Mojo happy as collaboration with young artistes takes off

Headline Fi Front Page, a collaboration featuring a somewhat unlikely collection of dancehall and reggae acts - namely Jahshii, Morgan Heritage, I-Octane and Rytikal - recently made its big debut in the Top 10 of the iTunes Reggae Chart, and Apple music.

Mojo of Morgan Heritage said that the song has achieved its purpose on many levels.

"It's a good feeling to know that we could get back to this sort of prominence with the next generation of artistes. I-Octane is a youth who we have been following his career for the last 10 years. Love the progress he is making. It is not easy to make it pass one to two years of success, much more to maintain 10 years," Mojo shared.

He added, "That is what we want to see in the younger artistes coming out of Jamaica, whether it is dancehall or reggae. It is a good example fi Jahshii and Rytikal to want to aspire to achieve, and once dem can achieve that five to 10 years of sustained success, den dem can look towards di Burning Spear, the Morgan Heritage, di Ziggy Marley, Stephen, etc."

For 21-year-old Jahshii, whose given name is Mluleki Tafari Clarke, this is a big move and he acknowledged it to THE WEEKEND STAR. "It's just a joy to have made it to this level and these are some of the things I strive for in music," he said.

In an interview with Entertainment Report last year, Jahshii had called out veterans for their unwillingness to assist up-and-coming acts to climb the musical ladder of success.

Last December producer Johnny Wonder had persons sit up and take notice when he announced the collaboration on Instagram and shared the cover art for the track. Music veteran Contractor, who has been working with Morgan Heritage for years, was asked to do the marketing.

"It is a pleasure to always work with Morgan Heritage, and so when they came with this song with much younger artistes in the business, I jumped at the opportunity to help with the marketing. The top 100 iTunes Reggae Chart now is highly competitive. The songs on it are iconic, legendary songs, such as Bob Marley's Th ree Little Birds. Bam Bam from Sister Nancy is in the Top 10 now because her song is on Netflix movie Ozark, through new publishing deals. Ini Kamoze's Hot Stepper is now number one. So to help Jahshii as a new artiste have a taste of what success is like outside of Jamaica was great," Contractor said.