Crawba Genius Looking to Make His Mark in Reggae Music
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Making his way up the musical ladder after starting out as an MC/selector, Jermaine Henry, otherwise known as Crawba Genius, is looking to cement his name into the Reggae and Dancehall music genres.
Hailing from Luna Field District (a little district located between St. Mary and St. Andrew) and Western Kingston plus ‘100’ Red Hills Road, Crawba began his journey of working with artistes on a production level in 2015 after joining a tour with Charly Black as his backup deejay and realizing his passion for becoming a producer.
During a recent discussion with Yardhype, Crawba expressed that his specialized genre is Reggae music and his first production (produced in 2015) was the Legends of Soul Riddim.
He went on to point out that two of his biggest influencers/mentors from the Jamaican music industry are Red Rose and Sly Dunbar, and while 80% of his musical production revolves around Reggae, he also dabbles in Dancehall from time to time.
How can Jamaican music get bigger?
To make the music reach a wider market, Crawba is endorsing collaborations and highlights that he believes that when two artistes work together, they are not just producing a new mix of musical sound, but also connecting their fanbases. He said, “When two artistes come together…it’s two different fanbases merge together and propel the music…and grow bigger.”
He cited After Party ( by Busy Signal, Mel Granda, and Osmani Garcia) and Summer Love (by Julian Marley, and Osmani Garcia) as examples of such collaborations.
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He next stated that Dancehall is in a state where it is not clocking the numbers needed even though the youths in the business are currently doing good music.
During the discussion, Crawba makes note of the difference in lyrical content nowadays and not having any issue with it, pointing out that it’s because of the shift in Dancehall music over the years. He reiterated that more features are needed in the industry which will create more unity among the artistes.
Crawba Genius believes that a new mindset is needed when it comes to Reggae because although the world at large knows that the genre exists, Bob Marley is still the first artiste that comes to mind when it is mentioned.
The reason behind this, according to Crawba, is that Reggae artistes are a bit too comfortable in their own space or diaspora, and this limits how much reach the music has on a larger international scale. He concluded the discussion by stating that this too can be solved through collaboration and unity.
He has worked with artistes under the Crawba Production label such as Capleton (Can’t Stop Us), Busy Signal (Party Nice), and Charly Black ft. Busy Signal (Whining Vixen).
Crawba’s latest release, another collab, is a love song titled “I Do” which features Jah Vinci and Spanish artiste Mel Granda.
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