Supa Dups—

DWAYNE ‘Supa Dups’ Chin-Quee has had a decorated career as a producer. He has worked with a long list of heavyweights in dancehall, rhythm and Blues and hip hop.

With three Grammy Awards to his credit and hits on the Billboard pop charts, he says there is still more to be accomplished.

“Just like anything else success comes with hard work and making the right decisions. To be successful in music you have to love it before anything else. Wanting to be in music for any other reason than that you won’t make it,” Supa Dups told Splash.

Many Jamaican music fans know Supa Dups as founding member and owner of the Miami-based Black Chiney sound system.

Black Chiney started in 1999 with Supa Dups and colleagues Richard Flores and Bobby Chin producing ‘mix CDs’ for the Poison Dart sound system.

“I continued to put out CDs and then started doing remixes for DJ Khaled until Black Chiney exceeded both Poison Dart’s and DJ Khaled’s popularity. It was Bounty Killer who convinced us to turn Black Chiney into a sound system and the rest is history,” Supa Dups recalled.

As demand for Black Chiney grew, Supa Dups brought in his cousin Willy Chin and Walshy Fire as members. The latter is still a member of Black Chiney but also works with the hot Major Lazer camp.

Supa Dups was born in Kingston but has lived in the United States since his teens. He says his involvement in music was inevitable.

“I grew up around music all my life. My older brothers were DJ/selectors and I got my influence from there. I started to DJ/select when I was 11 and at age 15 I started to get interested in how the music was made. My aunt who I lived with mortgaged her house and bought me an Akai MPC 3000 and I have been producing ever since,” he said.

Black Chiney has helped push Jamaican music into the US mainstream. Some of the songs the ‘sound’ is responsible for breaking on the Billboard charts are Turnin’ Me On by Nina Sky and Father Elephant by Elephant Man, both produced by Supa Dups.

His production credits include WTP by Enimem (from the album Recovery); Fast Lane by Eminem & Royce Da 5’9; Marvin’s Room/Buried Alive by Drake featuring Kendrik Lamar; Our First Time and Liquor Store Blues by Bruno Mars and Damian Marley (co-produced by Supa Dups’ cousin Mitchum ‘Khan’ Chin); Show Me by Bruno Mars; Each Tear by Mary J Blige; You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No) by Rihanna and Vybz Kartel; Shake That Booty by rapper David Banner featuring Elephant Man; Blind to You and Tomorrow’s Another Day by Collie Buddz; Come Over by Estelle featuring Sean Paul; and Can’t Be My Lover by John Legend and Buju Banton.

He has won three producer’s Grammys for work on albums by Drake (Take Care, which won for Best Rap Album); Bruno Mars (Unorthodox Jukebox won for Best Pop Vocal Album); and Eminem (Recovery won a Grammy for Best Rap Album).

Supa Dups recently produced a track for Tessanne Chin’s upcoming album for Universal Republic.

While much of his time is spent producing songs, he believes the sound system is still breaking records, even with the advent of accessible mediums like YouTube.

“Sound system is what keeps reggae/dancehall music going worldwide. It is very important because I feel it not only preserves our music, but it also makes Jamaicans the coolest people on Earth,” he reasoned. “Sound systems like Black Chiney, Renaissance, Stone Love and Tony Matterhorn help to popularise dancehall and also influences EDM (electronic dance music) ‘sounds’ like Major Lazer and Skrillex.”

Now in its 15th year, Black Chiney continues to play around the US and Europe, although Supa Dups says it is going through a “reinvention process”.

They are scheduled to play dates in China next month.