UPDATE: Ziggy Marley won the 2015 GRAMMY for Best Reggae Album for his album Fly Rasta.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (WUSA9) -- The Recording Academy has given the GRAMMY nod to the local reggae group: SOJA. Their album, Amid the Noise and Haste, is nominated for Best Reggae Album.
SOJA was formed by a group of middle school buddies back in 1997 in Arlington. WUSA9's Lesli Foster recently caught up with four of the band members: Jacob Hemphill, Bobby Lee, Ryan Berty and Trevor Young.
SOJA is all about changing the world one song at a time. Their GRAMMY nominated album, Amid the Noise and Haste, says all the answers are within us.
"The title comes from a poem that basically says amid the noise and the haste there's beauty in the silence," says the group's lead vocalist and guitarist, Jacob Hemphill. "So everything around us is going crazy and if we are smart we will hone in on the beautiful things and the good things and the love and the compassion and helping one another. And we won't focus too much on the accumulation and competition."
SOJA's reggae blends subtle undertones of rock, hip-hop and DC's Go-go. They call their music a "positive brain wash."
"I Believe is about standing up and find your own way. Sit down and wait your turn. Follow your vision blindly or become the vision of someone else. Remove the shackles that really never fit you. Keep running with metal on your feet it's basically like we accumulate all this bad behavior in life. And all you really need to do, and me included, is to see life for what it really is. A beautiful experience that none of us can explain," says Hemphill.
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"What if we valued things like love and friendship and doing nice things for people. You really can't put a finacial value on it, but I am describing a Utopian Society, but that is where we could live right now."
Rolling Stone says SOJA's "Amid the Noise and Haste" will "Likely win friends, influence people and make this country a better place."
If it wins a GRAMMY too, "That would be some cool stuff too," says Hemphill. But for this group, it's the message more than the accolades that matter.
"We are trying to do real music and stuff. Singing about stuff that we think matters. We are playing music that we believe in," says Hemphill.
This is SOJA's first GRAMMY nomination and they're up against some of their idols in the Reggae music world: Ziggy Marley, Sean Paul, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Shaggy, Sly and Robbie and Spicy Chocolate.
