Jay Rox recently won Best International African Act at the 2015 BEFFTA Awards ! We caught up with him to get his feelings about it , and about the continued success of his second album “Outside the Rox”.
KAPA187: First off, congratulations for winning Best international African Act at this years BEFFTA Awards. What does winning this award mean to you?
Jay Rox: This award means a lot to me, it’s my first international award as a solo act and will also be treasured.
KAPA187: What was your initial reaction when you heard you won?
Jay Rox: I only got to hear the news a few hours after the announcement was made. One of my managers from the UK that attended the awards on my behalf decided to not tell me just so she can see how anxious I can get. So when she told me I won, I kind of didn’t believe then after a few minutes it sank in and I was grateful to God and my fans for making it possible.
KAPA187: Zambian music is slowly but surely getting recognition internationally, what in your opinion needs to be done to accelerate the process?
Jay Rox: We need more artists focusing on exporting the music. When there are a lot of artist making noise internationally from Zambia, it will be impossible to avoid us.
KAPA187: Your Album “Outside the Rox” has been highly acclaimed by fans and music critics alike, some calling it the album of the year. How was the process of coming up with the album, and how do you feel about the success it has attained?
Jay Rox: The creation of Outside The Rox was not easy. I lost my mother along the way and she was the fuel behind the idea and also lost a couple of friends but God stayed faithful and made it possible.
Seeing the album do what’s its doing brings me great joy because for longest time, all I longed for is to be able to have a positive impact on the people that listen to my music and it’s happening now.
KAPA187: Having done some high quality videos for your singles such as “Autopilot” , “Not for Sello” , how important is it to have a good video to go along with great music.
Jay Rox: We are living in a generation were the fans tend to have their eyes glued to television sets more than they listen to radio. So for you to be able to reach the masses you have to work on both a song and a video. And the western world has accustomed our people to quality music videos, so the only way you can fully have the people’s attention is by producing a music video that’s of similar standard.
KAPA187: My favorite songs on your album are,” Time of my life” and “Not For Sello”. Can you give us a brief background about those songs?
Jay Rox: Time of my life talks about finding inner happiness. When man finds inner happiness no one can darken his days. The song was produced by Cashroll at So Good Ent.
– Not for Sello is a gender based violence and self-worth song. No matter how hard life maybe get, just believe in yourself and God. Selling yourself for temporal happiness will only damage your life.
KAPA187: What do you have in store for your growing fan base as the year draws to an end. Willz and yourself are said to be working on a collaborative album , could you shed some light on that . Could you also update us on the status of Zone Fam .
Jay Rox: Yes Willz and I are working on a collaborative album that will be coming out some time next year called “Run Town”. So before the end of the year, the fans should expect a single from the album.
– Zone Fam is still together and we have some new music dropping soon.
KAPA187: As Zambia just celebrated 51 years of independence, what is your word to your fellow young people as we moved to our next 50 years?
Jay Rox: Our fathers have managed to bring our country to where it is, it’s now time for us to wake up and build it for the next generation. Let’s start by registering to vote for next year’s elections.
KAPA187: Any last words…
Thanks a lot to everyone that voted for me at this year’s BEFFTA Awards. May God bless you guys..
“Autopilot”
“Not for sello”
“Joanna”
“Walala Washala”
Read the review of “Outside the Rox” here:
https://www.lusakatimes.com/2015/09/03/album-review-jay-rox-outside-the-rox/
BY KAPA187
Congratulations Jay Rox . You are putting Zambia on the map !
Lol i have never heard of him or the awards show before lol, he doesn’t even get nominations at the MAMA’s awards or BET and yet he won davido wizkid psquare haha
who is this fella????