JMG INTERVIEWS MR VEGAS PART l -Behind The Music

JMG Interview’s Mr. Vegas-Part l

Your new album is it dedicated to the 50^th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence?

Mr. Vegas: My album is not only dedicated to the 50^th anniversary, it is also dedicated to those who have paved the way in the music Myself and Mike Bennet started out doing a few songs that he thought suited my voice and my style, songs like ‘’Tek it easy’’, ‘’Sweet and Dandy’’, just a few songs that he could hear Mr. Vegas singing and a way for me to step away from the everyday dancehall songs. It went so well that I decided to do a full album and of course we knew about the 50^th anniversary of our independence was coming up so we started doing songs with that concept . Most of the songs that we did like ‘’Cherry O baby’’ in which we used back the beat and Jimmy Cliff ‘’you can get it if you really want’’, songs that we grew up on, songs that helped to create the foundation of the music and of course still able to relate to our independence

Is Mr. Vegas the same person on twitter as in person?

Mr. Vegas: Yes, I am the same person I am not the type of person to say something and then hide when you see me. I am the same person all the time, it’s just that when I am working it’s just work time, when I am focusing on a show or in the studio recording  it is not time to mess around. Sometimes I may say things on twitter that seem bold but it is the truth. Not everyone can get away with speaking the truth sometimes I myself speak the truth and run into problems you know but it is something that I always do. Before I would say things around my people and get away with it, but now they have created twitter which is a medium for us to say stuff, we do get carried away with it sometimes and that is how I get myself into trouble sometimes because I do get carried away.

Artists have come before and after you and they have not had (and this is because I see on your twitter that you are constantly travelling). What has kept your career in that kind of shape, because you seem to be very consistent, what has caused that?

Mr. Vegas: I think its discipline and I do not try to stay in Jamaica and continue to dominate the Jamaican market. I had my run in 97/98 and 99 where I had songs like; Heads high, Nike Air, Hands up, Jacket and those tunes. I had my run, I did what had to be done in Jamaica so I won’t be staying in Jamaica and competing against Popcaan, Mavado and Vybz Kartel because they are getting their time. What I do is release other songs overseas like ; Pullup and Tamale that are sometimes not played in Jamaica. These songs are played in France, Morocco and all over the world so I will be able to get away from the base market. When I do return to the base market and do a song, it does stand out. If I were to record every day on a beat and then be at every staged show, that is when people get tired because you end up sounding monotonous . I have good people around me like; Frenchie, Leslie and Junior also who will tell me the truth about something I record. They will not tell me it’s good when it is bad and for that I am always going back to the drawing board so you will find that sixty percent of the time I produce a song that is worth listening to. The other forty percent comes in when I am stubborn and think that I know it all-

Do you think most artists before and after you are guilty of trying to dominate the Jamaican market instead of accepting that they have had their time and try to push their music in a different direction agreed?

Mr. Vegas: Yes of course, there are artist and I don’t wish to call names but there are artist who had a great career going, they had a great legacy going and if they had just stepped away for a minute and allow the Jamaican market to miss them. They could have been the biggest force in the music. For instance if you don’t see them on two or three years and then see them on a state show it would be as if they would bring all the good memories and remember the songs that you grew up listening to and love . It is good to step away, if you try to dominate the market in Jamaica; which is very small, you see the same set of people every-day, perform for them every-day, you go to the same Sum fest, the same Magnum party or even Follow di Arrow where they same people attend every year. I believe that people will get tired of you and in doing that it will destroy your legacy.

I won’t go into Kartel to deep but now I feel like a lot of artists who took themselves away from the music are trying to come back, a lot of them are trying to put their heads back on the market. Do you think they were intimidated by Kartel’s influence on the Jamaican market and now that he is not controlling the market as much they are trying to come back, do you see that happening?

Mr. Vegas: No I think there are influences that come around and people get drawn into that influence. It has to do with the media, the people who cover the music, those who play and write the music. They buy into the craziness so sometimes artists may feel like they have to do the same thing and others may feel is not worth it to do anything because of what goes on in the media. They may also feel like if they do songs they will not be mentioned or get covered because the media is feeding into one particular thing that is going on, because it is a craze going on. People buy into it whether good or bad. The media only covers what is popular, the artists that you are hearing now, they were always recording but now there is nothing to write about certain influences, so it is as if they are actually doing something now  when they were recording all along. It’s just that the media was focusing on a different craze that was going on. There is nothing negative to focus on now, so they have to focus now on what they have now.

Do you think the system that they have in Jamaica, in regards to payola, do you think it is fair because it is one thing to pay a selector to play your music but in Jamaica, it seems as if you have to pay them, then radio then you have to pay people to keep on paying them to play the music, do you think this is a fair system and do you think that artists should come together and correct this if you also think it is unfair?

Mr. Vegas: Well, payola has been going on for ages now but the difference with payola now, than then is that you can pay to get a song that is not good to be played. Back in the days when you had payola they paid to have songs that were worthy of being played, the difference now is that you can tell that a song is being paid to play because it is not good. Payola has been always going around, it is just that then, you used to have great artist with great songs who used to still give selectors some money but now it has become a different business, because so much music is coming out and there are no longer five or six producers. Now , there are hundreds of producers in the market place and some of these people find ways of making money, making it a way to ‘’eat their food’’ by making some money. It is no longer about the quality of the music anymore. As far as artists coming together against payola, that is never going to happen. The first one that goes out and takes a stand will become a victim and will end up not getting played because the same artists you will take a stand with and for will go back and pay them so the person who will take a stand will be standing alone on the battle field. A lot of people are willing to take that chance, I am not. This is not something that I would do best; I try to do good music. I also believe that if you go overseas and make $8000.00 on a show it is nothing if you return to Jamaica and give $1000.00. It should be nothing for you to give a selector a twenty pack, after all , he is in the dance screaming out his throat , night after night or even if you see a radio personality and say ‘’I love the way you are handling my career,  take this and buy yourself  a drink’’ there is nothing wrong about that. What I do not like is the part where songs are forced upon people because of monetary gain. That is the part I do not like.

Do you think that things will get so bad with payola that the artist would have no choice but to come together and create and organization in which the music would be monitored and if payola was paid out it would be paid like before where it was only paid on good music that is played, and not ones that as you say ‘’don’t count. Because back in the days if payola existed the way you said. Most of the people who got a chance back then to be heard would not be heard if payola existed as you said because they were poor. So what would happen to a musician who was good at his music but did not have the money to pay because his music would be lost in this payola system do you think artist in Jamaica would be able to come together to say enough is enough , yes or no?

Mr. Vegas: Well, back in the days when payola existed as my research has shown it used to be about substance. For example, if Dave Kelly put out a beat in my era or in the 90ties you could guarantee that the seven people on that beat would be worth promoting so if a producer pays his money to promote those seven songs it would be worth it because they would be seven hit songs but the difference now is that you have songs that will be played now and songs that are going to be left in an abyss because there is no money. The music has gotten to a point where everyone is also playing radio and the type of people that are playing on the radio are not qualified to play or judge a good song. Some of them are working just for the hype. Check this out; It is easier now for someone to put out a song that is not good because now, all you have to do is get a microphone and hook it up to your computer, record it and put it on the internet or burn a cd. You can even give it to a radio man or a sound man, and give him forty or fifty thousand dollars to play your music. Back in the days you would have to buy a twenty four track, after buying the twenty four track, then you would have to book the studio time, after booking the studio time, you would have to get an engineer, then after that you would have to make the beat and after making the beat you also had to get someone to mix the beat and still after that you would have to go to Dynamic sound or Sam’s sound to cut something called ‘’ a sampan’’, after that you get the after tape and after that you would have to pay someone to cut the record . Doing all of that back then, there used to be fewer producers. There were a selected few who could dominate the business at that time because they had the money and capability to do that. Now it is a whole different ball game. All the money that is spent in all of that that I just said, right now anyone can use a half or a quarter of that money and burn his song on his computer after recording in his bathroom and give it to a sound system operator to play and it would get played. The music doesn’t have to be mixed properly, or sound good. All they have to do is put some auto-tune on it and it’s good to go. Back in the days no one would be go through the trouble of doing what I said before just to pay for someone to play a song.

Do you think it will ever get back to the old days where it was about quality music or do you see it getting worst?

Mr. Vegas: Well, quality music will always stand out in a certain market because of the influences on that market place quality music will always stand out. You may go to Europe and that song may be the biggest song there. Artist just have to keep on doing what they are doing because at the end of the day, good music will stand up and the tunes that you may pay to play for two or three weeks, you will not hear about them after six months.

In terms of singers/sing jays, who do you see as having good talent now on the market that is not getting enough exposure or the respect that they should be getting?

  Mr. Vegas: I think Romaine Virgo is a very good artist, I think Chris Martin is a good artist I see a lot of talent. I think Tarrus Riley and a lot of other artists are good artists but it depends on what the media is going to sell when they write their articles or how many views they will get. That is how things are based right now because there is the internet and it’s all about comments and views, like who is getting the most views on YouTube and who is getting the most comments on websites that’s where things are now, so a lot of these artist are not going to get the promotion or the media hype that controversial artists are going to get.

Okay, because they are not considered controversial, is that what you think?

Mr. Vegas:  Yes, based on the whole internet or I should say cyber world right now, it’s all about creating a hype or creating something controversial.

Who do you think is responsible for that?

Mr. Vegas: I think the whole media is responsible for that and what people think they have to do in order to be seen or heard

You do not have to name names but do you know any artists who create fake controversies?

Mr. Vegas: No, it’s not just one special artist, there are a lot of artists who thrive off that, there are a lot of artists who if they are not in the limelight they go crazy. There are a lot of artists who have to stand in the dance every night to make sure that their music is played because they can’t live without one week or two or even a month without anyone speaking about them. If you want to see artists go crazy around here, just let no one talk about them for six months. They have to find something to do for people to talk about them. They just get caught up in the media hype and some artists thrive on that.

To me, none of this started before Kartel and because he did this a lot of other artist tried to do  the same, do you agree?

STAY TUNED FOR HIS RESPONSE + MR VEGAS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, ABOUT HIS CHILDREN, MARRIAGE, WOMEN, ROMANCE AND HIS MEDICAL MIRACLE..NEXT WEEK 2/22/2012 OR JAMAICA DATE 22/2/2012 .. DON’T MISS