Emmanuel Jal Quotes

Music is actually where I see heaven.

[During the second Sudanese Civil War] what was actually killing us wasn't the Muslims, wasn't the Arabs. It was somebody sitting somewhere manipulating the system, and using religion to get what they want to get out of us, which is the oil, the diamond, the gold and the land.

If I sleep for more than half an hour, I get horrible dreams in which I'm firing a gun and helicopters are coming down.

I don't take modern hip-hop as real. It's entertaining, it's fake, like James Bond.

When people know you've been a soldier, they judge you: you are a thief, a lost boy.

I'm still a soldier, fighting with my pen and paper for peace till the day I cease.

I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.

Sometimes words are not needed, and the simplicity of expressing yourself through an art form is one of the best ways of communication.

Peace may be negotiated by politicians, but it is something written in hearts and minds not on pieces of paper

Only a coward will use a gun to protect and get respect for themselves.

I am proof that one person can rise above any challenge, and if I can, then so will others if they are given the chance.

I still have nightmares of dead comrades, a long time ago, talking to me. 'Emmanuel, don't forget about us, don't give up, keep telling our story.'

Education is the only solution for peace.

When I was in south Sudan, people used to rap in my village. But the rapping was more in the mother tongue, Nuer.

A cold heart is my protection mechanism. I don't really feel anything for anyone.

For many Sudanese, it's for strength they choose to be Christian rather than Muslim. My mum was a Muslim but she became a Christian later.

Music is powerful. It is the only thing that can speak into your mind, your heart and your soul without your permission.

It’s no longer about the Lost Boys. They keep trying to make their way out, then they meet other people and empathize with them. It’s a story that a lot of people are going to discover their purpose from. When someone doesn’t know their purpose, they get lost.

The worst people on earth are not only those who commit evil, but those who stand by and turn a blind eye

I don't know anywhere where the people are hungrier for education than South Sudan.

Any child soldier has to go through a lot of love, care and understanding to become normal.

I'm constantly seen as a 'foreigner,' and I need my passport to prove my identity, to keep moving and to carry on my work.

In Africa, you know, if you're poor, at least you can go to the forest and share some mangoes with the gorillas and monkey.

I'm rapping in English but in an African way. I'm not trying to sound like an American.

In Africa, music is for everything, Music was originally used for community. That was what music was for.

I lost my childhood. I didn't play football or video games. Or have birthdays or the love of a family.

A lot of child soldiers lose their minds.

Knife crime and gun crime is poverty-driven, and poverty leads to insecurity.

If you really kill, you don't want to talk about it.

To tell my story, to touch lives.