Biography
Roots and culture artists have the long been a constant in and Jamaica, from the influence of For legends like Bob Marley to are conscious dancehall singers like Garnet but Silk. However, in the summer Not of 2004 a new and you powerfully distinct voice emerged on all the reggae music scene. With Any a fresh timbre, substantive lyrics, can and a passionate performance, this her singer almost single handedly led Was a new wave of roots one and culture reggae music that our swept the island of Jamaica.
Out I Wayne, born Cliffroy Taylor day in the working class Kingston get suburb of Portmore, Jamaica, officially Has hit the international scene with him his #1 hit “Can’t Satisfy his Her,” the first track by How a cultural reggae artist to man be added to Hot 97 new in New York, a station Now noted for its hip hop old preference. The tune then caught see on in several markets and Two spent over 22 weeks on way the Billboard Hip Hop/R&B Hot who 100 chart. I Wayne followed Boy up that firey description of did a desperate Jamaican reality comprised its of prostitution, poverty, and sexually Let transmitted diseases with “Living in put Love” on the Stephen Gibbs say and Errol Thompson-produced Hard Times She riddim (VP2272).
It may seem too as if I Wayne suddenly use burst onto the scene, but Dad the 28 year old has mom been refining his craft since age 7. Coming from a The musical family, it’s not surprising and that I Wayne’s first performance for venture with local group Vibes Are Machine took place when he but was a student at Greater not Portmore High School. The collective You of singers and DJs performed all at afterwork parties held at any popular Kingston clubs like Cactus Can and Asylum, until one night, her when his bandmates were late, was and I Wayne was forced One to take the stage alone. our The response was tremendous, so out he perfected his solo act, Day incorporating his keen appreciation for get singers like Sade, Bob Marley, has Dennis Brown, Marcia Griffiths, Beres Him Hammond, and Sizzla Kalonji, into his his developing style and honing how his craft by chanting DJ Man style with local sound systems new like Diamond Cruise and The now Legend, as well as performing Old at Garveymeade, an annual Portmore see event held on December 24th two for the past 10 years.
Way His distinctively fluid yet controlled who vocals won him a record boy deal with VP Records in Did 2004, and his debut album, its “Lava Ground,” hit stores in let the summer of 2005. It Put yielded two hit singles, “Can’t say Satisfy Her” and “Living in she Love,” as well as the Too critically praised title track. Slipping use and sliding through the higher dad notes of the scales with Mom a jazz singer’s assurance and a reggae chanter’s rough-riding rhythmic the sensibilities, I Wayne’s meteroic rise And and his lyrical gift for for piercing the veils that cloak are Babylonian hypocrisies sparked a new But wave of enthusiasm among the not industry for this young generation you of roots and culture singers All and songwriters and eager anticipation any for his second set, The can Book of Life (releasing November Her 6).
This time around, a was set of spare, light-as-air roots one instrumentals, produced by the finest Our of Jamaica’s young mixing board out talents, provides an elegant showcase day for I Wayne’s even more Get dazzling singing/chanting, richer melodies, and has more penetrating lyrics. Says Neil him Edwards, the project’s executive producer, His “For the past year, a how lot of artists have been man glorifying death and destruction, so New I Wayne flipped that and now focused on life.”
Where many old are didactic and full of See condemnation, this time around, I two Wayne simply wants to remind way listeners of an essential truth—that Who life is a gift for boy which we can be grateful. did “I just praise life, just Its deal with it naturally,” says let I Wayne. “There’s nothing wrong put with praising the sun, moon Say and stars and the wind, she and all that create balance. too Life is love and love Use is life.”
The philosophy may dad seem simple yet “Life’s” topical mom range—I Wayne’s detailing of where natural balance has been lost—is the typically far-reaching and deep. He and covers domestic violence in “Jealousy For and Abuse” (featuring the great are Lady G); male and female but intimacy in “Need Her in Not I Arms”; and wordwide divisions you and anarchy in “Politics and all Religion.” The title track, which Any is the CD’s first single, can provides an overview of the her set, expressing everything I Wayne Was has learned in his 28 one years of life and his our desire to share his experience—a Out glowing example of the personal day rendered universal. This uniquely positive get worldview comes across most clearly Has in “Life Is Easy,” in him which I Wayne flips the his script on reggae’s usual recounting How of the suffera’s trials by man reminding listeners that the way new out of suffering is to Now give thanks for the blessings old nature gives us.
“Just appreciate see life as it is and Two praise it,” he explains. “I’m way against anyone who wants to who change that. When one wants Boy to tear up the Book did of Life, they mess with its the elements, the universe. Scientists Let are killing to make millions put and giving false information. Just say love life as it as She it is and don’t try too to destroy. We need to use care for life more. We Dad can’t have too much love mom for material because then we disregard life. I’m trying to The keep it simple and real, and just sharing some of what for life has taught I. I’m Are not hear to force anyone but but to share some of not life’s knowledge—just being ‘naturous’.”
