OMI and his manager, Clifton ‘Specialist’ Dillon, have been praised globally for their decision to continuously promote the Billboard No. 1 single, Cheerleader, for over three years, despite initially receiving success in Jamaica in early 2012.
Skatta Burrell, who announced his arrival on the Billboard Chart several years ago with the Nina Sky single, Move Ya Body, an addictive song released on his Coolie Dance rhythm, says the local music industry appears to be lost.
“I’ve spent many years giving back and supporting dancehall, but it has got to the point where dancehall needs to play catch up. The music needs to linger a bit longer and not fade in six months. This means artistes need to spend more time promoting one song and stop flooding radio deejays’ inbox, YouTube and other social media platforms with ten-million songs a month,” he posted on social media.
Credible Talent
The producer also made it clear that the island still produces credible talent, however, he pointed out that several obstacles were in the way of artiste development in Jamaica. He posted a picture of Taylor Swift and OMI with the caption: “I look at this picture and I see hope for all the aspiring musicians and artistes here putting in real work. It can be the hardest thing when you think you have what it takes to win, yet the pressures, distractions, politics, selfishness and greed are the elements you are up against. It’s extremely hard to attain the level of success international acts such as these two have accomplished, because we as a nation are lost … I hope this OMI success will start trending among other artistes … I truly believe if and when it happens, I will partake and enjoy a slice because I know I work hard.”
Still on the issue of saturating the airwaves with material, US-based reggae/dancehall artiste Kranium recently said that he was trying to avoid the practice. He also saw success with his single, Nobody Has to Know, after executing promotions in New York for over three years, but continues to push it in new markets with the aim of climbing the Billboard charts. That goal has seen the artiste making the decision to remix the single with American rapper, Ty Dolla $ign.
“There is a difference between having a song and working a song. When you work a song, you see the difference in it. We took this song from the streets of New York and this song became one of the biggest songs because I tour the world off this song. I feel like artistes need to realise that when you have something good, don’t let it go if you feel like it hasn’t reached its full potential. In dancehall, I feel like we need that structure or machine to take our music beyond just being a dancehall record and that is what I have been focusing on,” he said.
OMI’s Cheerleader remains at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has been viewed over 300 million times on YouTube.com. Kranium recently released a new music video for Nobody Has to Know.
Skatta says others should follow OMI"s persistence
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