Johari’s artistry and scholarship arises out of the “gospel blues” tradition on which he was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and he continues to be inspired by figures such as Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith and Rev. Cleophus Robinson. In addition to being shaped by the gospel blues style and messages of love, suffering, death, and freedom, he is also a classically trained musician with a degree from Fontbonne College, now Fontbonne University. As a historian trained in African American religion (with an MDIV from Pacific School of Religion and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara), Johari’s work is concerned with the intersections of race, religion, gender, citizenship, and expressive culture. He says that one of his goals is to “help students take back their righteous minds," a goal that also brings him to Seminary of the Street.