Female J’can producer breaks into South American market

Producer and entertainment manager Lesley Hayles says that the music industry in the Latin and South American region is easier to navigate than in Jamaica.

"Even with the language barrier, communication was such a breeze because the artistes and people within the industry are so much easier to deal with, professionally," the Jamaican producer told THE WEEKEND STAR.

Last November, Hayles released a rhythm album for her birthday, her first attempt at producing. The Ride Me rhythm featured Jamaica-based artiste Ganggoolie, Lajik from New Jersey, Mzs Quanny from Pennsylvania and her big sister Sandy Star, now based in New York. The title track performed by Mzs Quanny was written by Hayles, also a first for her. She recently teamed up with Chilean disc jock and recording artiste, Balaguero. After sharing her rhythm with him, he invited MC Dealer, another Spanish dancehall act, to do a collaboration on the rhythm.

"I found out who he was when he sent me a track he had done with Xyclone, who is one of my artistes. I was amazed at his voice. Even though I didn't understand the words, the song stuck," Hayles said. "It's a huge market that also includes a wide area of countries, Spanish-speakers worldwide and the promotion of the productions is done everywhere. So much so, the song titled Ride Me Mami is already one of my biggest productions in terms of streams because of their willingness to promote."

She co-produced the song alongside her brother, DJ Ali Patch; however, it was mixed and mastered by Dee Master from Colombia, known for his role on Percolate It off Xyclone's chart-topping album, The Sounds Of South America. Though classified as a dancehall track, the lyrics are in Spanish, hence the appeal towards speakers of the language and lovers of reggaeton. She is now contemplating to release the Ride Me Riddim Pt 2 album next year.

Hayles said, "Now that I'm a full-fledged producer, I want to build my fan base so that they have something to look forward to. I wanted to build the anticipation towards the album in order to generate more streams and downloads."

The past year has been challenging for Hayles, who said that as a female, and in the middle of a pandemic, it was hard to do much of the necessary groundwork. But she believes she is finding her niche as a producer, and now has a growing fan base among Spanish recording artistes and listeners of dancehall music.