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Zeke Thomas Opens Up About His Music and His Activism [Exclusive Interview]

April 8, 2018 By Richard Roman

Zeke Thomas is a renowned deejay and producer hailing from Detroit. He’s taken turns running the decks on HOT 97 and was a deejay for the NBA All-Star Game. However, as his new releases prove, he can do more then just spin. The Dealin’ With It Remixes 2.0 provide the next round of remixes for his highly personal single “Dealin’ With It”.

There’s also more to Zeke than his music as he has just become the first male spokesperson for the National Violence Resource Center and was nominated for the Outstanding TV Journalism Segment Award at the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards.

We got the opportunity to with Zeke about his music, his activism and everything in between.

Hi Zeke, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Your latest release was the Dealin’ With It Remixes 2.0, what made these remixes so special that an extra release was necessary for it?
The thing that made these remixes so special was that they all came from various artists who just really wanted to be a part of the song, who really wanted to stand with the message and had a message of their own to deliver. Sonta really shows out in her remix, she speaks about dealing with gun violence and trauma, an issue that many of us struggle with in the United States.

About that Sonta remix, she’s used her platform to talk about gun violence. How powerful do you feel music is in addressing and changing perception about social issues?
Music has been used to shape and reshape the world for a long time. If you take a look at, especially hip hop, it’s known as the music of revolution. Take a look at Chuck D and Fight the Power and records like that, it’s always been about the upheaval, about changing, about fighting for rights. You can see it in John Lennon singing “Give Peace A Chance”. Music is something that it used as a tool to try to truly affect change, and I think that it’s the responsibility of an artist to speak for the people and speak their truth.

Speaking about your newest release, do you specifically try to seek out other socially conscious artists to work with or does it just happen organically?
For me, it has happened organically. If you take one of my first records, “Blackness”, with Jasiri X, we were able to ask Chuck D at a meeting that Harry Belafonte put together for socially conscious artists. We were able to ask him “Would you do a verse for us?” and it was special not just to be able to ask a legend like that, but to have the opportunity to explain to him why we want to do this and really put our heart truly out there.

Being that “Dealing With It” is such a personal song to you and has a lot of power involved in it, how was the reception of the song and how did it feel to put out a song with that much of your heart and soul in it?
The reception of the song has been great. Both from my immediate friends and family who just really heard me sing and talk about something that happened to me, that’s very near to my being. In terms of the public’s response, it’s always great to be recognized and have people enjoy your music and now to hear them enjoy my words, it’s special.

That Good Morning America interview must have been massive for you. You mentioned that it took you a little while to come public with your story because it was hard for you to face the label of being a victim. What gave you the strength to shed that fear and tell your story to the world?
Honestly, it had to deal with the inner challenge that we all bring on ourselves, to be our most authentic self. I had to scream out my pain to anybody who would listen. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I have just been fortunate enough that I got the opportunity and the platform that I have now to be able to speak for many people who don’t have the chance to. To be able to fight and be able to talk about sexual assault and supporting survivors.

It seems like music has helped you come to terms with what happened and your acceptance of it. How has music helped you personally become the powerful voice you are?
Music has always been my first love. It’s always been the way that I express myself. Even just humming songs, singing songs. You can always see my happiest self through my singing about the world. I think that’s just the way I’ve been taught to express myself.

So this is pretty big news, you’re the first male spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. First, how does it feel? It must feel pretty good to feel your advocacy is breaking new ground in a certain way.
It definitely is breaking ground from the male perspective. It’s something that we, as men, have to talk about more. We have to talk about our feelings in general. We can’t just be indestructible. We have to be able to speak on these horrible things that happen to many men around the world.

For those who don’t know what the National Violence Resource Center is, how would you explain it?
It’s home base is online and it’s about educating and about providing resources. Like you can go online and find the local resources that are best for you. Although the center is as its title says, national, it’s headquarters is in Pennsylvania. People in other places, may not have the opportunity to just be able to walk down the street and get some support but there are resources everywhere. There’s a 24-hour trauma hotline, there’s rape centers and crisis centers right around you.

Moving onto a bit of a lighter note, you’ve recently released “The Shade Box” with Johnny I. which is quite different from “Dealin’ With It”. What’s your favorite kind of music to make?
I would say my favorite kind of music to make is music that makes you dance. Although “Dealin’ With It” is a song dealing with trauma, and my first release “Regret” is a song dealing with substance abuse, these songs still, they have a nice groove and a beat that makes you dance. At the end of the day we’re happy people and we get shocked when bad things happen but we still gotta keep going and keep a strong beat. So, I like to make music that makes you dance and Johnny I. is a great house producer and collaborator and I’m sure we’ll collaborate again on more records.

To finish it off, what does the rest of 2018 look like musically, and from the activist side?
Well April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month here in the States, so I’m going to really increase doing awareness events. I’m just trying my best this year to stay on my path as I go and speak to colleges and other organizations. I realize that it’s just as important for me to stay on my path, so I can help others to do so. The rest of this year, I’m going to focus on being more consistent with my own therapy appointments, not just lecturing others to do so. What I’m most excited about is I’m moving into a new period of my life where it’s about recovery and happiness.

We wanted to thank Zeke for his time. You can find more information about the National Sexual Violence Resource Center here. You can also see Zeke Thomas’s moving interview on Good Morning America here. you can listen to Zeke Thomas’s new Dealin’ With It Remixes 2.0 below. Finally, we just wanted to thank Zeke for his time.