I'm not a Christian ... Vegas says he is escaping religion

I'm not a Christian

"Thought he was a Christian?" commented Meldon McCollin on Mr Vegas' music video for his new dancehall song 'Buss It Open'.

McCollin's 'question' is a shared sentiment under the video, which has attracted more than 100,000 views since it premiered on YouTube last week.

"I'm not a Christian; the people who are saying those things are doing it for the likes," Mr Vegas told THE STAR. "It's a song about a dance that's like the Butterfly dance. If Chris Brown did sing it people wouldn't have a problem."

Mr Vegas has been a hot topic in recent years because of his vacillations with the church. The mixed reactions to the secular track are dEj++ vu for him, but he said he is not in a liminal space.

"I almost run away from who Vegas is through indoctrination and fear that I'd have a God who kept me from doing what I want to do," he said. "I'm in a party zone right now and I'm on that 'old school' sound weh people can move to and girls can gyrate to. It's a good thing that people are reacting; if they weren't, I'd be worried."

Buss it Open follows Mr Vegas' 12-track album Ism, which was released in July. The entertainer said the album was his way of "escaping religion".

He hopes to earn a Grammy for the set to "expand the message".

ANAFRICAN

"Ism is a historical piece; I just had to do it to escape religion," he said. "I wanted to showcase the whole aspect of Mr Vegas' journey and also to escape the religious belief I was raised in. It was my way of letting people know where I'm coming from as an African, based on the teachings I had as a kid."

He is still on the trek.

"I'm still escaping religion. When I was a Christian and didn't know any better, people said I wasn't a Christian. When I came out of the church, people said: 'But wait him a no Christian'?," he said. "Everyone saw that I went into the church this year and got kicked out. One of the reasons I went in the church was to show that this 'Bible' was made to destroy people, especially women, and weaken the black race."

Mr Vegas is aware that his views are not often favoured, but said he still has love for his Jamaican audience.

"The local audience has always been more important in my career, a yah so it start. I can go foreign and get paid US$10,000 for a show and come to Jamaica and only get J$50,000, but I do it because I just want to perform for my people. I think sometimes people take that for granted, but if it doesn't come, I just keep living."

He is scheduled to leave for Europe on Thursday for a two-week gig and is also promoting his new single Ball A Play, released last week.