Veteran reggae and dancehall artiste Mr Vegas has said that Ghetto Reggae, his latest album, is worthy of a nomination in the Best Reggae Album category of the annual Grammy Awards.
Released August 29, the 14-track set, which features collaborations with Demelo, Daddy U-Roy, and Greentone, is his first full-length project in seven years..
“I believe it is very important to reintroduce the authentic sound of reggae to the world, and this album does that. Also, the mixing of the tracks by Errol Browne, Ed Robinson, the lyrical content of the songs, plus the overall quality of the project makes it worthy to be in the running for a Grammy Award,” Mr Vegas told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.
The album made the list of albums being considered for a nomination and the nominees will be announced on November 7.
The project features a stellar line-up of musicians and producers, who have contributed to past Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated albums.
“The album was produced by me. However, major contributions came from Ed Robinson, Kirkledove, Jemoim, Kemist and Andre Gillespie. In terms of musicians, I worked with Kirkledove, Dean Fraser, Bowie, Khan, Danny Bassie, and Pastor Mark Brown,” said Mr Vegas, who wrote most of the songs on the project.
Khago wrote Take My Heart, while Yung Alphan from Nigeria wrote Grateful.
Said the MOBO-Award winning and Billboard-charting artiste: “The title of the album is a reflection of my exposure to reggae music and the experiences that came with it. As a young child, I ran away from home and hung out around a sound system in my community in rural St Andrew. Subsequently, I returned to Big Yard in Kingston; a place that can be described as a ghetto. I became a singer on the Small Axe Sound System that was owned by my cousin. Whenever the sound played and artistes performed, the patrons would beat on the zinc fences with excitement. Those memories are what I placed into Ghetto Reggae.”
Mr Vegas shared his experiences living in the ghetto as a youngster.
“The standout moments when I lived at Big Yard were the love and togetherness everyone shared. It was a big family. My bredrins Proof, Roger, Kenneth, and others would race our bicycles and play dominoes under the street light all night. Also, ‘clashing’ with other upcoming artistes on my cousin’s sound system. The not-so-great moment was Hurricane Gilbert [which affected Jamaica in September 1988]. After the storm went the house that I lived in was totally destroyed,” Mr Vegas recalled.
Ghetto Reggae took four years to complete.
“Work on the album started during the pandemic. The song Parasites was inspired by how humans were locked down and the creatures and the Earth seemed like they were better off without us. In my view, humans polluted the land and the sea, making it difficult for the plants, the creatures, and the waters to survive the pollution,” said Mr Vegas, who has released more than 10 albums to date.
Tracks featured on Ghetto Reggae include Bye Bye Julie, Call Tyrone (featuring Daddy U-Roy), My Enemies (featuring Demelo), Grateful, God Will Delvier Us, One Praise (featuring Greentone), an updating of the classic Fade Away, Land of My Birth and I Miss You.
Mr Vegas shared that he was very much involved in the production of Ghetto Reggae.
“I was very hands-on with this project. I am a perfectionist, and I had to get what I had envisioned. This is a classical album that reminds people of the authentic reggae sound,” he reasoned.
Mr Vegas exploded onto the music scene in 1997 when he jumped on producer Jeremy Harding’s Playground rhythm and delivered Nike Air, a song that made the top 10 on local charts.
He later followed up with the inescapable Heads High, which impacted the British pop and Billboard charts.
Hot Wuk, Pull Up, and Hot Gal Today with Sean Paul also made strides on multiple Billboard charts.
Ghetto Reggae was released via MV Music.