His album Positive Vibration is nominated for Best Reggae album at the Grammy Awards scheduled for next week. In this exclusive World Music Views interview we talk about his journey into music, the Grammys and he gives advice to younger artists.
How did you get into the music industry?
Well naturally my day job is Morgan Heritage, prior to that my first influence was my father rehearsing with the band called the Black Eagles. He had a song that sold eight million records back in 1981 called “I’ll do anything for you”. That was the first musical influence until I started to take music seriously. I was listening to bands like Steele Pulse, Poison, edgy bands, Early Wailers. In 88′ my father bought two reggae albums which were the Franky Paul album and Admiral Bailey. Those were the influences in a nutshell.
I remember seeing a documentary where your father took everyone on tour and documented tour life, that was the first reggae tour we saw on TV.
That tour was a documentary the Netherlands national Tv did on us in Europe. It was a Morgan Heritage tour, Our dad was our manager and he was like alright, your younger brothers are gonna be the opening act and your mother a come too. Anytime we tour it’s a family atmosphere. That has been the model, we wanted to feel like we were at home in St. Thomas. My father wanted us to feel comfortable and it made the world of a difference to this day.
You all individually stood out, was that deliberate?
This is my third solo album. I never forget we(Morgan Heritage) were in Europe and my father said one day we have to all work on solo albums. He wanted the world to see what he saw that night. Years after we said what’s the next challenge? and that’s for every man to stay up on him own two feet.
How do you feel about the newer artists and what advice do you have for them?
I want to tell them to study the greats without a doubt. They have talent because I see that. I see Rytical, I see Jahshii where he is quick off the top of his head, I-Octane, Queen Ifrica. I think there are more artists than we need in a sense. So many artists fall through the cracks and that’s why this next level of our careers I am looking to really develop artists. What I believe is missing today is enough mentorship is not in Jamaica, wishing the music industry for the volume of artists that is coming out so fast the mentorship is not enough. So you find that an artist gets a song on radio, him hear it mash up the dance and him think him ready to tour, ready for the world.
You find that the listener that’s listening to the radio loves a chune and don’t know who the artist is. These are the things we need to fix. Jamaica is a beautiful country but there is too much hate and too much violence.
Do you think radio is still relevant today to the development of reggae music?
Yes it’s still relevant because people are still listening to radio, but not as relevant as it used to be, because people are consuming music for free. The music today is like a flier. What’s important now is brands. Even Apple music will soon be no more, iTunes will soon be shut down cause people are realizing that it is better off to build a brand by giving music to people for free where people get a monthly subscription and get access to 30/40 million songs. What I think is relevant now is technology, the way people consume music.
A man will leave him wallet at home before he leave him cell phone. We are always on these devices so I think where the Jamaica music industry needs to be is to get the music on these devices to give to the consumers to have access to it.
A lot of artists want a buss and be a big artist and go pop, how do you suggest artists monetize their cultural capital into financial capital, reggae and dancehall?
There is a fine line in how to do it. With the insurgence of reggae and dancehall in the international market has been done. The authenticity of our music is loved. I think we can attain that by getting into these markets and preserving the production of our music. The people in the international market love the old songs to this day. Girl Flex, Walk Like Champion those are the songs they are still being played. It’s for us now to say what it is about that that we can still capture and make it relevant today, while still keeping the authenticity of the Jamaican culture and the music. That’s what we have to get back to rather than create something new, we have to refresh. My new album I tap into a little mento, ska music. I just think our creativity needs to go to another level.
Do you think signing to a label is the way to go now?
I say if a label comes to you with the right deal. If you have your social media, email address, and an investor you really don’t need a record company. You have a good team build yourself and they will come just like the movie “Field Of Dreams”
Couple of artists and their estate selling their catalogue, would you ever sell your publishing rights and catalogue?
Absolutely, for the right price. Of course I think of the longevity and the history of artists that were offered money there is a price. It has to be the right price. James Brown should have been at least a 200 million dollar deal because he got hits on hits. Moran Heritage has hits, I would definitely sell my catalogue.
You are up for a Grammy award, and I heard you are in the favored to win, are you excited about it? And do you think the Grammy awards are relevant to reggae music?
I am excited about it. The board did an excellent job. I was shocked I got nominated because I did something that’s out the box and very unique and it’s a tip of the hat to my ancestors to the genre of reggae-dancehall music. It was me trying to show how great Jamaican music is instead of doing a roots album. I think it was a great reflection with the nominations, me was the only shock, I cried for three hours. I was disappointed when it got cancelled (postponed). I had my suit and hotel room and all that. It’s a great feeling. It’s the first time being nominated as a solo artist and the recording academy still recognizes reggae music.
Let’s be frank here, Billboard doesn’t salute or recognize reggae music even though there is a reggae chart in the Billboard charts. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty Jamaicans. MTV awards does not have a category for any kind of music that comes out of the Caribbean so when you see the Grammys we have to clap them and salute them and say thank you for recognizing our genre.
Our biggest complaint is we want to see it on the big show but people first of all you know what it costs for airtime and TV time. So they are trying to squeeze 50-60 awards in a small amount of time because it costs money. Then you talk about the amount of albums that are submitted, we are lucky they don’t cut off our genre because there aren’t enough albums submitted into the category.
I am thankful to the Academy for recognizing reggae after all these years. Big up Grammys.
What you you think will help reggae and dancehall music to sell and stream more?
Awareness, risk. I think because of the change of the format from CD and cassette has hurt our industry. it has advanced all the other genres because people are more tech savvy on their computers, laptops, cellphones iPads, but Jamaica and Caribbean people refuse to move forward so the technology hurts Caribbean music. When you look at all the Jerk festivals and reggae festivals that happen across the world the numbers are there. We can compete, we bigger than jazz festivals, we are bigger than classical music festivals. The man one the street corner who love the new chune from Gramps Morgan doesn’t have a Spotify or Apple Music account.
Watch full interview here.
