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Chicago El Mártir Soldado has an unconventional approach to rap music…

November 11, 2019
El Mártir Soldado, roughly translated from spanish to english means "the martyr soldier", and that is definitely what this reggae, roots dancehall, sometimes murder music dancehall artist is. Member of the crew LOM/Libertad O Muerte (Freedom or Death), Jabarhi Imhotep Shakur or El Mártir Soldado is a Chicago native who has lived in South Central L.A. and Memphis, Tennessee with his brother, Master Kevin, a master of Northern Shaolin Kung-Fu. 

He himself is a 3rd degree red in the art, as well as having a 1st degree black belt in Ninpo and a 2nd degree black belt in Kemet-Ryu, once competing in an MMA match without preparing which led to him getting all but a few of his front teeth kicked out, in retaliation he head butted his opponent, knocking him unconscious, but officially lost the fight due to illegal strikes. These days though, he barely ever mentions his martial arts background and in fact, is a strong advocate for the right to keep and  bear arms, a fact that has on multiple occasions gotten him in trouble with the law. With Native American (Chickasaw) and African roots, he has been often asked why he chose “El Mártir Soldado” for a name. It is tied into the story of why he started doing reggae/dancehall music. 
Originally, he started doing reggae as a way to “brush up” on his Spanish, of which he was fluent when he was younger, but over the years he hadn’t use Spanish much and realized that the only way he would learn it again is if he was actually using it, and what better way to use it than with what he does all the time… music. He started “messing around” with some rap verses, and all of a sudden a reggae vibe came out of nowhere. That was 1999. Years later El Mártir Soldado was still occasionally doing a reggae/dancehall verse here and there for himself and maybe a few friends, but not really seriously considering how serious his music was. It wasn’t until some Jamaicans, and some Rastafarians he knows heard his music and let him know that it was not just something he should take lightly, and that it was authentic, revolutionary music that’s got to get heard by the world. It was perfect timing. He has always been a rapper, and he and supporter “Eessa”, who came to aid after his manager “Reno” was killed, has worked with and knows almost all of the “who’s who” of rap and R&B artists (yes, including those guys) in Chicago. But he started quickly realizing that the majority of the artists in his city don’t try and lift up their fellow artists; in fact, he noticed that they have been known to try to see to it that other artists that they are aware of, who may have more talent and could possibly be an overall better “package” than them, don’t ever make it. 

He had been a member of the rap group “LEP Bogus Boys” under the name “Gunsmith”, at the time having a record deal with Sony/Sony Urban, and had just been sabotaged when the vice president “KP” (Kawan Prather) wanted to do a solo deal with him, but the local management wanted to keep him "in a box”, in the basement, writing hooks for the group and verses for other projects and never letting his career take off until he allows it to, and under the conditions he dictates. So now the Jamaicans and Rastafarians coming to him about his reggae music having the ability to be big was a beacon of light. El Mártir Soldado realized that the politics of the rap and R&B game would be hard to penetrate considering he had “giants” in the game who personally knows him but use their status to keep artists like him out, so he decided to fully immerse himself in reggae, only occasionally doing a rap song. He figured that everything is political, but in reggae the politics are ran by the Jamaicans and the Rastas, and he already had the green light from them. 
With that, he brings you El Mártir Soldado… revolutionary, sometimes making you dance, and sometimes making you pull out your Google Translate. He does reggae in spanish, but now has also used french, hindi, shona, luganda, and marathi. He has performed live at a Belize fest, a Selassie fest, Mexican fest, and many others, and recently has been performing live with his long-time “PPK” partner “Pretty Kitty” (Lisa “Kitty” Valadez), “Kei” and “Lolita Lebron”. With the release of his single “Dance” and “MuGeziGezi”, he is currently working on videos for both songs, and planning for a release of a song entitled “Let it Slide” he is featured on with fellow L.O.M. crew member and goddaughter "Lolita Lebron”. He also features Lolita Lebron on a song entitled “L.O.M.” as well as Jamaican reggae artist “Spugla”.
Though he was featured in recently released Lifoti's October/November 2019 issue 10, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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