Dancehall sensation Masicka recently opened up about his rise in the music industry, recounting pivotal moments that led to his current status as a Def Jam recording artist. Speaking candidly at the Island Music Conference (IMC), hosted by Donovan ‘JR’ Watkis, Global Head Of Music at World Music Views, Masicka reflected on his early days and the choices that propelled him towards success.
“Me been doing music from high school, Calabar High School way back,” Masicka shared, reminiscing about his formative years. “A friend of mine introduced me to my manager, then me left Calabar High School and went to Utech (University Of Technology), me did still want to become a lawyer at one point in my life. Me go Utech for one year and decide seh school was not for me,” Masicka said.
Acknowledging the importance of education, Masicka clarified, “Not saying school is a bad thing but just the fire inside and me want fi pursue the music.”
“Me link up with with Don Corleone and TJ Records at around age 19,” Masicka continued, tracing his early opportunities to collaborate with some of Jamaica’s most notable producers. “The first time me go to Europe was 19. I never have no song them time deh, but eventually me work and with consistency and it manifest.”
The Corner artist also said that his decision to sign with Def Jam Recordings was driven by the need for structure rather than money and moreover his successful independently released debut album, “438,” played a significant role in attracting Def Jam’s interest, as they sought a comprehensive package rather than just individual songs.
“I think it played a major role ion me signing cause form understanding most of the time they looking for package. The thing is music does sell, it’s just the quality of the music. “438” sells, up to this day,” Masicka said.
As for why he needed a deal he said, “I felt like have done everything I could throughout the Caribbean. I’ve been to most of the countries like six, seven, eight times and for me it’s more structure— not money,” he responded when asked what his motivation was to to deal the deal.
He expressed that managing his career alone was time-consuming and that having a record label provided necessary direction, resources, and connections.
“Doing it yourself, it’s time-consuming and yah go need the right team, you understand wha me a seh, so personally, with the record label, I already had a structure working, so it wasn’t from scratch, yuh understand? So, they come in now and dem can seh, ‘alright, this is the direction; we have this to spend,”
“Me coming from the Caribbean island, it’s very difficult to kinda crossover with the music, the record label is good in some sense,” he said, while acknowledging that as much record labels can provide support, artists must still work hard to prove themselves. “It all depends on the artist work ethic, so you can’t depend on the label to do everything, just up the the artist to work hard and show them seh you got it.”
