Capleton, give us some history. How did you start in the music industry?

Actually, it's an inborn conception and it really start in '89 when I came to do a show in Toronto with Ninja Man and Flourgon. Then I went back to Jamaica and recorded for Xterminator. From day one I have kept the fire burning.

What are your inspirations?

My thing comes naturally to me; I used to check for Papa San along with Brigadier Jerry and U-Roy.

How are your lyrics different from theirs?

I had to talk some slack lyrics at first to get the recognition, but I am really a cultural DJ from birth. In those times when I talked cultural lyrics no one wanted to listen. I decided, along with some other youths, that the lyrics that DJ's were using were a joke. Since, I accepted my Nazarene Vow and seek and find Rastafari. As I stated in my tune "Don't Dis the Trinty": "I was once lost but now I'm found, the light of the world is King Selassie I". When I & I (Rasta expression for oneself) seek, I see that none but ourselves can free our minds and no man can condemn another man, only a man can condemn himself. Likewise, no man can save another man but can only save themselves. When I seek, I find Rastafari. Still I keep the faith and seek after I & I heritage, culture and roots. When I was in school they didn't teach me anything about my history, only European philosophy about guys like Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus. Racialism, colonialism and all kinds of isms and schisms, and not African history. As Marcus Garvy show me: a nation without knowledge of itself is like a tree without roots. You have to know where you're coming from to know where you are going.

What does it tell you when people in America and Europe check for your vibes and lyrics?

It shows me that right now the people are seeking about themselves, and I & I glorify that. People seek after their heritage and culture. Any black man or woman hear about them uplift their black philosophy and fight against that is a traitor to their culture. Other nations have their own philosophies and we have ours. It seems like there are forces trying to kill off the black people. It is time we look into ourselves and realize that we are the founders of civilization in Ethiopia on the river Nile. I teach the world how to behave.

What do you think when you hear your lyrics mixed on jungle or hip hop rhythms?

We need to get the message across upon a wider scale and to a higher level for the benefit of I & I black brothers and sisters. It has been said "By any means necessary", and I glorify that. It is really the music, it doesn't matter the rhythm. Although I am not going to change from my original thing--because the foundation is the foundation--in order for the rhythm to get across to certain people.

Tell me about your major label deal.

I am signed to Def Jam. They heard my works and offered me a good deal for two albums with an option.

Tell me the story behind your 150,000+ selling single, "Tour".

"Tour" is like watching a true story on TV. Everything I talk about I have seen with my own eyes. There are a lot of concepts in the tune but the main one is that slackness has to come out of the music and motivate culture. Rasta is all things. From the foundation is Rastafari.

How can Rasta philosophy help people around the world today?

Rasta is the truth. Rasta is life. Rasta is everything. The world has to turn to Rasta today, right now, because Rasta has the word and that's love. If the world doesn't deal with Rasta right now, they aren't dealing with nothing.

Do you think some people suffer from mental slavery?

That is what they use against I & I because they release the chain and them use them brain. Mental slavery, economical slavery, they still have I & I under bondage. It might look nice but still a slavery thing. The system is a fraud. They plan to wipe out I & I by the year 2000. They plan to cut out the money. A card thing they plan to deal with when money comes out of circulation and one central order tries to control all. The mystic is only natural. We have to uplift our thing. I & I have the original thing. That is what we need as Black people, to uplift our philosophy, our black thing: be black, stay black. I & I is not being prejudiced or racial, but remember: history and prophecy I & I witness.

So what is the purpose of music in this struggle?

To free the world, you know what mi sey. Too much depression, too much manipulation. Black people face too many terrible things. Too much isms and schisms. So only the music Jah tell them. He say to the players of instruments and musicians: "my springs are within thee". So we have to look for it through the music, and the only music I can see that will do it is reggae music. When the people don't got food, or when a man is going to pick up his gun and shoot someone, it's only the music that stops him from doing it. Yes, just natural. The word is the power.

Interview by:Charles McGlynn

Current Album: Prophecy

Label: Def Jam

Send all comments or queries to jcumberbat@hotmail.com