Reggae Music News

Mavado gets BET video premiere – Says it’s a struggle to get dancehall airplay in US

(From left) Birdman, Mavado, DJ Khaled and We The Best rapper Ace Hood on the set of a video shoot. - Contributed
(From left) Birdman, Mavado, DJ Khaled and We The Best rapper Ace Hood on the set of a video shoot. – Contributed

Dancehall artiste, Mavado, appeared on BET’s 106 & Park yesterday alongside DJ Khaled and a host of U.S., top-notch rappers where he premiered the music video for his single ‘Give It To Me’ which features American rapper Nicki Minaj.

Give It To Me is produced by JA productions’ Justus Arison and Patrick ‘Roach’ Samuels, and has received rave reviews in the music industry since its release two months ago.

According to Mavado’s manager, Julian Jones-Griffith, the song is growing in popularity in the US and has been added to DJ Khaled’s upcoming album, Suffering From Success.

“The song has really demanded for promotions to be amped up by itself. The reaction on social media and on radio has been very positive. So Universal Music, who are now behind the song, have decided they are about to push the button and go for radio ads and video promotions,” he said.

The manager disclosed that it has been a difficult task getting dancehall music to be played on US mainstream radio stations. Therefore, promotional strategies such as collaborations with American artistes are beneficial to getting the music to get its fair airtime.

“There’s a lot of people who have never been in that position who always want to give their advice about pushing dancehall but have no idea what it takes. When you see us putting out songs with more of a hip-hop flavour or doing collabs with urban acts, its part of a long-term strategy,” Jones-Griffith continued.

“We want this record to help break the radio barriers that exist for the dancehall genre in the US. We would like everyone to be in a situation where next time an artiste comes with a hot, dancehall record, it can get on the radio on the merit of it being a great record, not because it’s the hottest song in Jamaica and then it dies a slow death from there through lack of support and promotion,” he said.

Jones-Griffith also said the murder of Patrick ‘Roach’ Samuels has not hampered the promotion of Give It To Me.

“It just inspired everyone to push harder on the project as I’m sure that’s what he would’ve wanted. I spoke to him in the days before he was killed and he was very excited about the prospects of the song, so we will continue to go all out,” he said.

He also disclosed that the situation regarding Mavado and a politician he named as PB, regarding the purchase of a house, is working out itself. Jones-Griffith says the artiste is now satisfied with the developments of the negotiations between himself and the politician, following the controversy that erupted in the media a few weeks ago.

Another Jamaican artiste, Samantha J, is also set to have her video Tight Skirt premiered on BET’s 106 & Park today.

 

For the original report go to http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/20131024/ent/ent1.html

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