On Saturday, July 27th, Bushman will be doing a full set at Pon Top Seafood Grill and Bar Restaurant, located at 29 Westminster Road in Kingston, Jamaica. The Nyah Man will be supported by the Step by Step Band from out of Mandeville.
Former Def Jam Recording artist Razah recently took time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about his latest single, Too Much. The banging dancehall track was released last month, on June 21st, via Reggae Vibes Music. See the full interview below.
MJ27: So how does an independent Jamaican singer end up getting signed by Jay-Z himself?
Razah: Jay-Z signed me because I had a song called “where do we go from here” buzzing heavy in New York. It was being played a lot on hot97 and Rihanna heard it and wanted to be featured on it. The night I went to the studio with Rihanna to record her part, Jay-Z walks in the studio, we spoke briefly, he told me to come to his office the next day and he signed me to Def Jam.
MJ27: Once you were with Def Jam Recordings, assuming all was going well, why did you split from the label?
Razah: I left the label because at the beginning of 2009 Jay-Z left the label. My team and I had a meeting with the new president, he promised that he would do right by us but he did not, so we started to get my new song “Rain” playing on the radio by ourself because they weren’t keeping their word. Later after touring with Trey Songz and saw how we were being treated wrongly, we decided to ask for a release and we got it.
MJ27: Do you have any regrets about being signed to the label in the first place?
Razah: I don’t have any regrets in life, everything that has ever happened is apart of my journey and story.
MJ27: I take it that you are now back to being an independent artist, is that the case?
Razah: Yes, I’ve been independent since 2009; not interested in being on a major label again unless it’s a partnership.
MJ27: How did you linkup with Reggae Vibes Music?
Razah: Honestly, Reggae Vibes just linked me on WhatsApp, sent me the riddim, I loved it and recorded the song same time.
MJ27: Did you write “Too Much”?
Razah: I write all my songs
MJ27: What inspired “Too Much”?
Razah: The inspiration behind Too Much actually came from being in a relationship with my lady, and not wanting to talk too much about it on social media because I’m a very private guy.
MJ27: You seem to have the recipe for coming up with hit songs. What was the creative process for “Too Much” like?
Razah: My recipe for coming up with songs usually come from the beat. I usually have a lot of ideas in my head and the beat usually just brings it out of me, putting the words together as I go, because I never write anything down.
MJ27: How do you feel about all the positive feedback the song has been getting?
Razah: “Too Much” is my first reggae vibe I’ve done in a long time. The feedback got me feeling so positive that I actually want to do a entire reggae album.
MJ27: What do you want listeners to take away from “Too Much”?
Razah: I want the listeners to just know I truly appreciate them for even listening to my music, cause I know there’s a bunch of other artist they could be listening to rather than me. I just can’t wait to start touring and performing for the ppl cause that’s when I truly get to feel the love, and hate(cause that’s apart of the territory)haha! The Love always outweigh the hate though!
Too Much can be streamed and downloaded from Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Deezer, Amazon Music, Tidal, Boomplay, Pandora, etc.
This Tuesday, July 23rd, Brooklyn-based MC Talib Kweli will headline a concert at Charleston Pour House – 1977 Maybank Hwy – in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Black Star member will be joined by rapper and songwriter Gregory Skyler Taylor, known professionally as Skyzoo, and indie touring artist Landon Wordswell. As a bonus, there will be opening sets from R Dotta and Trvy & The Enemy. Click here to buy tickets.
The Legacy Crew Association presents the 2024 Sunlight Jam Festival on August 9th, 10th, and 11th at Cropettes Park in Geneva, Switzerland. This is a free event that will have live music, a food court, and lots of activities for the children.
The live entertainment will be provided by Chuck Fenda, Turbulence, Ras P, Jah Bless, Bala Ranks, Jungle P, Magnificient Joe, Radymus, Group Sanou, Saliue Fall, and others. The sound system culture will be on full display with Baby Lion Sound, Major Vibes, Ras Malik Sound, DJ Manu, and that is just to name a few.
For the past fifteen years, residents of St. James and beyond have looked forward to and attended the MoBay Jerk Festival. Although this is primarily a food fair, it also has a full day of activities and entertainment for the entire family.
There will be drinking and eating contests, bounce-abouts, face painting, ball pits, and, of course, a live concert. Among the artists confirmed for this year are gospel favorites Sister Patt and Prince Saj, as well as reggae-dancehall veteran Louie Culture.
Carnival Kingdom, one of the main events at the upcoming Summer of Soca Festival, is the ultimate live music fete. It has an incredible line up of top-tier soca artists and bands: Machel Montano, Patrice Roberts, Nailah Blackman, Lyrikal, and Skinny Fabulous, as well as a surprise guest performer.
In addition to the aforementioned artists, several international deejays are also on the program. This all goes down on Saturday, August 3rd at Markham Fairgrounds (10801 McCowan Road) in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Click here for tickets.
One of the hardest-working artists in reggae-dancehall, Richie Stephens, is gearing up to release his first ever full-soul music album on Friday, July 26, 2024. With well over thirty (30) LPs already in his catalog, this project, dubbed The Soul of Richie Stephens, is exceptional because it is the manifestation of several requests he has gotten over the years from both his fans and colleagues within the industry.
He explains it as follows: “what inspired this album is that for years and years people have been saying that I have the type of voice that they think I should do a soul album. And I’ve been ignoring that for several years, until I decided to do it because I’ve come of age. I’m fully experienced in a lot of things, production, songwriting, and all these things, that makes me more comfortable to do a full album of soul.”
He goes on to say: “it’s a soul album with a Jamaican touch. So all of the songs are original songs and some of the songs I’m singing in Jamaican dialect, so it’s more unique like this.”Stephens wrote all the songs, and he is credited for approximately 80% of the production, with most of the work being done at his Pot of Gold studio in Kingston, Jamaica.
The public has already gotten a taste of three of the tracks presented on The Soul of Richie Stephens: Heart Beat, a tune that was first heard on the Soul Food Riddim, Bassline Whine, a grown-folk rub-a-dub vibe, and Family & Friends, a feel-good track that features Bounty Killer and Wilful Skilful. An official video was just released for the latter, and all three songs are already enjoying heavy rotation!
There will be an album listening party at Footprints Cafe (5 Belmont Road) in New Kingston on the release date, Friday, July 26. The starting time is 8:00 p.m., and there is no cover charge.
MARIA JACKSON 27 MAGAZINE 