“The problem starts with the 01(visa cateogry for high level professionals), the artists, 99.9999998% of them can’t travel because they are not internationally friendly, they are criminals,” says Ruffcut band member Nigel Staff about the Jamaican artists with local top streaming reggae and dancehall songs who are yet to go on major tours.
“It affects their International ability, you are walking on eggshells at every single juncture of the career,” he said.
The backing band member was ranting in an interview with Anthony Miller of ER aired on Friday November 24 about the lack of touring and foreign television promotional opportunities for artists who are having a difficult time crossing over into the US and European markets.
He said their inability to appeal to the Caribbean diaspora market is a result of not being able to tour.
“Diaspora means travel, you need a visa,” he said.
“You have a song that’s bobbing tomorrow, you cyah go foreign go do Jay Leno, because you don’t have a visa, you can’t fly to New York, you can’t fly to LA or London and by the time you go through the clutter to get you a visa the song has already died,” he said.
Staff whose list of dancehall production and composer credits include “Fa**ot Correction” by Vybz Kartel, and songs on Sean Paul’s “Dutty Classics Collection” says the main way to make money in the music business is by touring.
“The only thing on the right hand of the equal sign is touring, we don’t make no money no other way like we make touring money,” he said.
Even as Nigel paints a doom and gloom picture and echoes the sentiments of a 2022 poll commission by the RJRGLEANER Group which found that “41 percent of respondents believe that dancehall music played a very big role in influencing criminal behaviour,” in the last 5 years several dancehall artists at home and abroad have been signed to international labels and continue to do successful tour dates and festivals. Buju Banton who was deported after serving eight years in federal prison in the US on cocaine charges, signed to Island Def Jam had one of the biggest concerts in the Island on New Year’s Day.
He previously toured the Caribbean, parts of Europe and Africa with his Long Walk To Freedom stadium tour. Masicka, Popcaan, Skillibeng, Shenseea, Koffee, Protoje, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Lil Ike are all signed to major labels and Popcaan in spite not being issued with a US visa is currently on tour in the U.K. to promoted his Billboard Year-End #12 charted album is reportedly commanding $150,000 per show.
The stand out new acts on the international live music scene have been Shenseea and Koffee who have performed two weekends each at Coachella in California earlier this year and last year respectively. Shenseea made performances at Rolling Loud Festivals in several countries. Shenseea sold Gold in Canada with her single Blessed and was the highest streaming female dancehall artists for 2022. Her song “Pure Souls” with Kanye West is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.
Skillibeng made recently earned his first U.K. Silver certification for Crocodile Teeth for selling 200,000 units in that country and made appearances at AfroPunk in the UK and US where the audiences sang his songs word for word. Skillibeng also won the 2022 MOBO award for Best Caribbean Music Act in and has done several major venues in the UK.
Still Staff who has been in the music industry since 1989 laments, ‘the producer dem a dead fi hungry, how you going make money off a production when the artist a fight you seh a him own the whole song, it is dead, so the only way you can only make money and have a fruitful career is touring,” he bemoans.
Setting aside the strides that many Jamaican artists are making, Staff cites newcomer Valiant who broke out on TikTok last November as the example of an artist who has failed so far to connect in the diaspora. He said Skeng and Byron Messia are no longer welcomed in countries like Barbados although their culture and geography is in such close proximity to Jamaica.
“It is so bad Anthony, that Caribbean islands that share our culture and are so near they are like ‘I don’t want Skeng in Barbados again’, ‘I don’t want this one in Cayman again’, ‘I don’t want Byron Messia over here again,’ he said.
Jon Baker, Founder Geejam Music
Cara Wilson-Wheatle – Skeng’s Co-Manager
Skeng
Rodney Borde-Kuofie, Attorney Geejam Music
At least one veteran music executive thinks Staff’s right winged analysis of the music industry in Jamaica is short sighted.
“Those views sound like views of the British conservative party and are not even worth responding to. All I will say is, do you know how many venues The Rolling Stones were banned from in the 60s and the Sex Pistols in the 70s” says Jon Baker, CEO of Geejam Music, the label that signed Skeng to a Publishing deal last year.
Skeng, whose Protocol is the most streams music video in Jamiaca on YouTube of all time has had similar issues in Caribbean Islands after he performed at the ‘Badderation’ show in May last year when gunshots rang out during his performance. Baker agreed that incidences and visas can sometimes be a hindrance for artists to travel, but says Skeng in particular is not banned from any country.
“Often it’s visas, venues and permits that sometimes don’t get approval, but that creates a ‘fake news’ that he is banned from countries, but Skeng is not banned from any country, there was an issue in Guyana and we got over it.”
Several Dancehall artists in recent times have run infraction of the law with Ninja Man, Vybz Kartel service lemgthy sentences for murder. Deejay Tommy Lee who was released last summer has vowed to make changes to his life after he served three years for possession of firearm. Deejay Laden was also convicted on firearem charges and was released earlier this year.
90s deejay Mad Cobra was held on South Carolina and charge with posession of cocaine and a weapon.
