BY KEVIN JACKSON–
Observer writer–
Kadeem “Kenzic” Wilson—
KADEEM Wilson came to prominence as an actor appearing in films including Ghett’a Life, Home Again, Destiny, and most recently, Sprinter.
Now, Wilson is forging new territory as reggae artiste Kenzic.
His debut album, Confident, is scheduled for release on August 3 on all digital streaming platforms.
“I’ve been singing and performing on stage from a tender age and I always had the talent to write songs. Within the last two years, I started committing to releasing more songs and, it so happened since the pandemic lockdown, I had a lot more time to go into that element and produce music,” Kenzic told the Jamaica Observer’s Splash.
He said he wrote his first song at eight, but it wasn’t until three years ago that he decided to approach music on a professional level.
A former student of Mona High School in Kingston, Kenzic later enrolled at the Excelsior Community College where he won multiple awards in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s School’s Drama Festival.
“While I was attending the Excelsior Community College, Kenneth Salmon asked me to do a dub poetry piece for the Performing Art School. I saw myself winning several awards that year, including Best Overall Speech Presentation,” he shared.
Confident is produced by Sarangatti Music. It has eight tracks, including the title track which was released in June. The project’s other songs include Perform For Me, Love Shot, Turn the Lights On, Trust None and Winning. Reggae artiste Keznamdi appears on a remix of Confident.
“I started working on the album a little before the country went into lockdown mode. We continued to work on it during the lockdown, so basically it took us about four months to complete,” said Kenzic.
Kenzic grew up in the Franklyn Town community of Kingston 16. He attended the Franklyn Town Church of God where he participated in the drama club.
“My first commercial acting gig was a play called Through the Fire, which was written and directed by Pablo Hoilett. I played a troubled teen who was involved in a life of crime and whose parents had to keep his criminal background a secret because they themselves were fearful for their lives,” Kenzic recalled.
Asked which role has been his personal favorite and why, Kenzic said: “I love every one of them but if I were to choose I would say my character Germaine in Sprinter because of its global impact and his characteristics. He’s an academic, athletic and a musician and he’s just the coolest older brother I wish I had.”
He cites his role in Dahlia Harris’s Dat a Gwaan Jamaica as his most challenging.
“It was a revue and it had serval skits and characters that I had to move between each night. I played a downtown hustler selling on the corner as well as a cricket commentator, a landlord and I had to sing and dance. It was a lot of work,” said Kenzic.
Kenzic was the recipient of the 2014 Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture. He said winning the award was a motivating factor in his career.
“To win such a prestigious award was like a dream coming true. I knew a few persons who had earned the award for their contributions in arts but to be among them now wasn’t something I could possibly fathom. It was really a proud moment and a huge motivation for me to keep excelling,” he added.
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