After GTA 4 and his contribution to G-Unit's second album, "Lock And Load", Mavado is about to get some extra exposure, as Yardflex tells us he is making his film debut. Acting for Steve McAlpin in his film "What Goes Around", due this summer, Mavado will play a character called the Gully God. He thus follows in the footsteps of Beenie Man, Harry Toddler and Ninja Man, previous dancehall artists to have stood in front of the camera.
That is not all. This news reaches us just after his partnership with Nike was confirmed. The sportswear maker has indeed enlisted the singer to take part in an EPK alongside Asafa Powell, aimed at supporting Jamaica at the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. For the occasion Mavado recorded an unreleased song, entitled Faster than a bullet, and the brand with the swoosh even brought out a collector's pair of shoes bearing the names of the two participants to promote this campaign. Unfortunately, contrary to what has been announced all over the place in recent days, these shoes will not be for sale and are limited to just 4 pairs, one of which will go to Mavado and another to Powell, while the last two will go to Shane Brown of the Juke Boxx label, the song's producer, and Julian Jones-Griffith, the singer's manager.
Meanwhile, the "gangsta for life" has just been acquitted of the charges against him for illegal possession and use of a firearm (news of 27 March 2008). The court having learned that the main witnesses in the case have emigrated from Jamaica, the trial cannot continue and the charges have been dropped.
It remains to be seen whether the singer will be able to recover his papers quickly and so start playing shows in the United States and elsewhere again, but despite the debates his lyrics provoke, Mavado, whose second album many are eagerly awaiting, is far from finished with his ascent.