Blaize looking to make a return

After an impromptu performance of his track Sex fi Work at Janga's Soundbar and Grill's Super Heavy Wednesday event went viral last November, dancehall artiste Blaize has used the renewed publicity to return to music with a new EP.

The six-track Time is Now, which is produced by Tahj Productions, has been gaining much traction, especially for the singles, Artiste Who, Ms. Panton and Sex Fi Work.

In Artiste Who he takes aim at subpar recording artistes who are unable to deliver engaging live performances, while Ms. Panton is his lyrical take on the ongoing fraud investigation at Stocks and Securities Limited. In Sex Fi Work he discourages the act of breaking the workday to have sex because of the risk of being terminated from his day job.

The artiste, given name Andrew Folkes, started doing music professionally over a decade ago, but took a break in 2012 after the loss of his child. He returned briefly in 2013 before going on another hiatus before his return last November. He plans to remain mainstream this time around following the popularity of his Janga's performance.

"In 2009 me get couple radio play and dem thing deh and mi perform pon Sting three years straight, and been writing a lot of songs for a lot of veteran artistes. Mi lose mi youth in 2012, take a break deh so, walk back inna dancehall 2013 with two a the biggest songs inna dancehall and mi walk away 2014. Between dem time deh, mi never did a do no music none at all until last year when everybody a say 'Go back, go back'. A deh so mi decide say mi a go do it," Blaize shared.

"Right now the songs dem only release pon mi Vevo page ... dem three singles deh a the one dem wah we a push now. Dem a get radio play too, the traction high fi mi career right now. We also write a book too, The Power of Pain," Blaize shared.