In the summer of 1999 the Grenadian Hip-Hop/Rap collective known as Minor Godz/MG began, with Lewis Mysterio and I Raze ‘em God, Born Arthur Lewis and Shand Gilbert aged 18 and 17 respectively, both from the parish of St. Patrick’s. Two MCs who gained popularity on the community level for their ’True Hip-Hop’ style, brought to the table better more organised song arrangement, harder more up to the time lyricism, together with an international flair that was uncommon.
The following year Dark Stealth aged 17 Born Clint Alexis the cousin of Lewis Mysterio also from St. Patrick’s was recruited, a then reserved but venomous lyricist lent his talents to the MG classic ’Hot For Sure’, which caught the attention of another more widely known dancehall group, then known as K-US Squad who booked MG for what was their biggest performance yet at ’The Vitamalt Youth Fest’ which featured Bunji Garlin.
MG claimed their spot as one of the top urban music acts on the island performing next to the likes of Skidmo Crew, Victoria’s Finest, K-US Squad, Baby Killer and others. The group continued through that year performing at numerous venues across the island widening their fanbase. Later that same year MG began grooming two new recruits namely Hard Drive and Slugger, Born Keron Fletcher age 11 and Gavin Thomas age 15 both from St. George’s.
Hard Drive Usually opened for the group, with his own brand of dancehall created for him by the group. A young God possessing vocal clarity and bold stage presence rarely seen at that age.
Now Slugger, who on becoming a member of the group added God to his name brought pizzazz and playful word play to the mix, joined with Mysterio in 2001 for another MG banger ‘M&S: Mysterio and Slugger’. That summer MG performed at another ‘Vitamalt Youth Fest’ this time featuring Hawkeye, Maximus Dan and Rupee.
In 2002 MG added Mr. Sandman (Cliff Aird) to the ranks, a lethal MC and producer. He later produced MG’s first single ’Falling’ recorded at Mt Zion Studio, it was an extreme deviation from what was popular at the time, yet widely accepted by the Grenadian hip-hop community. MG instantly became a serious force to be reckoned with. In July of 2002 MG was part of ’BET Talent Search’ which coincided with the release of the second single, ’Give You What You Want’. The song catapulted MG into radio favorite status with heavy rotation by Maureen then at SUNFM, Snyah who was at SACFM and The Squad’s DJ Silance at CITYSOUNDFM then.
MG ensued with singles like ’Ammunition’, ’MC 2 Step’, ’We Know’ and ’Like What’. To this day MG maintains that True hip-hop sound mixed in with Dance hall and Reggae influences.
Minor Godz legacy is already written in the history books but don’t count them out just yet. In keeping with true lyricists fashion a rewrite is inevitable!!