Leaving the spotlight
Published 16.24
He has been one of the most talked about voices in Swedish hip-hop.
Now Jafar Sadik, known to many as “Jaffar Byn”, is leaving music.
– It is not meant for you to listen to my music and commit crimes, he says to the newspaper ETC.
In an interview with the magazine ETC tells Jafar Sadiq30, that his upcoming album “Revenge & Love” will be his last.
The rapper, who now goes by the stage name JB, describes his relationship with music as complicated. He says that it has saved him and has become a way to vent things that have been difficult.
– It keeps me sane. I say the hurtful things to get them out of me. But it’s also the music that puts me in a compartment that I can’t get out of. Wherever I live and however I live, he tells ETC.
Criminal past
At the same time, the music also means that he continues to be associated with his former life. The rapper has previously been open about his criminal past, which has also shaped much of his music. He has previously been convicted of, among other things, serious weapons offences.
He himself says that he left crime in 2021. Today he has turned 30, married and started a family – something that is one of the reasons why he chooses to quit. He also says that it is his “mother’s biggest dream” that he leaves music, because of what the industry brings.
– It takes you to shitty things: alcohol, women, parties, he says.
But the decision is also about religion.
– I want to get closer to God. But it feels like every time I turn to the music, I go further away. At the same time, I’m tired of this. The music doesn’t take me any further. I have to have something else, something bigger, he tells the newspaper.
“Never exist so that you would kill for it”
In the interview, he is also asked questions about Swedish hip-hop’s influence on young people, and about children who are drawn into serious crime while listening to his music.
— It’s just a shame, I think. It wasn’t meant to be. You are not supposed to listen to my music and commit crimes. The music was never meant for you to go and kill to it, says Sadik.
He says that is one of the reasons why he is now retiring.
— From the bottom of my heart: I apologize to my younger brothers and sisters if the music has misled in any way. There are always many other factors that lead to such things, but one of the reasons why I lay down is precisely this. Much in that world has gone too far. Of course. If anyone knows, it’s us.
At the same time, he does not describe the music as solely destructive. According to Jafar Sadik, music has also helped people.
— The music is a trigger. But too many different things. I get messages all the time about how people react to my songs. Someone writes that he cries to the music when he is in a prison. Someone says he listens to it to have the energy to run a little more when he trains. Someone says it gives him hope, he says.
