Ever since Jimmy Cliff delivered his seminal performance as Ivan -- an aspiring musician who relocates from rural Jamaica to Kingston in pursuit of his dreams of musical stardom -- in The Harder they Come, succeeding generations of Jamaican musicians from outside Kingston have felt it mandatory to make a pilgrimage to the “Mecca of Dancehall†in hopes of realizing their musical ambitions. Only a very few Jamaican dancehall acts, the most notable of which is Shaggy, have managed to garner international acclaim without first getting authenticated by the Kingston “massives.†Judging by the overwhelmingly positive reception that has been meted out to his recent recordings such as Thongs and Low Rise Jeans, While You Were Out, and Why When Where and How, Oxxygen appears destined to join that small exclusive band.
Oxxygen spent his formative years in Ocho Rios, a popular resort town on Jamaica’s north coast. His precocious talent brought him to the attention of the principals for one of “Ochi’s†leading sound systems, King Mellow, where he performed alongside top-flight deejays like Shabba Ranks – earning their respect and quickly establishing himself as a crowd favorite for crafty compositions that belied his youthful age.
Unfortunately for Oxxygen, he started performing on sound systems precisely when the dancehall was moving away from using live entertainers and towards the adoption of dubplates. With this evolution of the dancehall and with limited outlets for deejays in Ocho Rios, Oxxygen was forced to take a hiatus from the business. His interest was rekindled by current Sony-affiliated deejay Prezident Brown, who had recognized Oxxygen’s talent from his sound system performances. Oxxygen penned several hits for Brown including Faith, and Soap Opera, which was included in Chris Blackwell's Island Pictures Dancehall Queen movie. Oxxygen’s budding reputation as a songwriter soared even further when he wrote Woman Rule Dem, one of the leading tracks on General Degree’s self-titled album for VP Records.
Before Oxxygen could capitalize on these successes to focus on his own recording career, he migrated to New York, where financial constraints and an absence of musical contacts meant that he had to commit himself to the academic and working worlds. Initially, Oxxygen was depressed by the thought of not being able to pursue his passion; however, encouraged by a few persons who recognized his talent, Oxxygen immersed himself into an informal study of music in the “global village†with the aim of graduating to a higher level musically. Confident that he had assembled the tools necessary to be a major musical force globally, and with the backing of Barry O’Hare and Dr. Paul, two of Jamaica’s more successful producers on the international scene, Oxxygen recently took a leave of absence from college to devote his energies to his recording career.
Academia’s loss is proving to be music’s gain, as Oxxygen emerges with a unique and commercially appealing sound that features heavy doses of dancehall blended with various other music forms including hip-hop, R&B, and rock. His writing style, historically his strongest suit, is marked by addictive hooks and lyrics that are either explicit or ingenious, but never clichéd. If you are looking for the typical rhythm-driven fare – where everything sounds alike to the untrained ear – then look elsewhere, because Oxxygen is more adventurous and experimental than any other dancehall artiste. While he tackles typical dancehall subjects, he does so from the vantage point of one straddling the divide between his native Jamaican culture and that of his adopted home, the global melting pot called New York City; hence, his delivery is easily digestible by Jamaicans and non-Jamaicans alike.
Based on his recent recordings, Oxxygen is shaping up to be the next “college dropout,†à la Kanye West, to achieve major success as a recording artiste. He may not have traveled the traditional route, but irrespective of Why When Where and How he got here, Oxxygen has arrived and he is “too legit†not to leave his imprint on the global music stage.Plain MySpace Layouts by Iron Spider
