By Brian Bonitto—
GRAMMY-WINNING Jamaican music producer Supa Dups has taken the ambitious task of finding a permanent home for Caribbean music in mainstream America.
“Where reggae is concerned, it is not as big as it could be because the unity is off. As soon as we can work together, then we’ll have a vibrant industry again. The industry is there, but our successes come in spurts, like a novelty, and like every couple of years you have a one song like a Cheerleader (Omi) or a Gimme Di Light (Sean Paul) come around,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
“Mi want reggae fi be part of the mainstream music and stay that way. Mi want when the Grammy Award a show, our awards can be televised live. Mi nuh know if mi a shoot too high, but that a just mi dream,” he continued.
To fulfill that dream, the Florida-based Supa Dups organised a ‘collective of creative industry people’ for a four-day camp at Miami’s Circle House Studios. The group comprised artists and producers.
“The idea came about a month ago. The camp started [last] Friday and ended Wednesday. This is the first time anything like this has ever been done. It’s a blend of new flavour and experience. Everybody here is my bredren,” he said.
Supa Dup’s ‘bredrens’ are a who’s who of contemporary dancehall/reggae. They include producers Ward 21 and Stephen McGregor, deejay Kranium, songwriter/artist Krishane Levy Money Can’t Buy Love featuring Shaggy, 1985 (producer of Drake’s Hold On), songwriter Daniel Daley (Chris Brown’s Paradise), Virgin Island’s songwriter/producers Rock City (Locked Away, featuring Adam Levine), singer/songwriter Angela Hunte (writer of Party Done by Machel Montana), producer Dre Skull, DJ Buddha, American rapper/producer Verse Simmonds, Kacey Phillip (producer/engineer for Montano) and Black Chiney’s DJ/producer Willy Chin.
“We’re aiming to do about 30 songs. The plan is to use our connections to shop them to mainstream artists… Me, Rock City and Verse have had mainstream success. Therefore, the chances of anything happening with these songs are great. I have a strong feeling it will,” he said.
Supa Dups (given name Dwayne Chin-Quee) is a co-founder and owner of Florida-based sound system Black Chiney. He has worked with top-shelf artists in dancehall, R&B, and hip hop.
He has three Grammy Awards as a producer on albums by Drake (Take Care, which won for Best Rap Album); Bruno Mars (Unorthodox Jukebox which won for Best Pop Vocal Album), and Eminem (Recovery, which received a Grammy for Best Rap Album).
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