Emmanuel’s story, his journey, it is a such an incredible one, documented in his autobiography Warchild and the award winning documentary of the same name:

At the age of seven, swept into Sudan’s civil war, Jal became one of 10,000 child soldiers conscripted on both sides of the two decade long conflict. After being forced to do unimaginably horrible things, he escaped and trekked for four months through Africa. He was eventually found and adopted by the now legendary British aid worker Emma McCune who had married Sudanese guerrilla commander Riek Machar and convinced him to not employ child soldiers.

Shortly after she adopted Jal, McCune died in a suspicious car crash, leaving Emmanuel “orphaned” once again. Jal rose from ruthless child soldier to refugee to rap star. He found his own redemption and life mission through a message of peace that represents one of the 21st centuries’ most inspiring and hopeful journeys, and a metaphor for the broader African predicament.

The thing about being around Emmanuel though, he’s such a happy person. The day of the shoot, the studio wasn’t even booked, he just waked in, talked to a couple folks, made it all good. His vibe is infectious in that special way. He has that almost childlike sense of happiness, mischief and wonder that so many aspire to, but childlike would never be the right word in that it’s born from a wisdom and experiences that most of us could never imagine. His is truly another voice that we couldn’t have done without in this project and we were really glad we able to catch up with him in London for this. For more information on Emmanuel check out www.emmanueljal.com and his incredible efforts through his Gua Africa foundation to build a school back in Sudan.