INTERVIEW : ASSASSIN
Interview by : Alexandre Tonus
Pictures by : Benoit Collin
on Thursday, September 20th 2007 - 10 402 views
Anywhere We Go, Good over Evil, Gully Sittin, Boring Gal, and now Move like a sissy: for months, Assassin has been setting the pace in the Jamaican charts. A member of Spragga Benz's Red Square Crew (Spragga is his uncle), Assassin belongs to the new generation of Jamaican dancehall, alongside Mavado and Busy Signal. He began his career in 2000, marked by a first album in 2005, "Infiltration". As his second album, "Gully Sit'n", comes out on VP, he confesses: "So far, my career has been a beautiful journey".
Reggaefrance / Tell us about your beginnings in music.
Assassin / Music has always been part of my life, whether at school, on stage, or during interviews. At high school I wrote a few songs, one of which was sung by Spragga Benz. I'm his nephew. That must have been in 1998, 1999. Since then I've gone from studio to studio, Spragga introduced me to several producers, and that's how I was able to get started.
What made you decide to make music your career?
At school there were lots of people, professionals, who came to talk to us about careers and give us advice for our future. The thing that came up in every one of their talks was that you must above all do something you love. You have to find the job that you're passionate about. And music was the obvious choice. On top of that, I have the talent for it. So I had my answer. Music chose me.
Yet music hasn't kept you away from your studies.
At the moment I'm doing a Business Management course at the University of Sunderland.
Do your studies help you in your career?
Definitely, the more knowledge you have, the more you have to say. But there are also intangible things that education has given me: discipline, a work ethic... Things like that. You can't hide, and the attitude you bring to your work is paramount. That's all the more true in music, where a lot of things are done informally, but you have to do it professionally. Extending your studies can only change your approach to music.
Penthouse was important for your musical development...
Penthouse was like a second home, their management is very shrewd. You benefit from all their heritage, as with Buju, from whom you can learn a lot. There, you learn the right things. In music, it's easy to learn bad things and end up heading in the wrong direction. It's the complete opposite at Penthouse: I learned a lot about how to be professional, having the right method... Everything that helps you become an artist.
You mentioned it, Buju Banton was also an important encounter...
He's the one who released my first recording, Revamped. Buju has been there from the beginning, and I think he's proud to have spotted my potential, to see me doing well. He counts for a lot in my progress. I would leave school with my uniform still on and go to his studio.
Your first album "Infiltration" came out in 2005. Are you proud of that album?
From a creative point of view, I'm proud of it. It's my first project, and I think I did more than get by, considering you're going into territory that's completely unknown to you. Recording an album was something completely new. I'm proud to have been able to do it. Certainly, we could have done better with more time. But I wanted to create a platform so that people could hear what I was doing. I was young, I was 22.
Many of your early fans regretted the absence of your first singles, like How we roll...
I was told that a lot. With hindsight, I think we should have included a few of them. That's the kind of mistake you learn from. With this second album, I included most of my songs from the last two years: Anywhere we go, Good over Evil... That way people will get not just unreleased tracks but the hits too. With this album, I wanted to feel like I did at high school, when I only cared about the music and not about the business side. I wanted to have fun, to let the music express itself. So that people feel that vibe.
The deejays of your generation mix in a lot of hip hop. What are your influences?
The world is getting smaller and smaller. With the internet, people download music from everywhere. You want your music to appeal to a wide audience. If people like hip hop, and if you're able to blend into your dancehall something they can identify with, then you'll get support from that side. I'm influenced by hip hop. Eminem, Jay-Z, Tupac, Busta Rhymes... Kanye West too.
Do you see hip hop as a way for dancehall to gain better international recognition?
You had Baby Cham and Alicia Keys, Sean Paul and Beyoncé... If we can be professional, make good songs and satisfy this new market, it can be a blessing. But when you get that kind of opportunity, you have to rise to it, otherwise people may turn away from dancehall. Sean Paul was excellent with Beyoncé. You have to find the right formula: on Baby Boy, Beyoncé did R&B and Sean Paul did dancehall. He wasn't playing the rapper, any more than she was trying to play the Jamaican.
There was that rivalry for a while with Vybz Kartel...
That's in the past now. He does his thing, I do mine. We're not going to sit down and have coffee together. In my view, music is worth more than one or two individuals, and I'm not going to get involved in that negativity. Music is going international and we should turn towards that rather than keep up local rivalries. You can't make good songs if they're used to fight each other. Let's be clear: musical rivalry, when it's healthy, doesn't bother me. But when there's disrespect, when it comes to talking about mothers and family, it's pointless. It doesn't help the music, and I don't want to be part of it. The worst thing is that it can even turn into a physical altercation. We can't afford that. I prefer to leave it aside. I got my name Assassin back in high school, where we clashed constantly among ourselves. But it had nothing to do with insults, it was about who was the best of us. It was clean humour. Entertainment.
You've worked with several producers; have you never had any bad experiences?
Music is a matter of chemistry. There are people with whom you simply get on less well than with others, without it necessarily being personal. Music should be made in serene surroundings. I remember when Buju Banton came along, listening to his tracks, I told myself that he and Dave Kelly must get on really well. I imagined that only a superb vibe could produce such beautiful results. With Christopher Birch we get on well, with Dave Kelly, Snow Cone, Daseca, Don Corleon too. It's easy to record with those people because the vibe is there and you can hear it.
We saw you on Riddim Up, deejaying with only an acoustic guitar. That must have been a particular exercise: you had practically no riddim...
I'm from the 80s school. I love Professor Nuts, Papa San, Lieutenant Stichie... Deejaying with a guitar... I can do it with anything, even dripping water. As long as I can follow the tempo, it's good. It was great fun.
Do you have dreams of being a producer?
I've already launched my production company. We're going to start producing tracks. For the moment, we're going to concentrate on Assassin productions, I'm not yet looking to produce other artists. When I do something, I want to do it well, to find that vibe we talked about. I don't want to do it just for the sake of it.
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