AUGUST 29, 2008
Tropical storm Gustav lashes Jamaica with heavy rain and 70 mph winds, grounding flights and mashing up Elephant Man’s Labor Day travel plans. But Mavado’s on the go—and the storm is the least of the obstacles he’s overcome. The singer’s international travel documents were seized last March after his arrest for illegal possession of firearms and shooting-with-intent, stemming from a 2007 incident in Kingston.
But the charges were dropped and his management pulled off a last-minute power move, bringing the “Gully God” to New York for the big holiday weekend—special delivery. Catching the last plane out of Kingston, he arrives just in time for [WQHT-FM] Hot 97’s On Da Reggae Tip concert in New York City, to be followed by the Irie Jamboree stage show in Queens and the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.
Fresh from the airport, Mavado posts up near the back of the stage with a white towel draped over his locks, watching Wyclef Jean’s lengthy set from the shadows. “The music industry is bullshit!” Clef proclaims. “A relationship has to do with real motherfuckers knowing real motherfuckers, so here’s the realest motherfucker on the planet!” As soon as Mavado moans the word that has become his signature—gangster—all three decks of the Hammerstein Ballroom explode into pandemonium. The singer stalks the stage, platinum cross glistening, teasing the crowd with an exultant new single—“So Special”—that will soon begin climbing the Billboard charts. The former Fugee cedes the spotlight with a satisfied smile, basking in Mavado’s reflected glory. By the time he launches into “On the Rock,” the capacity crowd is loud enough to raise the ornate roof. “Helicopter inna the air,” Mavado sings, “bright light ah shine ah ground.” He wrote the song after his 2007 birthday bash was raided by “hundreds of” police and soldiers. The audience roars every word back at him.
“When we deh pon the gully and sing, me never know how far my songs woulda reach,” he says in a smoky dressing room after the show. “Them send me ah jail. Them try kill me. Them try do everything. So me come sing ‘Jehovah guide me.’ Me sing the ghetto prayer.” His prayers were soon answered—not only was he released from jail, but he began getting the sort of international recognition that most Jamaican musicians only dream about. Mavado’s music and image were featured in a commercial for 2008’s Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar). Then came a call from G Unit. 50 Cent’s three-man wrecking crew was completing work on its album T.O.S: Terminate on Sight (G Unit/Interscope, 2008), and as Mavado puts it, “Them wan’ the gangster spit something.” The resulting cut, “Let It Go,” dropped just before Jay-Z blessed him with an unofficial remix to the militant gospel anthem “On the Rock,” the hottest rapreggae collabo in years. “Mavado make even Jay-Z look at dancehall different,” says the\ singer. “Me respect him for that.” After the Hot 97 show, Mavado jumps into a shiny black droptop with Wyclef and Lil’ Kim and heads straight to a recording session. Later on he’ll visit Roc the Mic Recording Studios to lay his voice on a Kanye West–produced track for Jay-Z’s reported forthcoming Blueprint 3. “Yeah man, big up Jay-Z,” he says. “Jigga ah me nigga.”
Right about now, David Constantine Brooks, 27, is hot to death. In the words of Beenie Man, he’s “the baddest singer to come inna the business since Tenor Saw”—the late great vocalist of “Ring the Alarm” fame. He’s also become hip hop’s designated voice of Jamaica, a walking signifier of musical wickedness. His sophomore album, Mr. Brooks… A Better Tomorrow (VP), is the most anticipated reggae release of 2009 despite—or because of—the fact that he’s been banned from several Caribbean islands and his lyrics have been blamed for the rising crime rate in his homeland (over 1,600 murders last year, averaging more than four a day). His fans consider him certified, authentic, a real bad man.
“He’s trying his best to grow out of that stereotype of being a street hoodlum or whatever,” says VP Records’ Neil “Diamond” Edwards, the A&R rep for both of Mavado’s albums. “If you notice ‘On the Rock,’ ‘So Blessed,’ and ‘So Special,’ all of those are big hits and none of them are saying, ‘I’m gonna kick down your door and shoot you….’ But you can’t erase that part of Mavado. He has matured, but don’t get it twisted.”
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