/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Rasta Deejay Capleton Targets U.S.

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, Feb 26 2002 (IPS) - Controversial Rastafarian deejay Capleton is taking another crack at breaking into the lucrative United States market with the release of his “Still Blazin'” album, a VP Records release.

Marketing executives at the company say they have already begun pushing the set, which they describe as Capleton’s “most diverse work to date”. The deejay reportedly has a massive following in U.S. Caribbean immigrant communities, but VP are targeting a particular area where many roots-reggae acts are traditionally well received.

“We will be aggressively working college radio with an emphasis on CMJ (college charts) reporting stations,” said James Goring, senior project manager at VP.

Goring said three singles from “Still Blazin'” – “Mashing Up The Earth”, “In Your Eyes”, and “Boom Sound” – have been serviced to urban and college radio and a print campaign throughout the Caribbean immigrant and urban communities has been in place since January.

“We are indeed trying to break new ground with this album,” he said. “Capleton is maturing and moving into a higher, more enlightened state of consciousness.”

That may sound like typical public relations lingo but Capleton has been knocking at the door of the urban market since 1995, when “Prophecy”, his album for Def Jam Records, produced two minor U.S. hits in “Tour” and “Wings Of The Morning.”

The relative success of “Prophecy” earned Capleton a link in the hip-hop community and fuelled anticipation for the 1997 follow-up, “I-Testament,” which failed to duplicate its predecessor’s impact.

However, in 2000, Capleton re-invented himself as the “Fire man”. Most of his songs contained the phrase “fire burn”, a term used by Rastafarians to condemn things they view as an abomination in the eyes of God.

Most of Capleton’s hit songs that year were directed against homosexuals, politicians, organised religion and the cable channels from North America, all of which he says are destroying the morals of Jamaica’s youth.

Aware that no major North American label would be daring enough to distribute songs with such controversial content, Capleton returned to smaller distribution with VP, which has had great success promoting Jamaican albums on the fringe of the U.S. mainstream such as the Grammy-nominated deejay Beenie Man’s “Many Moods Of Moses.”

The company capitalised on Capleton’s popularity by releasing the aptly titled “More Fire”, an album that contained some of his biggest songs for 2000, including “More Prophet”, “Hunt You”, “Jah Jah City”, and “Good In Her Clothes.”

“More Fire” was reportedly one of VP’s biggest selling albums for 2000.

“Still Blazin'” is Capleton’s fourth album for the New York-based company. Prior to “More Fire,” his projects for the company centred on the trivial stuff that has typified the work of most dancehall artistes. “More Fire” was the third album since his acceptance of the Rastafarian faith.

Capleton (real name Clifton Bailey) first made local charts in the early 1990s. He hails from the parish of St. Mary, a hilly region in eastern Jamaica that has produced numerous dancehall stars. His rapid delivery helped make songs like the risque “Lotion Man,” “Bumbo Red,” “Number One Pon The Look Good Chart” and “Alms House” popular in the dancehall.

But in the mid 1990s, Capleton became one of the many dancehall acts to find Rastafari. The new-wave Rasta movement was led by deejay Tony Rebel and the charismatic singer Garnet Silk, who died in a fire at his mother’s home in December 1995.

Capleton’s conversion to Rastafari came full circle on “Prophecy.” Songs like “Tour” and “Wings Of The Morning” were already hits by the time the powerful hip-hop company Def Jam, owned by influential African-American record industry mogul Russell Simmons, picked up the album.

The label pushed remix versions of “Tour” and “Wings Of The Morning”, which both entered Billboard magazine’s Rap charts and earned Capleton a small following among hardcore hip-hop fans.

None of that acclaim compared to the fanatic following Capleton captured two years ago when his sleek red, green and-colored Mercedes cruised the streets of Kingston, flag-waving Rastas following his every move.

No doubt, he is hoping for similar reaction from U.S. fans to the release of “Still Blazin'”