Exclusive: Five Questions With Reggae Artist Baby Cham - Page 2
Dancehall Artist Talks New Music, How He Got Started In The Biz & His Breakout Hit “Ghetto Story” With Alicia Keys
Baby Cham is back with a new single and a new album, but he’s still playing it close to his dancehall roots. The reggae artist sat down with Bossip recently to talk about his new album, “Lawless,” the moment he decided to become a dancehall artist and what he thinks the Caribbean music scene is lacking today.
BOSSIP: How and when did you decide that you wanted to become a dancehall artist?
Baby Cham: “My uncle had a sound system: speaker boxes on the street corners with a turntable. Super Cat used to perform on the sound system, John Wayne, Little John, just to name a few. I would go there every summer, and seeing artists like Super Cat pass through, in the yard on the microphone, I was like ‘What?! I love this!’ And that’s how I got the love for this. I was just a little kid looking at them. I started doing my own imitations, then I started writing my own lyrics after that.”
BOSSIP: What do you think about the state of today’s reggae and dancehall music scene?
Baby Cham: “The state of reggae and dancehall to me is good. There’s a reason why so many other genres are tapping into it and doing what they’re doing. It’s good. You have a lot of good kids coming out and doing the work. The only setback is the level of consistency is not there. It’s not on the artist’s part, it’s the production. That’s the only thing I would say what needs to improve – the production. The artists are delivering good music, good lyrics, but sometimes it’s the production that fluctuates.”
BOSSIP: What was it like working with Alicia Keys on 2006’s “Ghetto Story” – a song that many consider to be the jumping off point for your career in America?
Baby Cham: “It was beautiful. To me, it was one of the best things that could ever happen at the time for myself and dancehall. If you think about it, Alicia has done duets with a handful of people. She don’t do a lot of duets. And for her to say that she wanted to do that record – and the type of record it was. ‘Ghetto Story’ was not a pop record. It went pop, but it’s not a pop record. It’s really a hard, street record describing how life is hard growing up in the Third World. She kind of reached out and said if we were doing a remix, she wanted to be a part of it. For me, that says a lot about her.”
BOSSIP: Tell us about your new single “Money Wine,” off your new album, “Lawless.”
Baby Cham: “It’s a fun record. We were just thinking of something fun to start off the campaign with the album. The idea of “Money Wine” came about just by looking at females, and how they have different characteristics in the party. She might can’t twerk, but she’s doing something similar…It’s not a specific dance, it’s a dance that you do and do your best. Whether it’s for your significant other, or to create that buzz in the club, to steal the show or for yourself, that’s the money wine…We wanted that dancehall, gritty type of vibe.”
BOSSIP: What’s next for you?
Baby Cham: “Hitting the road. The album is done. The release date is in May. As of now, I’m just on the road. I’m on the grind. Nonstop. I’m just working working working.”
*This interview was edited for clarity and space.
