by Howard Campbell
[BALTIMORE] – Six years ago, Gladstone Nelson was a full-time farmer in north-eastern Jamaica, tilling the soil to earn his keep. In his spare time, he was throwing down lyrics as deejay Sauce Perreler.
Now based in Baltimore, Maryland, Sauce Perreler is one of the hottest acts in dancehall. Songs like Love Pandemic, Dancing, Victory and Ghetto Youth have made him one to watch in a competitive market.
While he has made inroads on the Jamaican scene, Sauce Perreler concedes there is still some way to go before he hits the big time.
“Mi feel like I’m jus’ at the start of my career, an’ more people getting to hear mi. It’s jus’ time; once more people hear mi, di career will take off,” he said.
Most of his songs including Love Pandemic and Hate Love, are produced by Money Ina Kyle Records, a company from his native St Ann parish. His first songs were done for the label in 2015.
In recent months, Sauce Perreler has worked with other producers such as Jon FX, the South Florida-based dynamo who helped pave the way for chart-riders like rapper XXXtentacion and singjay Gyptian.
Jon FX produced the genre-bending Dancing.
Over the years, breaking in the Jamaican dancehall market from overseas has been a grind. Some acts, like Shinehead and Bling Dawg, have accomplished a feat Sauce Perreler admits takes some doing.
“It’s really tough because there is a lotta good dancehall artist out there. It’s hard to get in the game but it jus’ takes (the right) people to hear di songs an’ anything can happen,” he said.
Sauce Perreler grew up in rustic St. Ann listening to hardcore dancehall acts as well as Bob Marley and Burning Spear who were also born in that parish. He also tuned into the pop sounds of The Backstreet Boys.
After losing his mother in his early teens, Sauce Perreler turned to farming. Whenever he and his family reaped, they sold crops including pineapples, avacados and spices to local stores and markets.
With his agricultural days a thing of the past, Sauce Perreler is looking for a bountiful harvest on music charts.
