Roy "Gramps" Morgan of Reggae band Morgan Heritage steps out on his own

The only constant in life is change. Few people know this better than Roy “Gramps” Morgan, 33, of the seminal roots reggae group, Morgan Heritage. For the past 15 years he and his four siblings have carved out their own niche as one of the most innovative reggae groups of our time by blending the best of rock, pop, hip-hop and R&B.

Now, after eight MG albums, the brawny baritone troubadour is about to open a new chapter in his music career with the release of his debut solo LP entitled Two Sides of My Heart. The two-disc set—which will be released on his very own Dada Son Entertainment label—features the hit single “Wash the Tears,” which has been beating up the reggae charts since it hit the airwaves in January. Reggae icon, Buju Banton, and acoustic soul songbird, Inida.Irie, are among the highly-anticipated guests lending their vocals to the project.

WhereItzAt recently spoke to the Brooklyn-born Yardy about the new album and his entrepreneurial pursuits.

A lot of people are anticipating your new project Two Sides of My Heart. Can you explain the meaning behind the title?

Well, musically I express myself in many different ways. Most of the messages are about
the redemption of love and the redemption of God. Still, God is love. I also like to inject some social and cultural awareness into my music and give reverence to our traditions and our spiritually. At the same time, there is another side of me that just loves to have fun. Sometimes I can have fun, have a good time through the many different genres of music. So those are the two sides of my heart. It’s a double CD, so that’s basically the concept.

Tell me some of the producers you worked with on this project.

I worked with Don Corleone out of Kingston Jamaica. He has worked with artists like Sean Paul, Jah Cure, Rihanna, Elephant Man, Keyshia Cole. Also on the album is a friend of mine from No Doubt Records named DJ Flava. However most of the tracks were produced by me.

I know that a lot of your fans are wondering whether or not you’re distancing yourself from Morgan Heritage with this new project. Is the group breaking up?

Naaah!!! No, not at all, mon (laughs). My brothers and I talk everyday. To all of your readers I just want to reiterate that the band is not breaking up, so have no fear. There’s another Morgan Heritage album in the works. Right now we’re just working on some solo ventures and having fun working with all kinds of producers. We want to highlight the different elements that make up Morgan Heritage, but we’re not breaking up. As a matter of fact we have some shows that we’re still doing.

It sounds like you’re broadening your horizons, so I’m sure your fans will be glad to here that.

Definitely, because sometimes with a popular band the people may only know one or two members, so with solo projects the fans will have a better opportunity to know the different members of the group musically. Peter, his sound is going to be more of a dancehall, R&B, lover’s rock sound. Mojo is more going after the rock market as well as the reggae market. There are a lot of different ways to approach the music industry right now and we’re having fun with it.

Tell me about your company, Dada Son Entertainment. How did that come about?

I decided that I wanted to manage some artists and develop talent from across the world. I had in mind places like Africa, Europe, the eastern Caribbean, Hawaii and Canada. I started to manage an artist by the name of Irie Love. She was one of the first artists I was managing. I also have dreams and aspirations to put out short films, movies and documentaries on our culture. I think that we have a lot of things to say as a people, so I want to bring these things to life. Dada Son is a branch off of Gideon Music, which is the family label.

Is there anything else you want to share with your fans which may not been covered already?

They can reach me on Facebook. I told someone recently that I’m always on Facebook and they were like “You have time for that?” I was like “Yeah, but even if I didn’t I would have to make time.”

True indeed.

Amy Winehouse's Reggae effort gets a Less Than Warm Reception from Island Records

Caught the article below on the All Headline News web site. For those who weren't aware, it was reported last year that Winehouse was working on a reggae album. Given her stature as a Grammy-award winning artist, some speculated that her effort would have given reggae a needed boost had she turned out an impressive album.

Personally, I think that it's unfortunate that people would look to a white British pop star to give reggae music more credibility in the market place when there are so many talented artists coming out of Jamaica, and other parts of the so-called Third World, who are more than capable of doing the job. Maybe if some of these major record labels did a better job of marketing and promoting those artists then reggae would finally break through the Glass Ceiling. Then again, maybe those individuals at the head of the music industry meant for it to be this way.........

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London, England (CNS) - After being denied a work visa for Coachella festival, troubled singer Amy Winehouse’s latest music compositions have been rejected by her label.
The Rehab hitmaker recorded a number of demo tracks with a Caribbean flavor for her highly anticipated third album during a three-month hiatus on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

However, Winehouse has reportedly been ordered to re-record her new album after music bosses at the star's label Island Records were left unimpressed by her latest reggage offering, according to U.K. newspaper the Daily Mirror.

A source tells the publication, “Amy was very productive during her stay in St Lucia. She wrote a hell of a lot of songs, but the majority of them just are’t hitting the mark….She seems to have ditched her trademark vintage soul sound and is now heavily influenced by reggae. Her bosses don’t think it’s a wise move to change her style so sharply and [they] have told her that.”

Soul Survivor

How Yellowman turned personal adversity into a stellar music career

PHOTOGRAPHER: CHAMPION HAMILTON
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Although the origins of dancehall music can be traced as far back as the 1940s, the first man to make it an international music phenomenon was Winston Foster, better known to dancehall fans as King Yellowman. While Shabba Ranks, Shaggy and Sean Paul have all made promethean contributions towards boosting dancehall’s marketability worldwide, Foster bears the uncanny distinction of being the first to prove it was possible.

Yellow’s resume has made him a tough act to follow even two decades removed from the height of his recording career. Evidently, this is because his role in the popularization of Jamaican music and culture has been that of a trail-blazing pioneer. He’s the first deejay to be nominated for a Grammy and record with major hip-hop acts. He is also the first to ink a deal with a major U.S. record label (CBS Records).

This past August Yellow performed at Irie Jamboree before over 36,000 fans in Queens, New York. A natural entertainer, it was hard to tell whether it was 2008 or 1983 based on the reception he got once he hit the stage. The crowd erupted in nostalgic reverence as the Henry “Junjo” Lawes produced “I’m Getting Married in the Morning” wafted from the towering stage speakers. Guillaume Bougie, a 26-year-old banker from Montreal, Quebec Canada, drove all the way form the City of Saints with his buddies in tow to see King Yellow perform for the very first time. “I’ve been listening to Yellow Man since I was a kid. He’s the best,” says a starry-eyed Bougie, who had attended a wedding with friends the day before.

“My music is real,” says Yellow during an interview with Fast Food for Thought following his Irie Jam performance. “It’s dance music that brings a positive vibe to the people. My performances are real so whenever I go on stage I expect a positive response from the fans. That’s what I get wherever I go.”

Considering his spectacular accomplishments, it’s difficult to even imagine that Yellow’s rise to dancehall supremacy was an improbable one. While he is championship caliber deejay, and a winner in life, his tumultuous upbringing gave him every reason to loose. Yellow was shunned by his biological parents because of his albinism and spent much of his formative years in the Maxfield Home orphanage in Kingston, Jamaica. Nevertheless, he found a way to succeed despite the personal challenges that his melanin deficit presented him. “It was very difficult to deal with as a youth, but I never allowed it to make me bitter. Instead, I learned to appreciate my uniqueness. Eventually other people did too.”

Foster’s penchant for riddim and rhyme got the attention of local sound systems when he won a Tastee Patties-sponsored deejay contest in the late ’70s. By the early ’80s, the stellar trajectory of his career brought him to superstardom. Yellow occupied the world stage and became a musical ambassador of his beloved island.

Yellow says that he is living proof that if you work on developing your talent, and remain ambitious, it is more than possible for you to overcome any perceived limitations. “No matter what, you can’t give up, mon!,” the animated Albino wonder admonishes. “If you set out on a mission don’t give up. One day! One day! Your time will come, because nothing happens before its time.”

Pieces of A Man

Busy Signal may not be the most visible member of The Alliance. But he’s certainly the one with the most to say…..

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For the past two years the dancehall world has revolved around a band of deejays lead by the Warlord, Bounty Killer, formerly known as The Alliance. Consisting of Mavado, Bling Dawg, Wayne Marshall, Elephant Man and Busy Signal, the crew has injected a new sense of life and excitement into dancehall music.

Mavado’s career took off in the middle of 2006 with the release of the monster smash “Weh Dem Ah Do.” However, in late 2005 his partner in rhyme, Reanno Gordon—who is better known in dancehall circles as Busy Signal—helped get the ball rolling for The Alliance when he dropped the club scorcher, “Step Out.” The track featured the popular hook, “Wuk gyaaaal, bus’ guuuuun, smoke weeeeed, have fuuuuun—wuh me do?!”

By the spring of 2006 Busy’s single had gotten numerous spins on urban music radio stations across the United States. Fortunately, the clever wordsmith had the presence of mind to strike his hammer while the iron was hot. He subsequently released his freshman LP, Step Out, on the U.K.’s Greensleeves record label which was acquired by VP Records in January of this year. Busy’s success helped pave the way for Mavado’s meteoric rise to stardom. Yet despite the fact that both fans and industry shareholders put stock in Busy as a bankable dancehall superstar of the future, he suddenly disappeared from the scene like his name was Bear Stearns.

Last year, however, Busy reemerged from his cave like a bear out of hibernation displaying the artistic passion and hunger that fans of good music have been starving for. Loaded, his sophomore release on VP Records, is a ready-served musical meal packed with beefy production courtesy of DeMarco, Don Corleon, SSMG and Leftside. The LP features standout cuts like “People So Evil,” “Tic Toc,” “Unknown Number,” and the DeMarco-produced hot gyal tune, “Wine Pon Di Edge.” The thinking gangsta’s gangsta spoke to Adika about his new project and what he believes to be the Jamaican media’s bias towards his bad boy clique, The Alliance.

Over the last couple of years The Alliance has been the hottest crew in dancehall. What do you think has allowed you to distinguish yourselves from the rest of the competition? What’s the difference between you and them?

It’s just my creativity. I don’t really keep my music monotonous. I try to use different flows, different styles, different concepts each time. I think that’s one of the things that separate me and my type of style from other dancehall artists. It’s the creativity.


In Jamaica, The Alliance has been criticized for the nature of its music. Given the amount of violent crime that has occurred on the island over the last few years, do you think that any of that criticism is deserved?

It’s bad on the music because there are some people who actually believe all of that stuff. My personal belief is that music does have some influence on some people, but you can’t blame violence on music. When I say that I mean no music: not hip-hop, not dancehall, not rock—no music. You can’t blame music for the violence occurring in an entire country or continent. Music unites people. If you have a show where some singers or some deejays come to play a few songs, I guarantee you that people will be there. People are gonna unite under the banner of music. The fighting and the violence you’re referring to, that’s a political thing. That’s an election thing. One or two people may take the music too far and overreact to it, but at the end of the day, music is not the cause of the violence.

Being an artist involves exploring many aspects of the human experience, the good and the bad. Given the fact that artists do have an influence on people—especially young people—in terms of how they think and how they act, why in your opinion don’t more dancehall artists show the other side of the coin when talking about violence? Why do you think more of them don’t address the inevitable consequences that senseless violence will ultimately lead to?

Me, I could speak for myself, but I can also speak for The Alliance. We do that, but guess what? We don’t get any credit for it! None of the tabloids write about it. We give to charities; we go to the schools; we talk to the children. I’m actually one of the leading artists in Jamaica currently on a school tour—free of cost—riding around the island talking to the kids, singing a couple songs, signing autographs, telling them to stay focused, stay off the street, get an education. No one highlights these things. It doesn’t go on the Internet; none of the television networks video record it. You won’t read about it in The Star. But if I get up this morning and smack some n-gga in the head or shoot somebody then it will be in The Star. It will be in the papers for months.

Are you saying that the media thrives on violence and negativity?

Yes, because it sells papers. Everybody is just about making something for themselves and making their own money—no matter what kind of money it is. It could be corrupted money gained from negatively highlighting someone else. The media doesn’t highlight the good things we do. They give dancehall bad press, they give reggae bad press. No one wants to acknowledge the good that we do.

I’ve been listening to the music you’ve been putting out over the last few months and it’s clear to me that you’re a lyricist, a writer. What inspires you to write?

Everyday life. If you hear me deejaying something for the girls it might be about a girl I met last night, or maybe a friend told me a story and I decided to make a song out of it. If it’s a true portrait than people are more likely to relate to it. That’s just how I see it.


“Unknown Number” is an original for me. I don’t remember hearing a dancehall song like it.

(Laughs) Thanks

I usually don’t answer blocked calls on my cell either, but sometimes you never know. Is there a story behind how that song came about?

Yeah, it was a joke. I was in the studio with my manager and an engineer and kept getting all of these blocked calls. I’m like “who’s calling me from all of these unknown numbers?” It was kind of frustrating cause I was trying to get some work done. I decide to release my frustration by making a song about it. DeMarco made that riddim. He did one and I said “No DeMarco, start from scratch,” and he came with that one. I didn’t go home until I got that feeling off my chest.

That’s wassup. A lot of people know Busy Signal’s music, but they don’t know much about the man behind the microphone. How would you describe your personality?

I’m not really the flashy, flashy type, but I’m cool. Sometimes I like to be by myself and just do my music. Other times I’ll sign a million autographs. I’m just energetic. I like to chill and observe things. But if I have to get up and do a show then I’ll do a show. I’m a workaholic though. I’ll be in the studio from like Sunday to Sunday.

Well the album is in stores now, what would you like for people to know about this project?

Give it a try, because it’s going to be worth your while. It’s music, and I do music. I’m influenced by a lot of different types of music—hip-hop, reggae, dancehall, R&B, rock. People who know me know I deliver, and I do it way more than UPS or FedEx. If you like dancehall, if you like good music you’re going to like my album so go to the store and pick it up.