As Dancehall artists war over ‘top ranking’ status at home, they stand to miss out on collective success abroad, says producer Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor.
During a recent interview with Donovan Watkis, Di Genius was asked to choose between the one-time rivals Shenseea and Jada Kingdom. “Out of the two, who is more talented and who do you enjoy working with more,” Watkis queried.
Di Genius, who co-produced Shenseea’s Blessed (2019) with Tyga, Major Moves (2019) with Ne-Yo, Run Run (2021), and Jada Kingdom’s recently released GPP, Dickmatized, Next Time and her upcoming John Legend collab Speak In Tongues, declined to place one artist over the other.
“From the outside looking in it’s ‘oh, it’s two Dancehall artists,’ but it’s two completely different artists. The two a them have different strengths,” he said.
He asserted that Dancehall culture needs to look beyond the “either/or” mentality because “it a beat we bad right now.”
The producer also noted that when artists compete instead of uniting, Dancehall’s crossover momentum slows.
“The reality is this. Our culture is huge, but the music itself is so small that no one person can’t carry it at any given time. But because Jamaican culture, we have a either/or..it’s either Bounty or Beenie, or it’s either Shenseea or Jada, it’s either Sean Paul or Shaggy, there’s always that thing,” he said.
Watch Full Interview below