Producer Lampshade Muzic takes on artiste role

With production credits on dancehall hits such as Skillibeng's Energy and Squash's Destiny, as well as songwriting credits on several other tracks, Lampshade Muzic has gone ahead to record himself and produce an official track to join the race to stardom.

Only four years into his professional career as a producer and sound engineer, Lampshade Muzic, given name Gayle Clunie, has managed to fly under the radar and focus on working behind the scenes. Now, he is ready to claim "my piece of the pie" as a recording artiste, he told THE WEEKEND STAR.

"One of the things people have failed to understand over the years, is that living in the entertainment capital of the world, which is how we are seen, means the pie is big. Everyone is deserving of the piece of the pie, and I think the more artistes we are able to produce, the bigger the pie and we can feed the country," Lampshade Muzic said.

His first try at recording was based off a dare. He shared that he was involved in a debate with a deejay about a song concept.

"I wanted the artiste to record something for me. It was an idea, but yuh know artiste have a tendency to get unruly, not taking any suggestions. [So] at that particular moment, the artiste response was, 'Yuh guh record it'...that's what I did," Lampshade Muzic explained.

He added that he never intended on releasing the track Top Life, but it has transformed into something bigger. It is now a collaboration featuring Bobby 6ix.

"It can change the current vibe of our music because it is about happy life, just partying and having a good time," said Lampshade Muzic.

"Music is power. In our society we need to recognise that, especially within entertainment, even when there are disputes between artistes, it does not need a physical response. We nuh need fi a shoot after one another, or shoot down one another. We can answer with a song instead, prove what we need to with our creativity," he continued.

Top Life is slated for release this weekend and will be distributed on all digital streaming platforms by his label.

He said, "I've decided to stick with my brand, Lampshade Muzic, as my performance alias because it is already established within the community. The style of my music is more on the singjay side, but on Top Life people will see a bit of my skills as a deejay. I've always been on the producer or engineer side of things from schooldays, but always anticipated to take my career as far as the music is willing to take me."

Lampshade Muzic said that he will continue to dabble in production and take on more projects to mix and master, but is actively writing more songs.

"This business has afforded me [the chance] to work with local and international acts, dancehall, reggae greats like Big Youth and U-Roy and Trinidadian soca stars, including Bunji Garlin and Patrice Roberts, and I just see myself dabbling in every aspect of Caribbean music," he said.