Style
Christafari's lyrics are characterized by a heart for Rastafarians, a passion for reaching the drug-afflicted counter-culture and a distinctly evangelical Christian message. Two examples are the songs "Why You A-go Look?" (WordSound&Power) and "Teachings of His Majesty" (Reggae Redemption Songs II), which use the words of Haile Selassie I (former Emperor of Ethiopia) to challenge the veneration of this Christian king as Almighty God incarnate.
Musically, the group fuses rustic roots with modern dancehall and yardee culture to create their own singature sound. Full of vibrant horns and rich female harmonies (by Avion Blackman and Jennifer Howland), the group is has nine to ten members. In 1997 there was a division in the group that led to a split. Many of the members wanted to go mainstream in both sound and message, while Mohr refused to compromise the group's authenticity of sound or their evangelical message just to sell a few more records.
Mohr came out of the split releasing the landmark, "WordSound&Power" and launching Lion of Zion Entertainment. Erik Sundin and others formed Temple Yard. While Christafari continued with roots reggae and dancehall, Temple Yard was fusion oriented, showing pop, reggae, soul, and gospel influence similar to mainstream artists like UB40 or Big Mountain. Temple Yard released one CD on Gotee Records and then were dropped from the label and subsequently broke up.
Through his ever-evolving band and various artist compilations, Mohr was arguably the first to record and internationally distribute the following subgenres of gospel music; reggae, dancehall, soca, me-reggae, jungle, raggamuffin hip-hop, dub and various other styles. Mohr has always placed the popularity of gospel reggae before his own band. He is the founder and president of GospelReggae.com, a webstore that boasts the largest selection of gospel reggae and world music in the world including artists like Papa San, Carlene Davis and Zema.
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