By Sadeke Brooks—

You might not always hear him on the radio or see him on TV, but that’s because singer Wayne Wonder is not one to seek “hype or recognition”.

Wayne Wonder, who was in Jamaica recently, promoting his mixtape,It’s Legendary, says he is always recording and visits Jamaica quite frequently.

“Nuff time mi deh Jamaica and dem nuh know. But I am not a media baby, it has to be about the music. It’s not about the recognition or the hype,” said Wayne Wonder, who resides in Florida.

He also explained that his new mixtape is not an attempt at a comeback.

“Wayne Wonder always a work. Mi know how it is, some things get overlooked. When mi wake up mi inna studio. If mi even inna the hotelroom, mi can set up and do mi ting,” he said.

And despite not having much visibility in Jamaica, Wayne Wonder says Jamaica is still his home and is very important to him.

“That’s where I’m from, where everything started. Jamaica is very important … get your stuff buzzing in Jamaica and the world will hear it. All my recent videos, I shoot them in Jamaica,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Wayne Wonder was also very pleased with the reception he got for It’s Legendary while promoting it in the island.

“We basically take on the streets, a couple dances. The promotion was a nice little vibe ’cause people haven’t heard Wayne Wonder in a while,” he said.

He added that It’s Legendary has “a lot of new stuff and stuff that were overlooked. A me mek it miself, just a vibe it like a real DJ a juggle. I host it inna old-school vibe like how Daddy U-Roy would do it. It’s just a different flavor”.

The mixtape has songs like Let Me Love You Tonight, Extraordinary Love, This Time and All About You.

While the mixtape bubbles in the streets, he said he has an album, Sweet Song, that is completed, but he is waiting before he releases it.

“I have to create a demand. I dropped the Let Me Love You Tonight and push it and create a buzz then take it from there,” Wayne Wonder told The Sunday Gleaner.

In addition to the It’s Legendary mixtape, he said he has singles like Knock It Pon Dem with Beenie Man, Searching for Love featuring Iyara, and he will release the music video for Many Reasons soon.

MORE VISUALS

“Mi a do a lot of videos ’cause the new generation hear bout Wayne Wonder, but don’t know the face, so mi just a give them more visual,” he said.

Wayne Wonder was on a high in the 1990s and early 2000s with songs like Keep Them Coming, Bashment Gal, Joyride, No Letting Go and Bounce Along.

He was even nominated for a Grammy Award and was also on the Billboard Hot 100.

Fast-forward years later, he said there has been very little change in the music industry.

“Not much change. Mi nuh really knock the youth dem fi wah dem a do,” he said, noting that there was also opposition from older members of the society and the industry in his early days.

Wayne Wonder says the main difference now is that there are more artists due to the easy access to recording facilities.

“You nuh haffi wait your time fi go inna studio,” he said.

And with that, he says some songs that are of poor quality get onto the airwaves.

“Some youths get overlooked. Nuff youth a put in the work weh solid, but it get overlooked. But good music will always prevail,” Wayne Wonder told The Sunday Gleaner.

“If dem nuh feel it today, some day down the line, a DJ ago put dem hand pon it. Mi nuh run down the hype, mi put in the work.”

The work, he says, will continue as he makes his way to Dubai and AbuDhabi in the coming week for a series of shows.