Culture artiste Natty King unleashes raunchy single

COVID-19 has taken the blame for many bizarre things in 2020, and, at a glance, the morphing of conscious, St Thomas-born reggae singer, Natty King, into a chest-beating object of sexual desire called Joe, could be one.

However, the 'natty' insists that his newest single, Joe, is really designed to show his versatility after years of doing "a bag of cultural song that nah go nowhere".

Natty King told THE WEEKEND STAR that although he is being bashed for stepping into the dancehall with a somewhat raunchy girls' tune, he is pleased that Joe is creating a buzz.

" Joe is a reality song, these things happen. It is the pretty boys who get all the girls. People a seh all kinds of things, but yuh can't please di dutty n***a dem. All when yuh do righteousness dem talk negative. Mi do No Guns To Town and dem did a chat bare tings, so now me cork up my ears and a do my thing," he said.

The artwork for Joe is a cartoon depiction of a number of girls lying down on the sand clad in string bikinis.

"People like the suss and drama. Yuh can't come back same way and create a buzz. Natty King nuh come fi fight nuh religious war in a music. A lot of people don't know that I started out as a deejay, a cheat me cheat dancehall and come over into reggae," he explained.

Natty King, given name Kevin Roberts, added that his first song was produced by dynamic dancehall duo Steelie and Cleevie, and it was after that, in 2003, that he released No Guns To Town, which was a hit for him. He followed it up with songs like Mr Greedy, Love Me, and for Frenz For Real. His fortunes have since fluctuated, but the singer has a niche in Africa and has toured the continent at intervals. He took a break to attend to personal business, relocated to St Elizabeth, but he is now back in Kingston.

"I just built my studio in Kingston and have my own Wellowell Productions label so when the producer dem not sending me no riddim, I can build my own. The Joe riddim was built by DXL, an engineer/artiste who always uses my studio, and it has a really nice ol' time feel that people love," he said.