NEW YORK – If you think reggae died with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, think again. Jamaica’s latest star, Mavado, combines hip-hop-influenced beats with ominous minor-key vocals about street life and salvation.
“I started singing when I was four or five years old, and people always wanted me to sing more,” says Mavado, who grew up in Cassava Piece, a rough dirt-road section of Kingston. Over the past few years, the 27-year-old singer — who has a heavily scarred face and dark, bloodshot eyes — has catapulted to the top of Jamaica’s MC circuit on the strength of songs such as the taunting “Real McKoy.”
Last year, he released his debut album, Gangsta for Life; his thuggish style has won him fans in the U.S., where hip-hop stations have started playing tracks like “Weh Dem a Do” and “Last Night.” Jay-Z was so impressed that he cut a remixed version of Mavado’s “On the Rock,” stepping out of his comfort zone to rhyme in a hyperspeed flow.
Mavado recently played a number of U.S. shows and was surprised to discover how many fans he has here. “The fans in the U.S. are more hyperactive,” he says, “because they don’t see Mavado that much.”-Evan Serpick
