In 2003, the Gospel Music Association applauded a young hip-hop/pop trio by the name of Souljahz. Granted with five Dove nominations and awarded two statuettes (Urban Album of the Year, Rap/Hip-Hop/Dance Song of the Year) for their debut album, The Fault Is History, the group seemed poised to take the industry by storm.
However, their sophomore album was inexplicably shelved and the group was subjected to five years of uncertainty. Now, Rachael and Je'kob Washington, two-thirds of the original lineup, have returned to the music industry as The Washington Projects. I was able to catch Rachael early in the morning before a busy day of promoting and such and we chatted about the past five years and the next few months.
Below is that interview. brenten gilbert: How's it going?
Rachael Washington: Good.
Are you actually on the west coast now? Yeah.
Wow. So it actually is 7:30 for you there.
Yeah, it's early. (laughs)
I wouldn't want to do an interview that early, so props to you for this. (laughs) I actually have a jam-packed day, so this was like the only time that I had. I'm totally fine with it.
I guess you probably do a lot of early morning radio spots and such. We have been. It's kind of been picking back up since we have another record now so I'm getting back into it. I had gotten a little lazy.
(laughs) So the album's been out a couple weeks now, how has it been going? It's been good. I think it's been great. It's picking up slowly. It's quite the transition from what we were used to beforehand, just having the label support and doing a lot and now we're kind of doing everything ourselves. It's very different. So we're just getting used to it. We're on the grind, doing everything we can. It's a lot of hard work and we're just putting in as much effort as we can. It's interesting, but we're definitely doing good. This record is something I've been really wanting to put out for a long time, so we're very excited to have it out and available for people to hear.
Yeah, it's been about five years since you've had a project to peddle. I imagine there's a bit of relief? A lot. A LOT.
(laughs) It's funny because, even to this day, the only thing that people have of ours is not even our independent releases, it's The Fault Is History from 1999 which I'm really proud of, but at the same time, I was 17 on it. The writing was, on my part at least - I was 17, my brother was 20. . . So it's different than where we're at right now. So I was really excited to put out something that kind of reflects who we are right now. To this day, I've still been talking about who I was when I was 17. I want to talk about something that's relevant to my life right now and we've been through a lot and we've changed a lot in the last five years and grown. I wanted to be able to share that with people. I'm very relieved, definitely.
Understandably so. You did have a sophomore project put together back in 2000 or 2001 that was shelved.
Mmhmm.
How closely does this new project resemble that? Is it entirely different? Did you use some of the same concepts or ideas? We scrapped that one. Legally, we weren't allowed to use any of that, for this record. So that was really tough for us because it was a record that meant a lot to us and we had spent a lot of time on it. It was close to our hearts, but honestly it's a lot different than this one, in my opinion. It's still very, like. . . I mean we started writing for that record about a year after The Fault Is History came out, so it still was young for us. It still was written almost four years ago.
Yeah. So production-wise, music-wise, even the lyrical content it was different. It was a really cool record and we had a lot of really cool songs, a lot of cool topics. We hope that people will be able to hear it someday, but this one is still. . . The growth on this one doesn't compare with that one. So, it's interesting.
Clearly the last few years have been a pretty rough go for you guys - your bio is littered with war analogies. . . (laughs) Yeah.
. . . and especially with such a promising start on your debut album, it must have been confusing as well. What would you say is the most prominent lesson that you've learned through all this?
For me personally, it was. . . I've been doing music since I was 13 years old and I've just given my entire heart to that dream and that calling and that goal. And sometimes, I mean, just being a Christian alone, you have to let go of things that God gave you and just give it back to Him and let it be His. So, for us, I think the biggest lesson was just that, you know, God gave us this calling, but it has to belong to Him and it can't be something that I take ownership over so that I have to have this or it has to be this way. Just that whole idea of not planning your future and just letting it be what it is, letting God do what He's gonna do. It was a huge, huge life lesson for myself and I know for my brother as well. Just to let it go.
It's tough. Yeah, and we've spent so much time and so many years just trying to make things happen the way that we wanted them to and you get to a point where it's just out of your hands. So that's probably the biggest thing for me is just to know that if it had ended five years ago and there was one kid that was reached and that's what it was all for, then I had to be okay with that. I have to be content with that being my calling and it was fulfilled. I felt like, until I got to that place in my heart, God wasn't going to let this go any further. So we all kind of had that realization and just let it go and let it be what it is and God's restored all those things and brought us back to a place where we can just do what we really want to do and what we desire to do. I feel really blessed.
That's good. That's a good lesson to learn. Yeah definitely. (laughs) It's a big one.
Unfortunately, it's usually one that we have to learn the hard way. (laughs) Oh absolutely. That's the fun part.
Well, the Bible does say that all things work together for the good of those who love Him. . . Right.
. . . and in this case, the "good" includes the goods, that is, the new album, Commanders of the Resistance. Yeah.
My first question about the album is about the title. What exactly are you resisting? Um, just wack music.
(laughs) We were just thinking about what does this record embody? What is it about? And it has a lot of different. . . it covers a broad spectrum of topics. So, there's not really one song that truly expresses what this record is about. And, we were like, what are we really trying to do here? And our whole goal is just that. . . Right now, if you turn the radio on, it's just a formula almost - in mainstream music especially. It's just that, it's a formula. There's a way of doing things and people are writing music based on what's out right now and what's hot. It doesn't feel like there's any heart in it.
If you turn on MTV, it's like. . . well, first of all, they barely even play music anymore (laughs), but it's like, there's no heart in music anymore on the mainstream side. It's just like, you know, this is what you write about, this is what you do. Everybody put together a formula and be this person whether it's who you are or not. No one's writing about stories or life experiences anymore. So decided to resist all of that and not write about stuff that has anything to do with what everybody is doing.
From the beginning that's what we've been doing, writing about what's actually going on. So that was the best title that we could come up with. It's like, this is what's actually going on. Let's resist the wackness. So we felt that we wanted to be commanders of that resistance.
(laughs)
Fair enough. Now, when I listened to the album, I actually noticed that musically, some of the songs would've fit on some of the mainstream albums out there currently. Maybe not the radio hits, per se, but on the albums. Right.
I know that on the industry side of things, the marketers love to grab onto similarities in order to present bands and artists as a "positive" or Christian alternative to a mainstream counterpart. Right.
But I also noticed that all your press materials are devoid of such references. What are your thoughts on being an alternative to someone else? For us, it's like. . . I think we got that a lot when we started out and we realized that from the get and from the jump that everyone wants to compare and that's an easy way to get someone to buy your records. If you like Black-eyed Peas, listen to Souljahz, that type of thing.
Right. So we got a lot of that right away to start with and we sort of wanted to veer away from that as much as we could. Probably because we don't want to be a Christian alternative to a really hot mainstream band. We want to be a band that has people who are Christians and have something to say. That's it. You know, we would love for it to be that way. Unfortunately, we can't control who people compare us to and we're never really offended by it, but we would love for it to be like, "The Washington Projects sound like The Washington Projects and you should go buy their record because they sound like The Washington Projects."
(laughs) So that would be cool. For us, that would be a goal: that people would hear it for what it is and that it would be different. We're trying to be different and this is who we are, so, take it for what it is.
Well, I want to applaud you for that.
Thanks.
Those comparisons often tend to drive me nuts. In fact, I used to keep a comparison chart that I picked up at a Christian book store just for an occasional laugh. (laughs)
Some of the comparisons are such a stretch that. . .
Yeah, it's funny. I'm always wondering how that's going to really help. I guess it does help people relate somehow. . . something.
Okay, how would you describe the new album? I would say that it's exciting. It's an exciting record. It has a lot on it. It talks about everything. For us personally, we've been writing for this record for five years. So we had to choose from eight times the songs that made this record because we had just been writing and writing and writing for five years. These are the ones that we picked out, because we felt they were the best songs. We didn't try to put together a record that was based around any particular theme. It was just. . . this is what we've gone through in our life for the last five years. If you want to know where we've been and what we've been doing (laughs) just put in the record and listen to it because it's basically our life on a piece of plastic.
So it's nice for me, because it's cool to be able to share all of that and so I would just describe it as exciting. If I wanted to. . . I remember when I was a kid and I listened to Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey, I always thought that the songs that they sang were songs that they wrote and that they were about something that they actually went through. And that wasn't always the case and when I found that out as an adult, I was really sad about it.
(laughs) All my life, I thought, "Oh, she must have really felt this way in this moment." I thought it was about this specific person. But it's cool. This record is exciting because it's written completely by us - and so is The Fault Is History but, we're adults now and we've grown and we've gone through some things. This one's really about just what we've gone through, where we're at and how awesome God is and has been in our lives. It's cool to be able to hear that and share it with people.
Cool. Now two of the songs that struck me were "Outside Your Window" and "Take it to the Streets" because they both seem to focus on reaching out to others with a message of hope and a practical helping hand.
Right.
When you're going through something difficult, it's so easy to focus solely on yourself. Is it a big focus for you guys to reach out to other people? Absolutely. I think the biggest part for me. . . Growing up, my brothers and I were raised to help each other and help other people. The whole idea of look out for number one was never really like a big thing in my family. If we were caught looking out for number one, we were in trouble.
(laughs) So it was never instilled in us to be that way, to make sure you go to college and get your degree, get yours, do your thing, make sure you have this much money, make sure you do this thing. My parents were never like that. They believed in what we did. They believed in our dreams and asked what God wanted us to do, what He called us to do, what our purpose was and that kind of stuff. That was huge in my life. Luckily we were so blessed with parents who felt that way and taught us that way, but a lot of kids don't have that. So it's big for us, especially when we do shows and when we really get a chance to talk to kids one-on-one, we tell them that you have a calling, you have something that you can do, you could be standing on stage just like me. You could be doing something. . . Whatever it is God called you to do, you can do it.
I feel like it's important for people who have realized that and who realize their dreams to tell that to other people. So, yeah I think that's why it comes out in a lot of our songs. There's no reason to keep what you have hidden. Just like that whole verse about hiding your lamp. . . Why would you hide it? Why would you hide what you have? It's important to share it. And that's a big part of why we don't just do Christian events. It's a huge part of why we are a crossover group or whatever you wanna call it. We just wanna be a group that has something to say, regardless of what stage we can say it from. We still want to be able to do it. We still wanna say it. So I think that's a good thing.
Yeah, it is. And you're also part of the Dare2Share SURVIVE Tour. . .
We are.
I guess that's kind of a similar message. Can you tell us a little bit about that tour and what it's all about? Yeah sure. That tour is amazing. We've only done two or three dates on the tour now, but just from the beginning, it was an amazing thing for me. From the very first show, the kids that come to this tour. . . A lot of them have been coming to it for years prior to this year, so they already know what it's about and they're just pumped from the get-go and it's all about equipping them and sending them out to go do [ministry]. . . So it's amazing to me.
A lot of the tours that we do are based around just entertaining people and that's great, but this tour in particular, I felt very blessed to be on. These kids are just really getting pumped. They're really ready to go and go out and share. And thanks to the pastor and the main speaker who are on the tour. He's an amazing man and he's the one who is pushing these kids to go out and do this themselves and to realize that it's not just him standing up there or these groups standing up there or the other speakers. It's for them. We're trying to help them and equip them to be able to do it.
And they do some skits on this tour that blew my mind. The first time I saw them, there were tears in my eyes. They're just very, very real. They're not doing cheesy stuff where it's all just sugar-coated for all the Christian kids to see something they've seen in church their whole lives. It's very real. They're being very real with these kids. And then just starting out with being blunt about where the world is at and the condition that this world is in, they explain that this is why it's so important for [the kids] to go out and do what you're called to do. It's really, really a huge blessing for us to be a part of because it's basically what we're about as well. It's very cool to be on a tour where everyone is of one mind and one heart and everyone is just awesome on the tour. It's just been a really cool experience on that tour so far. We still have more. . . It's starts back up in February and we'll be going until April or March. So, I'm excited. It's a pretty cool tour.
It sounds pretty cool. Yeah.
Alright, well, I'll let you go after this one, and I'm changing things up here. Alright.
It's kind of a fun question: If you could describe The Washington Projects in terms of a coffee shop order, what would that order be? (laughs) Ooooh. . . let's see. . . I would say that you would be ordering a White Chocolate Frappalatte, Double Pump with Whipped Cream on top and Caramel swirlies.
Alright, now i'm off to Starbucks. . . (laughs)
Alright, so Commanders of the Resistance is out now. Available everywhere. Yes it is.
Thanks for taking some time out of your morning rituals to chat with me. (laughs) I should go brush my teeth or something.
(laughs) Thank you. It's been really nice talking with you.
You as well. Have a great day. For more on The Washington Projects, visit WashingtonProjects.com and MySpace
Commanders of the Resistance available now at: Amazon or iTunes