CROYDON VIA JAMAICA: JORDS’ JOURNEY TO ‘DIRT IN THE DIAMOND’ [@JORDSONLINE]

Jords takes us on a journey through his highly anticipated album ‘Dirt In The Diamond’.

From unexpected beginnings to collaborations with Kranium and Masego, Jords shares his transformative experiences and deep appreciation for his Jamaican roots as we explore his upcoming third album ‘Dirt In The Diamond’ set to be released May 26th. A soulful fusion of hip-hop, R&B, and poetic lyricism interwoven with hidden gems and cinematic atmosphere.

Naima: For people who don’t know you, how would you describe yourself?

Jords: I’m Jordan, from Croydon via Jamaica and I make soulful music. I like good music. I’m a very creative Gemini, everything that comes with that. A beautiful mess.

Naima: Where was ‘Dirt In The Diamond’ born from? What inspired the name and the concept?   

Jords: The first song I made, I didn’t make intentionally for it. I made it in 2018. It was a song called ‘Pot Of Gold’. The first record I made for ‘Dirt In The Diamond’ intentionally was ‘Rice & P’s’ and ‘Enemies’, that kind of moulded the sound. Didn’t have a name until late 2021. I like idioms so diamond in the dirt, that’s what people that come from a “rough background” often get called and I don’t like what that insinuates. I thought rather than it being one person’s a diamond and everything else around them is rough, everyone’s a diamond. Everyone has a bit of dirt. 

Naima: Where were you building on your last album and your process with this project?

Jords: When I released ‘Almost An Adult’ it was peak lockdown, the success of that I couldn’t feel it in the physical. I went into lockdown one person, and came up a completely different person. I feel like when you’re a musician it can be quite exaggerated. One minute I’m in my yard making songs, the next minute I’m in Brixton playing to 3000 people with Masego right next to me, it was a bit of an accelerated growth. Accepting this new person who you are, by perception, everyone sees you as this person and learning to carry it is not easy.

Naima: How did the features on the album come about, what about these artists felt right for this project?

Jords: The first feature to come about was Masego. He hit me up in lockdown, got an email, he said “Yo bro, Uncle Sego, love these two songs. I tried something on Enemies.” I called my manager and he just started screaming. With Kranium, I got to a studio with Toddla T and he had this song with Kranium on it. He said it’s yours if you want it so I took it. Then the Wretch collab, as soon as I made the song, I said, I need Wretch on this. His drummer or his MD, McNasty. He likes ‘Rice & P’s’, the song, so he reached out and I played him the album. He said he wanted to help, and I said, I’ll let you if you get me Wretch. In the studio he didn’t write anything, didn’t bring out his phone, he just walked up and down with his hands behind his back. Up and down for an hour. I was watching him the whole time. Then he went to talk to his manager went in and recorded first time. Genius.

Naima: Did the experience of making this album help you appreciate or understand aspects of your own culture more deeply?

Jords: Definitely, the lived experience of making that album 100% I went back to Jamaica twice, I moved back to the ends that I grew up in. Naturally being in those areas, you start to take things in a completely different perspective. I started talking to my parents more, whilst also travelling around the world and seeing that everyone has the same thing. I went to Sydney and the Aboriginal community in Sydney is just like the mandem in Thornton Heath. It’s the same shit. The understanding is universal.

Naima: How do the visuals and aesthetic choices of your recent short film ‘DIRT IN THE DIAMOND EP1’ connect with your personal experiences and emotions? 

Jords: The reason we chose the seventies is because it’s this shared experience, same story different details. We’re still grieving man are just wearing flares, you’re still dancing to reggae at your nine nights, and the parents of the child who’s been killed are still crying outside the front doorstep. I wanted to take everyone out of the normal environment. The director Renee Maria Osubu, it was kind of a brainchild of both of us. She did the script. Somesuch the production team did the casting with some really good talent. I like that it’s not just the music video. My songs are more the soundtrack to the bigger film. I’d like to have a TV series where I’m just doing music, but it’s introducing new actors and putting them in a new space.

Naima: What do you value most about the people around you and the culture you came up in?

Jords: Honesty and loyalty. I think it’s easy for people to be swayed nowadays by the short game. But I think with showcases, I used to go to those. I would do three a night, I’d go Shoreditch High Street, then I’d fly over to Chicken Shop and I’d fly over to Boxpark quickly. I remember doing showcases in the past and the lineup will be Shaé Universe, me, Kojey Radical, and Knucks. But I think that was a valuable part of teaching me how to perform and growing a fan base. I’m just trying to do the same thing for others. 

Naima: Can you talk me through a track on the album that has a special place in your heart? 

Jords: ‘Slow Song’, that one means a lot. Firstly, I produced it myself. I wrote a song, which was a house song, didn’t like it, sampled that, made a hip hop song, didn’t like it. Sampled it and made another hip-hop song then put those two songs together as one. I also sample my dad’s band and then there’s a voice note of me talking to my dad. The last day I was in the studio I was rapping the verse and there’s a line I’m talking about how I want daughters and one of the guys in the studio just started bawling. As soon as I said that, we had a deep conversation with everyone there. That was the first point I felt the pressure of making a major label album started to lift off my shoulders.

Naima: Any hidden gems or Easter eggs in your album?

Jords: The vocal sample at the beginning of ‘MoBay’ is me, it’s my voice. I was just doing weird stuff in the studio, at the beginning of the album on the intro as well. There’s also a Jamaican man talking quite aggressively at the intro. That’s me shifting my voice a little bit. ‘Slow Song’ is a sample of a sample of a sample. Wretch is the first person to say the name of the album on the album. There’s so many, but I want it to be interesting and see if people clock it over time.

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