Jason Henriques was born on the 17th of March 1978.He formed Coppershot Sound System in 1994 with its original members Mr. Shaun and Nero P. They have worked with Stone Love, Tony Matterhorn, Fire Links, Renaissance and many other sound systems in the business.Jigzagula aka Jigzag/Jay Z, is Sean Paul's Hype Man, Selector and Business Partner. Jigzag has also co-produced and co-written many tracks with Sean Paul on his multi platinum album Dutty Rock including the album's first number 1 song Get Busy. He co-wrote the single and number one hit it England, Breath by Blu Cantrell and Sean Paul. Sean's most recent mult-platinum album, The Trinity, saw Jigzagula co-write and produce two tracks, Change the Game feat. Dutty Cup Crew and All on Me feat. Tami Chynn, as well as co-writing a number of other tracks on the same album. Established : 1994
Selectors : Jay Z, Mr. Shaun, DJ Friji, Small Voice, Cutty, MC, Cutteye & DJ Donny
Management : Nero P
Mission : To be a hardcore sound with an uptown flavour always bringing a good party vibe.
After Thirteen years in the sound system business, Coppershot is a firmly established sound system with an excellent reputation for versatility and high quality. Throughout our hour-long interview, I got to know four of Coppershot's dynamic and passionate young men. Mr. Shaun, Jay Z, DJ Friji and Matthew gave candid and insightful comments, which only helped to reaffirm in my mind that Coppershot is one of the best sound systems around. Jay Z was by far the most outspoken member of the group but that didn't stop others from voicing their opinions. Being from 'uptown' has not hindered this sound from playing dancehall anywhere and, if anything, their hardcore style has rendered that 'uptown' label useless.
In 1994 Coppershot was born out of a love for dancehall. They began small, sometimes even playing for free just to get the name out. At times they even encountered mild hostility from more established sounds but this was balanced by guidance from famed DJ Bounty Killer, who was attracted to them because of the name. He was impressed with their vibe and "has become one of their most ardent fans." But they "knew [their] place" and took time and eventually, Coppershot was accepted into the sound system fold and got even more guidance from Renaissance Disco especially Mix Master Marvin, a veteran selector. Other early influences include Bass Odyssey, Stone Love, Dutty Cup and Bounty Killer. In fact, because of close affiliations with Dutty Cup, many of Coppershot's early dubs were from the Dutty Cup Crew.
Looking back, Coppershot considers the early guidance they received crucial to their initial growth and development. More importantly they feel that contemporary young sounds are not receiving this crucial help. Both Matthew and Jay Z feel that it is important for a young sound to make a big impact to make a name for itself but this must be balanced by learning the ins and outs of the music business, especially knowing that it is important to "feel" out a party and create a party vibe. This type of knowledge can only come from more experienced sounds and producers but it is not always forthcoming. The issue of young sounds speaks to the larger issue of taking care of Jamaican music and creating institutions to this end, although they don't necessarily agree that the government is the best entity to manage this task. One possible solution to this problem that they hinted at was for reggae music to be taught in schools along with the recorder and piano.
Music is the great passion for Coppershot and we spoke about everything from the changes going on Jamaican music to the future of dancehall. Of course, we discussed the one of today's hot topics: the influence of hip-hop. While Coppershot doesn't feel that the meshing of hip-hop and dancehall is a bad thing, they are concerned about the widespread copying and lack of creativity that this practice causes. Matthew did point out however that cover songs are a big part of dancehall and that music lovers perhaps love to hear their favourite songs with a Jamaican twist. Expansion and exposure of dancehall is always a good thing according to Jay Z and he also pointed out that with MTV and BET, hip-hop is much more visible than dancehall which is why dancehall/hip-hop collaborations should be helpful but not overshadowing to dancehall.
One of Coppershot's dreams is to take dancehall more available not only to the world but to Jamaicans. They firmly believe that the music is there and people want to hear it but it is not being brought to them. Especially with the growing tendency of the police to shut down sessions, it is becoming more difficult to bring the music to the people. This led to a discussion about the other hot topic: charging DJs for cursing at stage shows. Jay Z admitted that he had cooled off on cursing on play outs because he didn't want anything to stop him from being able to continue bringing music to the people. Both Matthew and Mr. Shaun did point out that some regulation is needed to allow for accountability and responsibility.
While Coppershot wants to make dancehall more visible and accessible, they admit that it is discouraging to present dancehall to the public. Lack of publicity, big company push and representation all combine to make it difficult to introduce dancehall effectively. The rhythm culture of dancehall, where sometimes far too many songs are recorded on one rhythm, they believe stifles the creativity of the music. It is impossible to play all the songs on a rhythm while still maintaining a party vibe.
However with the recent Grammy nomination for Beres Hammond and the win for Damian Marley, dancehall may be poised more than ever for a big breakthrough. Beres' nomination they agree was a long time in coming and while it would have been pleasant for him to win the award, Jr Gong's win was a welcome one. Beres' nomination also highlighted the singers in dancehall. Although Jay Z pointed out that the singers are very popular in dancehall, they are normally only exposed to a select crowd and don't always get the recognition they deserve. Another favourite of Jay Z's was Morgan Heritage and this choice was met with approval by the rest of the group. Marley's Grammy win is well-deserved one according the group. Matthew pointed out that the album was well produced and original with collaborations and guest spots on different rhythms.
Coppershot's dynamic members are all committed to putting the creativity back into dancehall and bringing everything back into focus using everything from live instruments to create fresh new rhythms instead of tweaking old rhythms; old rhythms that cannot be produced in a live setting. Ultimately Coppershot's goals are to play music and bring a party vibe to any venue while bringing exposing dancehall to a global level so that this precious part of Jamaican culture gets the respect it deserves.