STAR of the Month: Munga Honorable resurges - Gangster Ras says there’s no quenching his fire

October 02, 2019

Munga Honorable has been dominating stages and playlists with his hit song ‘ Nah Mad (Ova No Gyal)’. But before that song repositioned the ‘teacher’s son’ as a formidable entertainer, Munga was absent from the reggae and dancehall scene for some years. To open his monthlong feature as STAR of the Month, the so-called Gangster Ras told us exactly what caused his ‘missing moment’.

It was really two things: a disagreement with management, and the birth of his third child.

Before Munga went quiet on the scene, songs like Bad From Mi Born and Flippin’ Rhymes rooted him in local music history as an individual who conflated Rastafari with the dancehall. But dealings with management went sour, bringing pause to an enviable career.

“There was a falling-out with the production and management situation. We had differences in views. I put my views on the table. The boss never feel like seh me did eligible fi talk. Dem shut down the meeting, and work stopped. So I took the initiative to – them say when the house ah drop down, you don’t try to get bamboo and cotch it up. You move out, and let the house fall,” Munga told THE STAR.

He continued: “Instead of just jumping back into production, or try to run back to some other producer – I took that hiatus then.”

In a convenient confluence, Munga’s third child, Thalia, was on the way, and this pregnancy was particularly special.

“It was the third child, but the first one who was close to me. The first one me see kick inna di belly. You know dah whole process deh? Mommy cyaa guh sleep if me nuh come home. It brought out a different part of me,” said the Islington, St Mary, native, whose given name is Damian Rhoden.

For the first four years of this child’s life, Munga may have learned some secrets of fatherhood.

He said: “Mi catch dah feeeling deh. It kinda nice too. Mi get used to it. So about the time she turn five, six – is when I started going back to work. I started recording again, started getting back into motion.”

By the time Thalia hit eight years old, the career was back in full swing – as Munga took lead with the label Hilltop Records. He currently is also promoting his brand new 5-song EP called Fiery. The Fiery music video was released last Sunday, and has already climbed to over 16,000 views.

Now the blaze has lit, Munga says there’s no stopping it. “Mi nuh have nuh pickney fi guh home to a night-time, fam! Mi nuh have nuh reason fi stay in! Mi need fi outside!”

kimberley.small@gleanerjm.com

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