Chimney Plans Summer Sizzle

The saying size does not matter bears a great deal of truth when referring to Chimney Records and the role it plays in Jamaica's music industry.

For a small studio, located on 4 Central Avenue in Swallowfield, Kingston, Chimney Records has produced some of the best music to come out of Jamaica and has worked with some of the most well-known artistes in the business to date.

Owners Jordan McClure and David 'Hizzle' Hayle were students at Campion College at the same time. It was there that they developed a love for music and decided to make their own contribution to the growing industry.

"We loved dancehall music, so we were always listening to the radio and it just moved from a love of dancehall until it evolved into us creating music, messing with beats and building riddims," McClure said.

"We got to a point where we improved a lot and we decided to take it seriously. We decided then to buy some equipment, and stuff, and build a little studio. It wasn't anything special at that point in time, but we were determined to develop it," he told THE WEEKEND STAR.

McClure then went on to explain how their first serious client helped them to officially launch their careers and set them up for success.

"We started to go into the dances to meet people, make some connections to make things happen. At that point, we met Delly Ranks, who had just recently done a lot of work with Stephen McGregor, whom he helped to break on to the scene as well. I guess he saw our talent and saw us as the next upcoming young producers and he decided to start working with us as well," McClure explained.

"He gave us a lot of connections and introduced us to Vybz Kartel, who gave us our first hit single," he said in reference to Trailer Load of Money.

HOUSEHOLD NAME

Things took off from there for Chimney Records as they went on to establish themselves as a household name on the music circuit.

Since their first release in 2007, Hayle and McClure have worked with the likes of Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Mavado, Vybz Kartel, Aidonia, I-Octane, Tarrus Riley, Chronixx, Sean Paul, Serani, Dean Kingston, Popcaan, Alkaline and a host of others based both locally and internationally.

If you're looking to walk in off the streets hoping to work with the now seasoned producers, that may be a little difficult as recording at Chimney Records is an exclusive opportunity granted to those hand-picked by the producers.

"It's not a public studio. You record here if only if we want to work with you."

With a slew of chart-topping hits such as Gimme Likkle One Drop by Tarrus Riley, Star Bwoy by Mavado and Way Up, Stay Up by Chi Ching Ching under their belt, the dynamic duo is already geared up to take on summer 2016.

"We have a new single coming out. It's a collab between Sean Paul and Chi Ching Ching called Crick Neck. We actually collaborated on the production side of that as well with some EDM producers from Canada. That is promising to be huge, so look out for that," said McClure.

"Summer and Chimney go together, so we're working on a summer riddim, which is probably coming out within the month."