For up-and-coming artiste DAJ, music has always been very dominant in his life. In fact, the artiste has musicians on both sides of his family. He even has an opera singer relative.

The 31-year-old, given name Kyle Johnson, told OBSERVER ONLINE that he didn’t exactly have an ‘aha!’ moment when he decided to take on a career in music but knew he had an undeniable talent.

Here are six questions with up-and-coming artiste DAJ:

1. When did you start doing music?

Me start do music seriously, professionally from about 2017/2018. You know them always say you can take the pig out of the mud but you can’t take the mud out of the pig and music was literally just my thing. In every single aspect of my life music has been involved. I always just knew that I was going to do music. There wasn’t a moment where I decided. I just know that me born with this innate talent and I know me did just have to do something with it.

2. So how did you come up with the name DAJ?

Honestly, DAJ is made up of the initials for my real name. My full name is Kyle Dwayne Anthony Johnson but me just drop the K and keep the DAJ.

3. What kind of impact do you hope to make in music?

From just a generic standpoint, I want to make a positive impact, but on the flip side I just want to inspire people to be who they are, reach for their goals and just do what them know them can do. That’s the impact me want have in the industry so anytime you look pon DAJ, I may not really inspire you fi do music but me fi just inspire you fi do exactly what you want.

4. How would you classify your music style?

I sing about everything, I touch on every topic because I don’t necessarily want to get stuck in a box where I stick to one sector of the music. I can do everything, but mostly it’s an inspirational kind of vibe. I wouldn’t classify myself as a reggae or dancehall artiste, but a Jamaican artiste. We know say Jamaica is predominantly reggae and dancehall but beneath reggae and dancehall there are a lot of subgenres. And me nah say me ago do Ska but if me hear a riddim and it has elements of Ska in it I can tackle it. Same for reggae or even hip-hop. That’s why I say I am a Jamaican artiste, because it is more of a melting pot.

5. What does a future in music look like for you?

A future in music would definitely look like my name on some of those overseas posters advertising that I am performing at Coachella, Rolling Loud, and at festivals as far as Portugal; just big things. So me a plan fi push my thing overseas because the world nuh stop a Jamaica. The world wants to come a Jamaica but the world nuh stop at Jamaica.

6. What’s next for DAJ?

I have a single coming out on April 23 called ‘One Day’ featuring me bredren Ce’Ross, and I have ‘Chill Vibes’ coming out also in April – so a number of singles a forward. ‘One Day’ is one of the more inspirational tracks. It is about the everyday fight we go through; we fight with ourselves and it encourages us to get up and grind. ‘Chill Vibes’ now, as the name suggests, we are having fun, we chilling, we messing around and having a slow day. I am also working on something for the summer as well. I have a track already but it may need a little tweaking. The song name ‘Pull Up’ it is a nice little fun, party kind of vibe. So you can follow me on YouTube for any updates.