Weh Dem Up To: Trever Off Key takes on new projects

Almost a decade ago, livewire disc jockey Bambino introduced another side of his personality to the music industry – the comedian by the name of Trever Off Key, who made a habit of producing parodies of songs that were trending on the charts.

The disc jockey said that while residing in Miami, where he officially launched his career, he was forced to find a creative way to grab the attention of the people.

“The competition among selectors was so much that one would try to outdo the other by playing all the hot songs. If I was the featured disc jockey, I would have to come with something out of the box, so I always walked with something special that I knew no one would have, because it would have been something I voiced,” he told THE WEEKEND STAR.

He created his own dubplates, which more often than not would be a parody of a song. Several dancehall and R&B singles were humorously mimiced, but the most popular were of Beyoncé’s Irreplaceable, Drake’s Find Your Love and God’s Plan, Chino’s Pon Your Head, and Vybz Kartel’s Straight Jeans and Fitted.

ALTER EGO

The musically animated personality that many came to know then as Trever Off Key in 2011 was one of DJ Bambino’s alter egos. He said that Trever is a random name he chose, and Off Key was given to him by DJ Supa Twitch.

Bambino said that it was difficult getting a disc jockey to play songs for him at parties.

“If I was to give them a song as DJ Bambino, it would probably only be played one out of 10 times I asked them to, so I used to just say a yute name Trever voice it, and me work with the ‘Off Key’ because if any note goes off key them couldn’t blame me. That was part of the entertainer’s name already,” Trever Off Key said.

He continued: “Still, the intention was always to reveal that DJ Bambino and Trever Off Key were one in the same.”

If he was booked as DJ Bambino and Trever Off Key for the same event, he would play his role as a disc jockey then change his clothes and re-emerge as the artiste, he says, to show that it was a completely different character than what they saw behind the DJ console.

While his parody of Find Your Love titled Miss My Cooking, and Erasable (To the Right) that answered Irreplaceable increased Trever Off Key’s listeners overseas and was played on the top 40 radio stations across the US; F ake Jeans, Admit It recorded to the beat of Straight Jeans and Fitted got him the ‘forward’ in the Jamaican dancehall.

He even performed the single with Vybz Kartel. It motivated him to take the career as a recording artiste further, rather than to be known only as a musical comedian, and he continued to record original singles as well as collaborated with other artistes such as Romain Virgo, Macka Diamond and Stylish.

“Most of the times the spin-off would be about food, I guess because I am a foodie and it was just easy for me to do the parodies and people were drawn to them so to keep the public happy,” he said.

“There are so many songs out that I would like to make parodies of, but sometimes I get the vibe and end up leaving the song alone. And there are times when I hear a parody of a song and think it could be so much better.”

In a few weeks, new music to bounce to should be circulating for Trever Off Key, one of which is titled, Crocs, on an original rhythm produced by DJ Bambino, featuring Chi Ching Ching.