Two time Grammy winning rapper T-Pain has revealed that his 4x Platinum single “Bartender” featuring Akon was recorded in a makeshift studio while on vacation at the Hedonism resort in Jamaica. In a two year old video that is being circulated on social media, T-Pain shows an image and reflects on the time he made the Billboard hit with a little assistance from an unnamed Jamaican DJ.
“That is the exact setup I record Bartender on, that’s in a hotel room in Jamaica, at a Hedonism. And I almost wasn’t able to record it but this guy that was DJing at the hotel, there was a DJ there we had gotten cool and when I set my shit up I realize I left my f*cking mic cable and he gave me a mic cable and that same night I recorded Bartender.”
– T-Pain
“That looks stupid as hell but it works,” T-Pain continued as he reflected on his humble beginnings.
Bartender was the second single from T-Pain’s sophomore album Epiphany {2007}. The song peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard hot 100 on September 22, 2007, two months after its June, 16 #97 debut on the chart.
It marked the Nappy Boy singer’s 4th top ten entry and Akon’s 9th. The following year it was nominated for best R&B performance by a Duo or Group.
Over the years Jamaica has been home to some of music’s biggest hits. From Rihanna to Coldplay, India.Arie to Sam Smith, DJ Khaled and more all flock to the island to find inspiration for their chart toppers.
Jon Baker of Geejam Resort tells WMV how he used his Hotel facilities for recording and writing sessions over the years.
“I used to just use it (the studio) for my use to record Jungle Brothers, PM Dawn and my other acts, but we then opened it up,” the 63 year old music producer says.
There are many stories linking Geejam, situated in Portland Jamaica to chart topping multi platinum artists and songs. Gwen Stefani and her group ‘No Doubt’ took the pilgrimage to Portland and found a hit album and two Gold singles “Underneath It All (with Lady Saw) and Hey Baby (with Bounty Killer). The latter peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and made Bounty the first and only dancehall artist to perform at the Super Bowl HalfTime Show in 2002.
“The whole of the Rock Steady album was recorded at Geejam, Sly and Robbie came down,” he remembers.” “In the early 2000s India.Arie recorded her second album at Geejam, then, No Doubt had multiple hits from their Rocksteady album and the Gorillaz debut album (was recorded at Geejam) which sold over 7 million copies,” Jon explains.
In a March 2021 interview with DJ Khaled on his Amazon podcast “The First One,” Gwen Stefani explained what a wonderful time she had recording the album in Jamaica. Calling it “one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”
Bounty Killer said in an interview that Hey Baby is his biggest commercial hit to date and is the song that pays him the most royalties.
Hey Baby and Underneath It All(with Lady Saw) were released in 2002 and were certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 8, 2021 when both tracks sold over 500,000 units.
Most recently Sam Smith took the sojourn to Geejam at the height of the pandemic to make his Billboard No. 1 hit Unholy. Cold Play also left a few months ago where they worked with dancehall artist Bayka.
Detailing Sam’s stay Jon Baker told WMV, “he came in September 2021 and spent around 3 weeks at Geejam.” Sam’s crew of writers include Geejam repeat guests super producer duo Stargate who wrote and produced Unholy and 4 more hits on that trip.
“When they rent the property, we curate the right creative environment for them to record or write in. We propose the best environment which could be the main studio or one of our villa studios, Panorama or Cocosan.”
-Jon Baker
A major part of being hospitable is being a connector and Jon keeps his ears to the ground.
“Often, clients will ask us if there are any upcoming singers or DJs, or they require bass players or musicians and we have on many occasions supplied some great musicians from the creative talent of Jamaica,” Jon explained. “An example of that is when Che Pope was producing for Kanye and that’s when we recommended Assassin (Agent Sasco) and he guested on one of Kanye’s tracks.”
Jon B
The Kanye, Assassin(Agent Sasco) collaboration he orchestrated is I’m In It from Ye’s sixth studio album Yeezus released in 2013 by Def Jam Recordings. The song peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and No. 43 on the US R&B/Hip Hop songs chart.
One of the prestigious guest to come recently was Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
“The Rolling Stones recorded at Panorama, because they weren’t looking for a traditional studio set up, they were looking for more of a ‘loungy’ environment surrounded by nature and the great environment that was very natural and secluded,” Jon tells us.
A playlist on Spotify with all the Jams recorded at Geejam run down hits from Harry Styles, Rihanna, Drake, Kanye, Alicia Keys.
“Brown Skin Girl by Beyonce was written here, Speak To A Girl by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Harry Styles’ Sign of The Times and the No. 1 single This Girl Is On Fire by Alicia Keys to name but a few.”
As night falls and he adds to the list from the uplands of Geejam he explains why guest keep coming back year after year:
“these villas in particular allow creatives to enjoy the green energy of Portland and the laid back, chilled out vibes of Portlanders. Music is an integral part of Geejam Hotel’s DNA so wherever our guests stay, it’s an experience in itself.”
“We have also created a fantastic niche here where the record labels will put together the best songwriters, producers and we arrange an exclusive retreat where they have the run of the whole hotel and we convert different spaces into writing rooms as well as the existing recording studios and they’d come down and write songs for future release,” Jon further explains.
“This can be a music publisher who commissions a writer’s camp, an example of that was Due Lipa who had an extensive writing camp about three years ago,” he concluded.
Dua’s Future Nostalgia is her first Billboard 200 top ten and it is the 10th most successful album globally of 2020 and number 6 in 2021 according to IFPI. The Guinness Book of World Record places it at number 6 on the list of most streamed albums on Spotify with more than 10 billion streams.
The 27 year old superstar returned to Jamaica weeks ago to write songs for her forthcoming album.
This time she stayed at the luxurious Golden Eye Resort in Oracabessa St. Mary.
The singer posted images of her vacation on the island saying she is on “Island Time.”
In one of Levitating singer’s instagram post which she did after she left the island she describes her time as:
“All calm and stress freeee!” She continued, “Spent a couple weeks out at @goldeneye @islandoutpost and I wrote about some of my favourite spots in Jamaica for @Service95 issue #059 this week 
+++ Daisy Jones (@daisyjsjones) finds out why we’re all obsessing over sleep, and shares tips on how to drift off tonight. Plus, Juno Kelly (@junokelly) explores the dangers of romanticising mental illness on social media. Subscribe now through the link in my bio to receive this issue today!!”
