I pulled off losing all that weight since March. Now it’s time to get that muscle back. Hearing your song on Jamaican pop radio and shaking hands with David Rodigan at a BBC television taping has a way of making you want to come back and shock Jamaica.
I haven’t even played there LIVE yet, though the true heroics of Jamaican music live in those studios where great players are free to make great sounds, away from the heat and drama of Kingston and its street life.
I ran around those studios. I’ve already (sort of) made it Jamaica. Making it there is tough. You either can hack it or you can’t. You get lucky or you’re unlucky.
Everyone there unique advantages and disadvantages.
My ace is that I am a Soul singer that writes songs on guitar, and I am not afraid to strum away on that portable device.
That’s the direction Otis Redding was going but he died at 26. I am 39. He had no time.
But Soul is the secret. And that guitar is a soul band in a box. When Jamaican producers + Scott Rowe hear my songs they hear the Riddims they can fill in with their imagination. What I am only hinting at. What I can only tease because of my own limitations.
But it’s Soul. The second wave of Black Rock & Roll.
You see Soul music after the fall of Cuba took over Jamaican imaginations, and it filtered from there into the UK through the hands of Marley, Dennis Brown, and countless other great songwriters that could strum a guitar and really sing.
Later Hip Hop & Dancehall had this affair. Rock is the baby of Blues, but Dancehall & Hip Hop have been hooking up since the Jamaicans first brought their turntables to the park in The Bronx.
The other thing I am comfortable with is Hip Hop. Right now Dancehall is on top…of Hip Hop, working so many Riddims Sly Dunbar invented, or discovered, or channeled. Or all of the above.
But those raps are in my back pocket.
I can pretend like I didn’t rap on every Staxx Brothers record but I did. Even my Country song Uncle Ed is country rap and nobody noticed, which was the trick.
But no matter how many tricks I have up my sleeve, I am still at mercy of the Godfathers, because they open the doors.
But I also felt like in Kingston all that mattered was whether you have a song or you don’t. If you really got a song, potentially anyone with any sense will want to help you cut it.
That’s not my impression of Seattle.
But in Jamaica it’s the hunt.
But to stay in the hunt in Jamaica, oh boy. That’s another Game altogether. There are many levels. I played Level 3.
Next time that door opens on Smile Jamaica – TVJ, I am going to make the women at home with their kids, think I am an American actor.
I don’t think I’m Jack Black anymore.
Back in the pool for hour #2.
Davin’s new song has become a global earworm and Caribbean dancehall hit. Listen here on Reggaeville: DAVIN MICHAEL STEDMAN & ANTHONY RED ROSE – FREE YOUR MIND FEAT. SLY & ROBBIE WITH LENKY MARSDEN. The video is now available on Youtube.
– Musician and writer Davin Michael Stedman has many ventures, such as the AMAZING blog, 100milesofmusic.com. In the spring of 2018 he spent weeks networking in and reporting from Kingston, Jamaica. He will return there soon for more recording. His single with British band Sherlock Soul is available here.
