INTERVIEW : AIDONIA
Interview by : Cyril le Tallec
Pictures by : Marlène Boulad
on Sunday, September 28th 2008 - 11 523 views
Before meeting Bounty Killer through Vybz Kartel, Aidonia learned his trade with his high school group, JOP, covering the hits of the Scare Dem Crew. From school to the street, then from the street to the studio: Aidonia joined the Kings of Kings label, then the Alliance, leaving both in turn. Carried by his recent hits, this fan of Zidane, Malouda and "Riberynho" (!) will release his first solo album at the end of the year, on which he hopes to feature Lil'Wayne, Jay-Z, Mavado and Bounty Killer.
Reggaefrance / What was the first track you recorded in a studio?
Aidonia / The first track I recorded was for Mr G Youngblood's label, it was called Give Her It Hard (he starts singing...) Gal how do u want it, me just give her it hard... Mr G was the first producer to work with me. At that time we sang in the street and nobody paid us any attention. At first he didn't hear me, but by dint of making him listen to my lyrics, he ended up recording me. He was the first to listen to me, the first to record me; my first track played on the radio and at parties, I owe all of that to him.
Your hip-hop influences can be felt in your music. Where do your inspirations come from?
When you think about flow, the king of flow is Notorious B.I.G. Biggie Smalls, but also Tupac. More recently you've got G-Unit, the Lox, in fact loads of rappers... Fabolous, DMX, the boss Lil Weezy (aka Lil Wayne). In fact, growing up in Jamaica these days, you're exposed to the influence of American and European hip-hop and R&B, thanks to cable channels. It all comes through in the end...
Incidentally, your first big hit was Lolly, a counteraction to 50 Cent's Candy Shop. Can you tell us the story of that song?
It was inspired by two different things: on the one hand by a girl in a skirt whom I complimented in the street, and on the other by the video for 50 Cent's Candy Shop. When I saw that video, it reminded me of the episode with the girl... That was around the time I had just met Scatta of the King of Kings label. The song was going round in my head and we recorded it. When we released it, it was the great era of Candy Shop, so it did well.
 On n’écrit plus de texte, on ne pose plus jamais de stylo sur une feuille, tout est dans la méditation... 
Do you write lyrics for other artists?
Not really. What can happen is that if I'm in the studio with another artist, we'll think up the song together. For example, on the track I did with Bounty Killer, I "built" the lyrics. We don't write lyrics any more, we never put pen to paper again, everything is in meditation, it's as if we had a computer in our brain and we just press play or record and it works! Most of the time, we're all there together and someone sings a line, another answers him. With Bounty Killer, I built the majority of the track.
You parted ways with Scatta (producer of the King of Kings label), your first manager, and you left the Alliance. Was that down to personal problems or disagreements?
You see, I'm a serious person in my work and in life, I'm an intelligent person. I don't accept people being disrespectful to me, I'm here to defend my interests and those of my friends. With Scatta and his King of Kings label, it's a contractual story. When he sent me the management contract, I disagreed with some of the clauses so I told him to come back with a revised contract so we could find a compromise. Scatta, since he had launched my career, didn't think I would talk like that and dug in his heels. I wanted it to be 50/50 but he didn't see it that way, so we decided to carry on our separate ways.
That's also what happened with the Alliance. Many members within the crew itself were afraid of my talent, my lyrics and my stage performances... Everybody knows I admire Bounty Killer and that he is my artist, but plenty of people around him didn't want to see me with him, because they knew Bounty liked me. When I came to see him with my track From Them Dis, he liked it, we recorded it and it played all over the world. (he sings) "From them dis we, we no want know how, yo, send fi di things dem now..." After that, plenty of people went to see Bounty telling him I had said this and that, but I never said any of it. I didn't feel the need to justify myself over that, and when it reached Bounty Killer's ears, he took it a certain way: I got a phone call to tell me I was no longer a member of the Alliance. It's not as if I got up and decided on my own that I didn't want to be part of it any more, I got a phone call... I was never disrespectful to Bounty Killer, not at any point. It's just people who were jealous of my closeness with him and of the level we were going to reach with the Alliance. They managed to get me kicked out of the Alliance but today, look where they are and look where I am.
In the end, did you grow closer to Vybz Kartel?
Vybz Kartel is one of the first people I met, back when I was in the studio with Goofy aka Mr G. He was the first to encourage me, to tell me to persevere with my style without changing anything, and that one day I would find success too. Since then we started hanging out together, he started inviting me onto his stages. When he came back from touring abroad and saw me struggling, he always gave me a bit of money. He started calling me up on his shows, urging certain producers to record me, certain selectas to play my tunes at parties... He introduced me to Bounty, telling him I had a crazy flow, and we all started to be together... When I was pushed out of the Alliance, I didn't get any closer to Kartel, because we were already working together before. We still hang out and work together, life goes on.
What do you think of the controversy over lyrical content in dancehall and the violence it can breed between artists?
Some people are lost, because in the end we're all musicians, we sing to please people, nothing more, nothing less... You have street music, the hardcore with lyrics about guns, lyrics about women, cultural songs... We, as artists, are here to satisfy our fans. Anyone who ends up trading blows on stage goes too far, crosses the line: he brings war into the music and destroys the industry. Because in the end, when Americans or Europeans look at us, they think our industry is ruled by violence. Their stuff doesn't smell good, I personally don't like it... Me, I'm sincere with people. This is a plea to all artists: keep the musical spirit, if you only sing lyrics about guns, people will think all you put out is a message of violence. You have to be varied in your musical approach, please your female audience, sing cultural songs to spread a message for young people, so that if you persist with lyrics about guns, in the end it will amount to nothing, it won't represent much...
Artists have to clean up their lyrics because from here, it's not a pretty sight. Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes and has plenty of good things to offer us. But it's the world we have to conquer to make great music and earn money, it's abroad that we get the chance to sing on huge stages like Shaggy and Sean Paul, Sizzla, Bounty Killer, Capleton, Buju Banton or Junior Reid... Then you've got young guys who come on stage to fight when they should be thinking about reaching the next level and going international. Our music is bigger than Jamaica, you mustn't think like that.
You recently found yourself in court over photos in which you posed with guns...
I'd love to talk about it but my lawyer advises me not to before the verdict is delivered. All I can say is that it has nothing to do with all this, because I make music, nothing else... The bad spirit is always active, you always have to watch who's around you, be vigilant with the friends who surround you, that's how it is.
When will we get to hear your first album?
Before the end of this year, the album will be finished. As an artist, I didn't feel ready yet to release my first album. We make dancehall to satisfy the whole world, we've been to the United States, all over the Caribbean, South America, Europe... We got to see different ways of living, different visions of the world, which now allows us to prepare an album of international standard to satisfy the greatest number of people. Now I feel ready for it, which is why you see me at Stephen McGregor's, the boss, he creates his versions and we create the lyrics. I can guarantee you that by the end of the year, my fans will be able to buy a good album and listen to it again in 3 or 4 years' time.
Will it be only Stephen McGregor productions on his Big Ship label?
It will be mostly productions with him. As you've seen, Stephen is a young man who has respect and plenty of love, and above all he's an excellent musician and a good producer with very good ideas. The other producers on the album will share a common vision with us, so we keep control of the sound, with the team, a common idea, a direction to go the right way. Stephen is definitely the right person, he's a genius, he knows and masters every parameter.
Which other producers will be credited on your album?
There'll be Leftside of course, Birch too... Our elders have to play a part in it, I have to work with Steely & Clevie, Sly & Robbie, because you have to know where it comes from to know where you need to go, they must have a role in the whole. It will be a good Jamaican time shared between our elders and the top producers of the moment who have the international vision and above all the production level, because that's the most important thing, putting on the right instrumentals and finding the right sounds to go with them, which isn't the case for everyone.
Will the track Jail Story be part of the album?
Maybe, by then I may have a better track than that one. Then again, Jail Story is a true story, I like that song so it will surely be a bonus on the album, because I have to include my fans' favourite tracks as well as my exclusives. Jail Story is my story, I sing what I feel as a young man, so it will probably be one of the album's bonuses.
Jail Story is on a hip-hop riddim. Can we expect collaborations with rappers?
Definitely, because you know we're the bank of rhyme and the bosses of flow, we'll go looking and we'll find... I'd really like to have Lil Weezy (aka Lil Wayne) because there aren't many rappers who can do rhymes like mine and a flow like mine. Right now Lil Wayne is really the boss, his flow and his rhymes are intelligent. You've got Jigga too (aka Jay-Z) but he's a bit in the background now and has plenty of other things to handle, G-Unit otherwise. The best for my album is Lil Weezy, both for the phrasing and the lyrics. After that there will probably be Vybz Kartel, my track with Bounty Killer of course, I'd like Mavado because I respect good artists... And J.O.P of course! You can expect a good album with plenty of artists, it's going to be crazy.
A quick word on your meeting with Krys?
Big up Krys! In fact after my Paris concert, he came to see me during a dubplate session and told me he'd soon be coming to Jamaica to record a track. He came here, to this very studio (Big Ship, ed.), and we recorded a crazy combination... Big up Krys, he's a good artist and I like his way of being.
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