Ward 21 frontman Suku told WMV in an exclusive interview that he has never collected any money from his music publishing. In an exclusive sit-down interview, the deejay and producer reflects on his journey in the music business and advises young acts to focus on the business of music as much as they do the production.
“So with me, in the early stages, I thought I was alright because I actually had a publishing thing signed up. I thought I was alright, but we were never alright. We signed a publishing deal, but we never received any publishing money. Money was coming in, but we didn’t see it. On productions, we were supposed to get a percentage,” he said.
Suku, whose real name is Andre Gray, is one-third of the group Ward 21, a dancehall talent collective of artists and producers hailing from Water House, Kingston, Jamaica. The group got their name from the psychiatric ward at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston. The ensemble, which also consists of Kunley McCarthy and Mark “Mean Dawg” Henry, is responsible for some of dancehall’s most popular riddims, such as “Bada Bada,” “Da Joint,” “Bellyas,” and “Volume,” along with hit singles, including “Haters” and “Judgement Day.”
Gray says that although they made the beats, the releases were done in partnership with record labels, and he is yet to see a dollar from the publishing after signing a deal in which he expected 50% of the income to be shared among his group members.
“If I’m in partnership with you, any money you get, we’re supposed to get 50% of it. If you get $30,000, we’re supposed to get half of that, and we never got that. We learned that long after, so we lost a lot from that. During that early segment in ’98, ‘Bellyas,’ ‘Badda Badda,’ all those tracks were playing, but we never saw any earnings from that. There were deals made, but there was no money,” he said reflectively.
Still, Suku has no hard feelings for his label or publishers, as he says he is looking to the future as he now has an individual publishing deal that comes directly to him without the middleman. “We never knew all of that until we took the time to find out. Moving on from that, basically, we had to try to fix that issue in the future. In my current situation, I have a publisher,” he said.
“The riddims I create, if I want to use them, I’m free to use them,” he added.
In the early days of the group, Ward 21 operated under the guidance and mentorship of dancehall legend King Jammy, who is credited with ushering in dancehall’s digital era in the mid-1980s. The trio served as selectors for his sound system. They eventually departed from under King Jammy’s wings and inked a deal with the New York label Natural Bridge. The 1998 riddim “Bada Bada” formed the foundation for tracks by artists like Beenie Man, Elephant Man, and Chuck Fenda.
In addition to their achievements as producers, they enjoyed success with their own hits, including “Haters,” “Judgement Day,” and “Blood Stain.” Ward 21’s inaugural album, “Mentally Disturbed,” was released in 2001. Their most popular song on Spotify is “Eagle” with 3.6 million streams.
In 2005, the group embarked on a European tour, gracing stages in countries like Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. They also performed at Europe’s second-largest reggae festival, Summerjam, later that year. In 2008, Evans departed from the group.
Ward 21’s extensive catalog of productions features notable tracks like Capleton’s “Slew Dem” and the Wayne Marshall/Bounty Killer collaboration, “When The Smoke Clears.” In addition to numerous singles primarily released on King Jammy’s label and tracks on various compilations, Ward 21 has launched three albums under the reggae label Greensleeves.
Suku says what he wants young acts to understand it to sort out their business or get someone to do do it if you don’t understand.
“The main lesson is, where the business part of it is concerned, even if you don’t have an idea, have an understating of it. Publishing and the whole mastering thing so no man nuh use you. Dem thing deh you haffi make sure seh dem ting deh sort out,” he said.
The group contributed to 311’s remix of the song “Amber” in Supa Dups Remix and appeared on Major Lazer’s second album, “Free the Universe,” on the track “Mashup the Dance.”
On January 22, 2014, Ward 21 released their fifth album, “Still Disturbed,” featuring guest contributions from artists like Sean Paul and Konshens. The group embarked on multiple European tours to promote the album.
In February 2017, the single “Mek It Bunx Up” by DeeWunn and Marcy Chin, produced by Ward 21’s member Kunley McCarthy, garnered over 25 million views on Facebook.
Watch Suku interview promo on YouTube.
