Diestro to drop 14-track EP
While other artistes are happy with putting out five tracks on an EP, singer Diestro has opted to do 14, which is even more than the number of songs on many full-length albums.
"I need to be more established as an artiste before I put out an album and that is the aim of these songs. We are now in the final stages of completion, so I am just listening over and taking time to digest. This is my first EP with a team effort and a plan," the Canada-based entertainer told THE WEEKEND STAR.
He also explains that the 14 tracks represent Jamaica's 14 parishes.
Titled High Grade and Dancehall, the set is due out in January and Diestro, whose given name is Darin Domize, is brimming with anticipation.
The owner of production company CleanKneez Visuals & Sounds in Canada, where he has been living since he migrated in 2013, Diestro has already released tracks like Barrow Yuh Gal, No Promo, Phonetic Alphabet, Chef and Grow Wise. He also recently opened for Govana in Canada.
" Grow Wise is getting a lot of traction and is being played in Canada, the US and Jamaica. It is a song that yuh really have to sit down and listen to," Diestro declared.
A past student of Bridgeport High School and the University of Technology Jamaica, Diestro was raised in Portmore by his mother and migrated to Canada to live with his father after her death. He says he felt the urgent pull of dancehall when he heard Silver Cat's classic, Two Fowl ah mi Yaad for the first time and quizzed his school friends about it.
"Me ask me friends dem if dem really understand the song yuh nuh. It was cool and I wished I could do what Silver Cat did. It was so lyrical and creative," he reminisced. "As a teenager at Bridgeport High, I fell in love with music. I was always listening to it, critiquing it and writing it."
Diestro, who has been active in the music business since 2010, wrote his first song, Pass By, on the back of his eighth grade book.