Q: Your label is called "Nayo Movement Music". What is this movement? What does it stands for?
A: Nayo means she who brings joy- the movement is the movement of joy- and I am into movement- things change but if you can understand that being open and loving means that even when things are bad you can be joyful you always shine- then you are making useful and positive movements-

Q: Where does the inspiration for the arabian sound in the song "Heavy" comes from?
A: It worked and felt right- Spontaneous [the song's producer] has got a great ear for different but perfectly appropriate sounds

Q: Musically you've been inspired by different artists, but have you been inspired by poets as well, since you are an poet yourself? If so, by which poets in particular?
A: Most of the poets that have had the largest effect on me have been friends- and folks that came through a spot I produced in LA called pure.love/soul sessions- Bridget Gray, who is working on her new album with Spontaneous right now inspired me to write my first spoken word piece- Sekou tha Misfit, Steve Connell, Poetri, Shihan, Rives, of course you have to give love to Saul Williams who helped make spoken word popular for our generation- this time around- Ayinde Howell- I have been blessed enough to be around amazingly talented people

Q: The music on your CD is very diverse. Is there one musical direction that you would like to explore more in the future?
A: I will continue to make all kinds of music cause I have to do what is in me at the time- so who knows what genre my soul will kling to expressing through next time- I will just be the vessel anywayz-

Q: A quote of you is: "Before anything else, I am music" Can you explain to us what music means to you?
A: I had a dream once that I was talking to John coltran and Tito Puente- wild!!! and I was in awe of them and they said- it is the spirit of music- you are just as much what you awe as we are you just have to be open to it- I realized that morning that we are all as amazing as the people we love that seem so far away from us (fame, death...whatever)and all I had to do was open up and be a vessel- my job is just to let the music be me-

Q: Has the song "Ghetto Stories" that can be heard on your website, been released on an album?
A: No not yet :)~~~

Q: What was the last record you bought and why did you buy that record?
A: I re purchased Jay-Z life and times volume 1- and Vikter duplaix- International Affairs again- why because I lost both and both albums I listen to from beginning to end and get something new each time- Jigga's hustle is just so fantastic- I love both of those men and how honest, confident and humble they both are in thier craft- both seem to let the music flow through them- and they speak what they see and how they feel

Innovative, driven, compassionate, and powerful…just a few words that come to mind when attempting to describe Oakland, CA born singer, songwriter, and spoken word artist Jennifer Johns. Since birth, Jennifer has been making this world "just a little bit more melodic" with her some times boisterous, some times soft, but always powerful voice. If you were to ask her when she started singing she would say, "I don't remember a day that I didn't."  However, her first experience on stage was at church at the tender age of 3 and she hasn't stopped since.  Reflecting on her diverse musical influences as a youth, from  Earth, Wind and Fire, Phoebe Snow, and Sade,  to Paul Simon, Whitney Houston and Sweet Honey in the Rock, as well as the , West Indian rhythms that filled her home as a youngster.  And then there was hip-hop….  

Jennifer says it was somewhere between Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh's "The Show",  Rakim's "Know What's on Your Mind", and Queen Latifah's "Ladies First" that she first fell in love with hip-hop music and soon identified as a part of the culture. She says "just as I am music,  I am hip hop".  At 13 Jennifer pursued her love of music by joining the award winning Oakland Youth Chorus where she studied music in numerous languages under the tutelage of nationally revered conductors Trente Morante, Elizabeth Seja Minn, and Grammy nominee Melonie DeMore. Jennifer soon graduated to OYC's professional a capella ensemble, Vocal Motion where she was afforded the opportunity to work and perform with such musical luminaries as Nancy Wilson, Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson, Melissa Manchester, and James Ingram.

At 17, Jennifer began to look deeper into a professional career in music and began performing locally in Oakland. 3 years later, after making "a little noise" at home, she decided it was time to move to Los Angeles where she quickly built a name for herself and began recording with Goodvibe Recordings artists The Anonymous and BIG DRO.
 
During her time in Los Angeles, Jennifer became a member of both SAG and AFTRA, securing voiceover work for commercials with the LA Weekly, Macy's, and Pacific Bell. She also stayed busy building pure.love entertainment a media company she founded in 2001 that produced live music and spoken word events which quickly became a staple in the rapidly growing Los Angeles spoken-soul community.   In 2003, having built her fan base through pure.love, Jennifer made the decision to isolate herself in Seattle to record songs for an upcoming project.

And now, with the release of her new EP heavyelectromagneticsoularpoeticjunglehop co-produced by Grammy nominee Spontaneous on her own label, Nayo Movement Music, Jennifer is set to give the world a taste of her "Electric Soul."  With the release of Jennifer's EP heavy…, listeners can expect some of what you love about  Sade, a lot of what we needed from Lauryn, the warmth and conversational energy of Jill and the mystery of Dido. Hands down Jennifer Johns is a heavyelectromagnetic force to be reckoned with.   

Recently,  Jennifer has performed around the US with artists like Common, KRS-1, De La Soul, John Legend, Medusa, Gift of Gab, Souls of Mischief, and Mystic.  In addition Ms. Johns just spent her summer on a 6 week tour through Europe with Blackalicious.