guys are gonna have our own food show when God permits. One fact about me that is not so known, is my day hustle when i’m not wearing the cape; i bartend for a living. I go to weddings and serve up to 200 people and no cap i make a good ass margarita. FLUSH: I am a composer and producer of world music based in Atlanta. I’ve been creating my entire life and I’m a believer in God.
Pictured: JIMAH
Amandah Opoku: What inspired you each to create music and pursue it as a career? JIMAH: When I was like 13 in boarding school, I used to write out song lyrics for my friends in class who wanted to know the words to songs. From doing that over and over I figured I should start writing my own lyrics, and that led to me getting into instrumentals and trying to make my own songs. I used to also battle rap some of the kids in older grades and it used to be a little thing we’d do to pass the time between studies. The way the people reacted to me and what I did was a rush. The more I did it I realized I didn’t want to do anything else in life but chase that feeling that making music gives me. EL CÉZAR: What inspired me. My dad is a percussionist and had drums in the house at all times. I remember being 5 years old when i got my first drum set and driving my mom nuts playing the hell out of it. My grandfather was also a singer in a gaita group along with his brother, who played the cuarto, (basically a smaller guitar.) I remember growing up in Venezuela. Every time we had a family gathering, beer and live music was always involved. My grandfather singing his chords out with by grandma, my dad banging his drums, my uncles joining in with claps. It was overall great times. As i grew in the States, I began to fall in love with hip-hop and the culture. Around my junior year of high school, I quit drumline and started messing around with FL studio. The rest is just history, well growth and history. Music is all I know and love. FLUSH: I began this journey in sound my first trip to Africa and got inspired by what was around me. Good things always came out of the arts for me. It always felt good for me to share my sound with people. With music, more opportunities opened up for me and I felt it was the most natural path for me in life.
Amandah Opoku: What artists would you say inspire you both musically and personally? JIMAH: I listen to a wide variety of music, so I’d say Sade, Fela Kuti, Future, Wizkid, Bob Marley, and Kanye West to name a few. There are so many others in Africa like the late DJ Arafat, and the late Manu Dibango, Flavour, and so many others. EL CÉZAR: Definitely, Wiz Khalifa because of his lifestyle. It’s a carefree, luxurious lifestyle. He preaches good energy, hard work, and that you can become a self-made boss on your own. His old music was all I listened to. My second inspiration is Bad Bunny. He writes all his songs, his style is unmatched, and he’s always creating the wave. A big thing for me and the guys is creating the wave and not riding it. FLUSH: I’m really inspired by Bach, Beethoven And Debussy because of the passion and their ability to push music into a new era. They inspire me to play with chords and form when laying out my ideas. Dub Reggae inspires me too. I really love King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry.
Amandah Opoku: Who are artists that you look up to that you would like to work with or collab with in the future? JIMAH: I feel like Skepta and I would make a smash for sure. Wiz and Burna would be crazy. Rema has been going crazy too. I feel like we’d make something that would really shatter the boundaries of the sound. EL CÉZAR: Right now, I'm really praying and manifesting a feature from Fuego. He’s an innovator, a genre bender just like us. Another artist I really look forward to collaborating with is Rema. The guy is just a vibe wizard. Lastly, Nessly. Nessly is fye. FLUSH: There are so many to name. But, I definitely want to make records with Oumou Sangare, Fatoumata Diawara, Gunna, Young Thug, Alfa Mist, and Yussef Dayes just to name few.
Amandah Opoku: If you could describe your music in three words. What words would you choose and why? JIMAH: I’d say my music is a “Futuristic Eclectic Medley” because we are really taking elements from cultures from all across the globe and implementing them into the music. From instruments to lingo, I just want everyone in the world to be able to relate to the music. EL CÉZAR: Three words: smooth, sensual, and at times enigmatic. I feel like I’m a pretty chill guy so this type of music is what resonates with me. Plus, I’m also a night owl. Listen to my music at night and you’ll feel what i’m talking about. With the guys though, I’m heavily influenced by the energy Flush is trying to emit with the beats. Flush is an unpredictable man, so i have to adapt a lot. I love it though. FLUSH: The words that best describe my sound would be diversity, eclecticism and originality. I’m creating music that transcends cultures and language. I pull inspiration from all aspects of my life and create with the intent to weld different cultures together. I’m born and raised ATL with parents from West Africa. So when I think about creating, certain sounds make sense with others.
Amandah Opoku: You recently released your project, ‘Rice & Stew’. What was the writing and recording process like? JIMAH: Yeah Rice & Stew was a lot of fun to make. Working with El Cezar and Flush was just a flawless process. Flush and Cezar are always coming with some crazy production and once they press play on the beat, it doesn’t take long for the ideas to start flowing. I typically do a mix of freestyling and writing, and we record ourselves. I went to school for engineering and Cezar is a beast with engineering too; so all the recording, mixing, and mastering was done in house, handled mostly by Cezar. EL CÉZAR: Rice & Stew man, the process was great! I’ll never forget those times. I think Jimah and I have a similar process. During Rice & Stew, it was always hard to figure out who would go first on the song unless Flush explicitly said who he felt like should start. We played rock paper scissors sometimes for who would go first, LOL. Once we figured that out, we just vibed on the beat. We spit melodies, and sometimes words will come out so we get an idea of what the song will be about. After that, we either knock out the song in one go and write it then and there, or we’ll vibe on like 3 or 4 more beats and pick the best one to finish. FLUSH: The writing process is actually something similar to a therapy session. Jimah and El Cézar are my friends so we talk about what’s happening in our personal lives. They pretty much narrate my feelings into song form. We have inside jokes the somehow worked it’s way into the music. Everything we do is from the heart I swear.
Amandah Opoku: You are 3 individuals contributing your own visions, sounds and ideas to what ultimately became, ‘Rice & Stew’. How did you integrate your own personal ideas/views into the project? JIMAH: The one thing we realized when we all came together was that we all had very similar life stories but just on different sides of the world. We also realized that our music and cultures were very similar and were almost like cousins. On every record we tend to tell the same story just from our points of view, whether that be in our native language or with lingo that only people from our cultures would understand, we’re like 3 sides to the same coin. EL CÉZAR: Being yourself is really easy when it comes to making music. You do what feels natural. I feel like because we’re from different parts of the world, we’re even more encouraged to hone into our cultures. In 17hrs, I talk about taking my girl to Maracaibo, comiendo cepillao’ por el lago. Maracaibo is known for many things, but a great attraction is the Lake walk, “La vereda del lago,” and we also eat special iceys with condensed milk called “cepillado.” Also, in Maracaibo we have a different dialect then pretty much the rest of Venezuela. We use the “vos” instead of “tu,” which completely changes the language. It feels forced when i try to speak with the “tu”, the “vos” just feels too natural to me. I definitely like to incorporate that in the songs, mainly because it’s what I write naturally, but I sometimes want to make it digestible for those who aren’t too familiar with the “vos” dialect. FLUSH: We respect each other’s vision and also learn along the way. El Cézar definitely taught me a lot about Maracaibo to the point where I feel like I was there. This is what Rice and Stew is about. Creating a hot meal by bringing our own seasoning and mixing it together.
Amandah Opoku: What inspired you to come together and release this project together? JIMAH: We felt like there was an absence of Afro-Reggaeton collaborations, so we decided to really spearhead that movement by labelling the new genre AFROTON. Once we figured out the formula for blending the cultures sonically, we knew that we had to give the people a collection of music from that genre. EL CÉZAR: Me and Jimah met during one of our studio internships and clicked the first day we met. We spoke about Afrobeats and how it’s similar to Reggaeton. We spoke about the similarities the genres shared, the emotion the genres give us and how we resonate with the sound. We cooked up beats at the internship that same day and pretty much planned our first session together. At the time, I wasn’t really behind the mic much. I was just making beats. Our first session, I played Jimah a beat and we recorded “Wahala,” our first track together. I loved the vibe and i felt inspired to write something in Spanish. This was my first Spanish verse ever. When we finished the track we literally went nuts and knew we found something special. We even shot a video to that song, but never dropped it. After weeks of cooking up with Jimah, he finally introduced me to Flush. That day, me and Flush cooked up a beat for a song called “Shayo.” Great song man, humble beginnings. After that, we knew we had to keep cooking up. This was something truly special. After months of cooking and just vibing, getting closer and growing together, we decided that maybe it was time for a project that would showcase this new sound that we’re bringing to the world. We knew that this would bring people together and that’s all we ever wanted. I see these guys as my brothers and this music really fortified that. Now, the ultimate goal is to have the most diverse dance floor anybody has ever danced on. FLUSH: We felt that the world was changing especially now that we have reached a new decade. The sound has to transform and reflect the new age we live in today. We are all experiencing something completely new some of these things being life threatening. It’s only right that the sound changes with the times.
Pictured: EL CÉZAR
Amandah Opoku: What inspired you to name the record ‘Rice & Stew’? JIMAH: Honestly it was a joke at first, but it eventually stuck. Rice & Stew is a staple household meal that most cultures eat in some form or fashion and we felt like people would be interested to hear what rice and stew would sound like sonically. EL CÉZAR: EVERYONE EATS RICE & STEW. Flush named the “La Zorra” beat “Rice Stew” and that’s what truly inspired it. That’s where the name came from. FLUSH: The name came from a crazy beat I made. After making the 4th record on the project, we noticed that rice and stew is a meal people all over the world can resonate with.
Amandah Opoku: If you had to choose one song from ‘Rice & Stew’ to introduce someone to your music, which song would you choose and why? JIMAH: I would probably show them La Zorra. That’s because that record really cuts across all cultural boundaries and has a lot of energy that is just undeniable. EL CÉZAR: I would choose Outta Line as the song to show the first timers. It’s the perfect blend of everything - vibes, emotion, story, theme, the BEAT. This song is my fav from the project. Me and Jimah go back and forth, passing the baton, and telling the story. This man Flush went crazy on the beat as usual. It’s just an overall digestible vibe. Anybody can vibe to that song. FLUSH: I would choose La Zorra. That song is the one that makes me speed down the highway when it comes on. I love the high energy in the drums mixed with the psycho synths and syncopation.
Amandah Opoku: In the future, do you think you’ll create a group name that your projects would be released under or do you think you’ll continue to release music credited as your individual selves? JIMAH: You know this is something we talk about very often and we just didn’t want to force a name that did not resonate with everyone. So, until we get the perfect name, we’ll keep crediting each other. EL CÉZAR: We’ve actually thought about the group name A LOT. If we get a name, we want it to be something that represents all of us. We’re really not tryna force it so as of right now, I think we’re going as individuals. To us, we’re still a group. We’re still the Afroton trio. FLUSH: I feel that we could have a name in the future, but as of now God hasn’t revealed that message to us yet. We are just trying to grown in our sound and through that it’ll manifest itself.
Amandah Opoku: What do you want people to take away from your music? And as an artist, what do you hope to achieve with your music career? JIMAH: The underlying message throughout my music is unity and cultural appreciation. We all have different things to learn from each other and appreciate so I really want to preach that. I want to be recognized as one of the greatest artists of all time for bringing cultures together and I want to really represent for my country Cameroon, and I want to change the lives of people back home with my music. EL CÉZAR: I want people to understand that we’re all brothers and sisters at the end of the day. We want people to treat each other like family and really to share the dance floor together, metaphorically and literally. As an artist, I want to be up there with the greats, just like any other artist. But not because we’re good at what we do, but because we are innovative and we brought something to the table that no one has ever thought to bring - something genuine built from love and passion. FLUSH: I want to inspire people to express themselves. People should be free in thinking and shouldn’t be afraid to take their time in finding themselves. I find out more and more about myself through the sound and share it with my listeners.
Amandah Opoku: What has been your favorite track released this year and why? JIMAH: I released a song at the beginning of this year called “Fake Energy” and that song really set the tone for me this year in terms of my mental state and how I approach people and this music. Whenever I listen to it, it really inspires me to stay on my game. EL CÉZAR: La Zorra had to be my second best because there’s an unmatched emotion that i get when i listen to that. The song is just crazy. From another artist though, it has to be Ginger by Wizkid. The production is impeccable and the mixing is on point. Burna boy did his thing, Wiz did his thing too. The outro of the song where the key signature changes was just perfect. FLUSH: My favorite track released is Right Mind because that is when we all came together for the first time. We created the song at a studio called Danny Vails and since then we’ve been rockin heavy. That was the first time I linked El Cézar.
Amandah Opoku: 2020 has been a very interesting year for all of us. How has the pandemic affected you as a musician? JIMAH: It’s just given me more time to create, and if not for the pandemic, I don’t think we would have been able to really lock in to make Rice & Stew. It was a blessing in disguise. EL CÉZAR: It was truly a blessing to just be able to sit at home and perfect my craft. Every day was productive for me. I was either studying music business, learning new methods to master songs, or making new beats and songs. It was great. It gave me time to really hone into this music. Being able to dedicate my energy into just music felt amazing to me. Rice & Stew would’ve probably came out in 2021, if not for the pandemic. We literally cooked up weekly and pushed out about 30 songs in the span of 3 months. FLUSH: It sucks because we have been performing in clubs and can’t enjoy it like that cause of the masks. We are also on a virtual tour which is cool, but it would have been better if we could get on the road and physically interact with our fans. I pray everything clears up so we can really go crazy.
Pictured: QUANTUM FLUSH
Amandah Opoku: With ‘Rice & Stew’ out now, what can fans and music listeners expect from you next year? JIMAH: Expect more futuristic culture blending, culture bending vibes from all 3 of us. EL CÉZAR: Rice & Stew was only the beginning. Expect more collaborative projects from the guys and I. In 2021, I am planning to release my first solo EP to showcase what I can do as an individual. Music from us as a trio is inevitable! Expect greatness in 2021. FLUSH: This project is just the spark to a flame that leads to the dynamite going boom. We have so much music to share and many experiences to give our listeners. We are performing shows and collaborating with people all over the world, It’s just a time to be global.
Amandah Opoku: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush, thank you for sitting down with me! Before we close this interview is there anything you want to say to your fans and our readers? JIMAH: I appreciate you for interviewing us and to everyone reading keep your head down and chase your goals, don’t worry about what those on the outside have to say, and go stream Rice & Stew out now on all platforms and more vibes on the way! EL CÉZAR: To all of the readers and supporters, thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for listening to Rice & Stew, and for accepting this sound. We don’t want it to be esoteric, but even if it’s that; I’m happy and thankful for those who resonate with the music. We love y’all and we want to keep growing with y’all. Stay safe and don’t forget to just be yourself. You’ll get further that way. Peace. FLUSH: I want to thank my fans for taking this journey with us into the new world. Thank you for reading and if you haven’t heard the project yet check it out and hop on the UFO. There is plenty of food to go around just take a bite of this Rice and Stew.
Stream ‘Rice & Stew’ here and connect with Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush on the following websites: Jimah: @jimahlegar (Instagram), @Jimahlegar (Twitter) El Cezar: @elcezar_ (Instagram), @elcezar_ (Twitter) Quantum Flush: @quantumflush (Instagram), @quantumflush (Twitter)