Koffee featured in Honda documentary series

Reggae sensation Koffee has been featured in Honda’s latest documentary series, ‘Honda Backstage’.

The documentary, commis-sioned by Billboard, singles out music’s breakout artistes and celebrates their rise to fame.

Titled This is Koffee, the feature sees the 19-year-old disclosing intimate details about what it was like growing up in a single-parent Christian household in Spanish Town.

She recalls her early exposure to music and the role her mother played in her falling in love with reggae.

“I was raised in Spanish Town, Jamaica. My mom was and still is a Christian, so I was always inside, not going out much and hanging out with friends. [I only went] to and from school and church. It was very quiet for me,” she narrates as the series shows cutaways of her home town, as well as a scene of her mother grooming her hair.

“I was raised by my mommy to be very wholesome, to make good use of my time here on Earth, my talent, and my potential. I’m her last child. She for sure wanted to get it perfect, so she did her best.”

Koffee goes on to share how her mother’s constant playing of a Richie Stephens record made her fall for music.

“I remember my first experience with reggae music being a Richie Stephens CD my mom used to play. I remember she used to play the CD – it was like love songs, love medleys, and I fell in love with it,” she says.

She also indicates how church helped to mould her talent.

“Growing up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, I think we are a very musical people; we take pride in singing hymns, embracing, learning different instruments, and learning music. As a child, I would write. Every now and then, I would try to rhyme words, write little poems and songs. ‘ Being in school, having the pencil as the tool, following the rules, not being a fool.’ Stuff like that,” she explains.

Koffee also reveals that reactions to her performance at a high-school event made her want to pursue a career in music, a dream that has now become reality.

The series, which was directed by Billboard’s Alfred Marroquin, premiered on the Billboard YouTube channel on Monday.