Since announcing themselves on the global stage back in 2020 with their work on ‘True Love’, there has been clamour for a full and collaborative project. Juls’ eclectic, diasporic production coupled with the sharp lyricism and smooth vocal of Projexx makes for an inevitable capability of hitmaking.

It’s a creative alchemy that has been explored on their , which explores the coalescence of Ghanaian and Jamaican culture through their collaboration. Across nine tracks, both artists show their innate musical connection and shine a light on their respective sonic upbringings. While both Juls and Projexx were in London, caught up with them to discuss their working relationship, the connection between Ghana and Jamaica, and where they want to take this new sound.

You guys have been making music together for some time now. How did you first come to collaborating?

I think it was right before COVID.

Yeah, 2020, going into 2021. We were connected by a lady by the name of Corinne, who is a massive connector plug here in London. We just started sharing ideas, and formed a relationship, not just around music, but a brotherhood as well. 

What was it about the connection that drew you together?

I feel like there’s a chemistry between us. You know what I mean? It’s undeniable. Almost everything we make is amazing, so we wanted to make use of that chemistry. It’s literally that. 

His story and lyrics, his cadence, my sonics, my beats – it’s just like a match made in heaven., I’ve never been able to make music or a record, or a beat before where I can be like “Yeah, Projexx is gonna kill this.” You might feel like why are you always making music with another artist in mind? But then when that starts to happen, you know that you can make a lot of great stuff together. That was the approach we took when we started collaborating.

How did this project come about? When did you start working on it?

We’ve been working on ideas for around three years, but we’ve dropped a lot of records in the meantime. ‘True Love’, which is a big one. He was on my last two albums as well.

I did an EP called ‘HER’ EP: he’s on there as well.

We also did a two track EP back in 2022 which I produced as well.

Yeah, you end up with a catalogue. We have ‘nuff riddims.

What is it about this collection of songs that has made it a cohesive project, rather than the collection of tracks you had made before?

At the beginning of the year, we had a conversation in January, saying, “look, we have all of these ideas – I have this opportunity where I can get a few things going and where we can facilitate some stuff. Should we go for it?”

We made the arrangements in February. We went to LA, did the whole Grammy stuff, then I went to Jamaica and we were out there for 11 days. We Spent all the time in his house, just cooking. Seven brand new songs, just based off of easy vibes and good times, despite the fact that the weather was crazy at the time. 

Yeah, yeah. I think we just got over Hurricane Melissa, as well. But the juices were just flowing and we could feel like we were getting somewhere. 

This is the first time where I’ve made a body of work where I know when we’re going to drop it. We were working towards that, which made things easier. Everything was very intentional.

Talk to me about the title, ‘Junction’. What does that mean to you?

We wanted to put a name to the chemistry that we have, and, um, we just had a conversation where we asked each other what would we use to say when two people link up our two countries link up? In this case, it’s Jamaica and Ghana, and Junction just was the perfect name. We see this project as where two roads meet, and two worlds meet.

What do you think it is about those two countries that and their music that complement each other so well?

I mean, we share a lot of experiences together, you know what I mean? I’ve never been to Ghana, but Juls is always telling me that when he’s in Jamaica, it’s like the same place. And if we go back into history, we share a similar history with slavery. I just feel like we’re one people, one music, you know? 

Hip life is one of our major genres of music, which is a fusion of hip-hop and highlife. A lot of my beats that I try to make sound like hip life are inspired by one of my OG’s called Hammer, who is one of the OG producers from Ghana. But being from London as well, you’re  just surrounded by so much culture, especially Caribbean culture. A lot of those drums that I hear also influence my sound.

It’s literally just going with the flow, but then also making it as comfortable for me as possible in terms of being able to just establish my identity for people when they listen to my music. When you listen to a Juls riddim, you should know this is where this guy’s from. Unapologetically African, but a lover of Caribbean culture. A lot of people who know me actually think I’m Jamaican sometimes. I’ve been to Jamaica so many times, I have a lot of very close friends who are Jamaican. My nanny was Jamaican when I was growing up.

This is just the beginning of it, and this is what you call real fusion of music. Real afro, dancehall, fusion… Being able to dictate a sound that people are definitely going to try and replicate is perfectly fine because we’re trying to start the trend. But we have our goals to just continue to push each other.

What’s striking about the project is how you can both tap into so many different genres whilst also maintaining coherence across the record. Is that something that comes naturally to you?

It does because we do a lot of travelling. We’re mixed up in a lot of cultures that we love and appreciate. We always want to put it all back into the music, because most of those things are our inspiration. You’re gonna hear lover’s rock in there, you’re gonna hear dancehall in there. There’s highlife, hip hop, R&B and contemporary music. It’s all just a fusion of where we’re from and letting the world know that we can provide the soundtrack to people’s lives. 

You’ve got a wide variety of features on there. How did those come about and what do you think they bring to the project?

For me, Pa Salieu is one of my favourite artists, and Projexx messes with him heavy as well. Yeah. We have a relationship with Haile, and that was really more that core British representation for the album, especially for me being where I was born as well. From the Jamaican side, we had Valiant and jahmiel, because we also had to make sure that they were represented. Yeah. From Ghana, I put myself as the representation of our music, our capability and our ability. From an African perspective, we had Boj, Winny, and Tay Iwar. 

There wasn’t really any hard thinking going into it, we just had a great chemistry with all of these people. It’s really just organic relationships. If you mess with us, then we mess with you.

A key word that has come up in this interview is chemistry. What is it about you two that elevates one another?

I feel like um, where I have any weaknesses, he has a strength and vice versa. So we tend to propel each other that way. You understand? Whatever he’s hearing, whatever I’m not hearing, I trust him and he trusts me. It’s all a balance.

And then we’ve got real relationships where we will talk outside of music. We figure out life together. I ask him for advice, he asks me. It just reflects in the music as well and makes the chemistry even deeper. It’s not just two talented people making music, it’s 2 brothers.

I wanted the album to be called Brotherhood. But then we thought, let’s tell a deeper story through Junction. We’ve created a meeting point and we’ve been able to tell the story of two cultures, Jamaica, and Ghana, which is bigger than us.

In terms of where you want this project to go, what are your ambitions?

We hope it reaches millions of millions of people around the world. This is just the beginning of us building our catalogue quite significantly. We want to be able to tour the world with our music. You can sit in front of streaming numbers and billboards and plaques and all that stuff, but what we want to do is build our fan base across the globe, and be able to feed them a soundtrack to their respective lives.

We already have a niche. We already have a very strong family. We’re trying to strategically find that family together through this album. As a duo we’ve dropped so many records and, if you look on socials you see people always asking for a body of work from us. We see all these things and we’re giving the people what they want. We’re finding out where these people are and serving them. We’re trying to be a servant for the people. 

I feel like God wanted this to happen, and this is destiny. We’re just doing God’s work, because a link up like this doesn’t happen every day. It’s special. 

Finally, what’s next for you as a collective and individually?

Greatness. Greatness, greatness, and more greatness. Constant music – we come to feed the people, inspire the people to make music from the soul and from the heart. 

The deluxe is coming in October. We’re coming out with a documentary telling the people about how the album was created and about the deep connection between the two countries. The next thing we want to do is tour and start working on another body of work. We’re feeding the people and it’s non stop. We want to be in a place where we have a massive catalogue and we can play a two hour show where everybody’s singing our songs. We want to write our names in history, as two of the greatest to have done it, based on love, brotherhood, and Greatness.

‘Junction’ is out now.