Laa Lee Talks His Career and His Music Style, Says Dancehall Is “Too Dark” – Watch Interview

September 19, 2022

Cheerful dancehall artiste Laa Lee, known for his light-hearted and infectious dance songs, has expressed that he will always produce happy music because that is what he finds relatable. Furthermore, the current state of dancehall music was “too dark” for his jovial personality.

Laa Lee shared these points with Anthony Miller on TVJ Entertainment Report when Miller questioned if he would dabble in the other areas of dancehall. Laa Lee, born Romario Ricketts, recently returned from the United Kingdom, where he spent two weeks and performed at the Notting Hill Carnival and The O2 arena. Speaking with Miller, Laa Lee indicated that the massive audience at The O2 arena made him a bit nervous, but he remained his authentic self. Everything ultimately turned out great, and his confidence received a big boost.

Laa Lee also visited Black Butter Records for the first time since inking a deal with its Sony affiliate, which made him the first dancehall artiste to join the British record label. Prior to travelling to the UK, he gave his usual spirited performance at the Jamaica 60 Grand Gala celebrations, where Prime Minister Andrew Holness engaged in ‘Leggo Di Bird,’ one of his famous dance moves.

“Mi memba dem did say mi a one-hit-wonder and mi surprise dem wid a bang and lef dem wid a bing,” he said, quoting a line from his latest song, Floating, which has been gaining popularity. According to Laa Lee, a group from Ocho Rios called the North Coast Boys created the new dance move for Floating. The Frankie Music-produced song is a follow-up to the viral single Bong Bing featuring Cristale.

The Bird hitmaker described himself as the “vibes man” as he explained that people could listen to his music after listening to emotional songs.

“Me a be me enuh, a swear to God mi cyah pretend,” he stated, explaining that he could not pretend to be a murderer or gunman and could not sing scamming or drug-related songs. “Me a be me. Mi a eediat and mi love laugh.” He added that despite growing up in Jungle, an inner city area of Kingston 12, he had to “be different from everybody else.”

“While everybody else a shoot and a grab, we a skin our teeth and get rich,” the Dirt deejay continued. When asked about his favourite music genres for collaboration, he highlighted UK Drill, Grime, and Afrobeat. However, Laa Lee does not think he could manage the grimy style of dancehall.

“Mi can’t manage dat, me can’t manage dem, Jamaican artiste dem too dark, me love dem music but the man dem dark man,” he said laughing. “You listen the Jamaican artiste you will pree all your friend dem enuh… yuh have some artiste weh mek yuh pree deep. When yuh listen Chronic Law enuh, yuh can’t tell me sey what dem man deh a talk nuh truthful… yuh pree deep.”

He continued by saying, “Mi tell yuh seh me do music base on how me feel, mi nuh inna da vibes deh so me can’t relate like how Chronic Law dem coulda relate, mi relate to like some happy music.” He pointed out Ding Dong and Voicemail as the types of entertainers in his field.