Boom-Bap and Brotherhood
The Polished Arrow Interview
With release after solid release hammering out during 2023, Polished Arrow Music is becoming impossible to ignore. The six-strong crew has a cohesive style that features boom bap production and Christ-centric lyrics. We wanted to get a peak under the hood of this emerging phenomenon and were excited to have the opportunity to talk with the emcees of Polished Arrow. (Note: as of reprinting this article in June 2024, the Polished Arrow lineup consists of iNTELLECT, Procyse, JusJames, Kaboose, Rich Colón, and Griffin.)
This article originally appeared in Midnight Donuts #2 from January 2024. Want to read the most recent edition of Midnight Donuts? You can do so here!
Midnight Donuts: Define “Polished Arrow Music” for anyone unfamiliar. What is the Polished Arrow origin story?
iNTELLECT: Polished Arrow originally started as my own personal imprint to make Christian hip-hop music. I’ve been making music a long time, but I actually started to release albums on digital platforms in 2016 and that’s when it started. The name pays homage to the youth group I was a part of when I was a teenager, which was called Polished Arrow Youth Ministries. It got its name from Isaiah 49:2. I began rapping when I was in youth and partnered with my church doing outreach, and I’ve always felt like what I’ve been doing is an extension of that ministry.
What you currently see today is a collective of emcees all focused on glorifying God through Christian hip hop. It started when Procyse and JusJames reached out to me last year to work together on helping them put out new music. We began planning and building behind the scenes and started to roll things out this year. Others have come alongside us since then to make up the collective that you see today.
Midnight Donuts: For anyone who wasn’t there at the start: how did you join Polished Arrow?
JusJames: I started talking and building a relationship with David (iNTELLECT) around 2019-2020 and we began building from there! Always looked at David like a big brother. So, when he reached out about expanding Polished Arrow Music, I jumped at the opportunity! It was a Godsend and I know that God was and is in the midst of it!
Kaboose: Yooo, if there was one word for my connection and joining Polished Arrow it would be: organically. 😊 It started with connecting with Dex and appreciating each other’s music and then connecting and building over the phone, which led to doing a collab with Dex. The rest was history: Dex hit me up and said, “you should meet Dave and we would love for you to be on the team.” The fit was too perfect!! Blessed to be a part of this brotherhood.
Dex the nerd who loves Jesus: I was looking for like-minded believers who I could build with and had the opportunity to connect with iNTELLECT. He introduced me to the crew and we all clicked… It's a blessing to be in a crew that pushes each other spiritually and musically, growing together. I believe fellowship is definitely important if you're in a big crew. It's hard working with strangers, and with Polished Arrow music feels like family.
Procyce: iNTELLECT and I had started building because I was doing some artwork for his projects. After that we started working on some music through features. From there we started working on the original Art of Grace project. At the time I was looking for more like-minded individuals to build community with and work on music, so I reached out to iNTELLECT about possibly joining PA and the rest was a wrap.
Midnight Donuts: As a collective, you guys clearly have a dedication to hard-hitting boom bap lyricism. What about that style is most appealing to you?
JusJames: Boom bap, for me, is an art that rarely gets shine in CHH. But yet, there are so many gifted and talented artists that craft well in it! It appeals to me ‘cause it challenges me to step my bar game up and focus in on the lyricism. Especially being on the West Coast, lyricism is highly overlooked.
Kaboose: I love this piece of it, because I feel like we are all from the same era of hip-hop and it runs deep in the veins. Haha I grew up listening to it and never left it. Lyrics have always been a big deal to all of us–not only spitting, but as a listener as well. You combine that with a dope boom bap beat, and the rest is history. Boom bap got a hold of me at a young age and really was my escape from the hardships of a broken home, abuse, no identity, etc… I still remember days of locking myself in my room with my headphones on and just fading away lost into the music. So, to find these brothers with the same heart and tastes brings me back.
Dex: Growing up I would take my summer vacation visiting my fam from the East Coast and my cousin was a big hip-hop head. He loved collecting CDs and vinyl. While I was there, they didn't have any video games lol so I would draw the album covers–like Liquor Swords, OutKast, Gang Starr–while listening to them. I was being introduced to a whole new world of music at 14 compared to my friends back home enjoying Master P. I would come back and rap verses from Guru or KRS-One and that started it for me.
Midnight Donuts: If you could travel through time/space to see any artist live at any point in their career–who are you choosing?
JusJames: I would love to have witnessed and seen The Notorious B.I.G live!!! Huge Biggie fan and [I] think that would be 🔥 to see!
Procyse: Definitely Big L. He was so dope and taken far too soon. I truly think the sky was the limit for him, so to be able to have seen him would've been amazing.
Midnight Donuts: What’s your favorite thing about being a part of Polished Arrow?
JusJames: My favorite thing about being a part of PA is the brotherhood! We’re not just a music group or label. We’re a brotherhood! An essential need as a man of God and as an adult is friendship. Many of us have acquaintances. But true brothers, true friendship is a must! And that’s what PA is!
Kaboose: I always say music is dope, but at the end of the day it’s just music. With these brothers we have a chance to build into each other’s lives and be a support for each other. To lift each other up as well as celebrate each other and pray for each other. To me, this is everything: music will eventually fade, and this is the real stuff.
Midnight Donuts: Most recent thing you’ve read that you really enjoyed–book, article, graphic novel, whatever!
Kaboose: I’m super stoked to get into this book: Cry Like a Man by Jason Wilson. It’s been on my list to read for a min. It’s time to get to it.
Procyse: I just got done with Trusting God by Jerry Bridges. Great read about truly trusting God in not only the big moments but even in the smallest things of life.
Midnight Donuts: Factoring in that this edition of Midnight Donuts won’t release until January: anything exciting on the horizon for Polished Arrow Music? Or for you individually? Shows, projects, collabs, etc. Maybe a Polished Arrow compilation album?
JusJames: For me personally, I have an upcoming album entitled 3936 coming in 2024! This project is 4 years in the making! But it’s a declaration of praise and celebration! I’ve rarely created in a space like this, but I really want to give God praise on this one! As far as a team, we got something on the horizon! More collaborations! Who knows!?! Maybe a PA project! Lord willing.
Kaboose: Man, for me personally lots of singles as well as small projects and collabo’s coming out in 2024. I’m super stoked. It’s a blessing to still be able to do this–I been active with releasing music, shows, school assemblies, working with youth hands-on with writing as a therapy tool, for 20 years. To still be at it blows me away on how good God has been to me and my family. I got to live/experience/contribute to the golden era of Christian hip-hop and check many things off my bucket list, and to me that’s good enough. Ha! I have no dreams of currently trying to make it big or blow up. It’s truly a blessing to still be here.
Procyse: We all have a lot going on music-wise. I have my next solo project coming, the BASECAMP debut album, and MAYBE the first full PA collab… we'll see!
Midnight Donuts: Where can the readers connect with Polished Arrow?
iNTELLECT: You can connect with us at polishedarrowmusic.substack.com. There you can get links to each person’s socials and music in the collective.
This article originally appeared in Midnight Donuts #2. Want to read the most recent edition of Midnight Donuts? You can do so here!