Rayvon Interview

June. 2002 by Ital-K
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Rayvon's Afiwi Caribbean Hall of Fame Profile
Rayvon's new CD My Bad

Afiwi: It is indeed a pleasure to have one of the premiere Reggae stars appear with us live and direct here on afiwi.com. Who am I talking about? I'm talking about the man who's got a big tune coming out now, title track of his album called "My Bad"; Rayvonnnn! Welcome to afiwi.com bredren.

Rayvon: Yes sah, respec' respec' respec'. Glad to be on the scene, y'all fa'real.

Afiwi: Yes mi bredren, it's nice to have you here with us on afiwi.com. For all of those who might not know who you are, take a quick second to tell the whole of the world on afiwi.com , who is Rayvon!

Rayvon: Well Rayvon is "Mr. Big Up Big Up" telling all the girls-dem to big up in dem batty rider and them ting like that from '93. "Mr. Nice & Lovely" telling the girls them that they're nice and lovely, and "In The Summertime", all of those songs I done with Shaggy, and then you have songs like "No Guns No Murder", and "Pretty" produced by Funkmaster Flex which you catch Rayvon in a DJ style.

Rayvon is a singer/dj/sing-jay; and the biggest sound so-far with Shaggy was, "Angel", and you might have heard "2-Way" which is my single featuring Shaggy, Rik Rok, Brian & Tony Gold. So the list is long and has been going strong for 10 years and so, in a nutshell, that's Rayvon.

Afiwi: That's beautiful my bredren. How did you first get started in the business?

Rayvon: Well, beating on some pots and pans as a kid, my father realized that I had a beat or ear for music and he brought me a drum set, and coming to the States I went to school to play a little bass guitar; and then coming out of High School I was fortunate enough to go to a recording studio one day just to test out some things, and I made a recording called "Sweet & Pretty", and that showed me that I can do this thing on wax, like on a professional level.

'Cause at that time I was still doing it as a hobby. You know that's the only way I was looking at the music game and industry. After that, that same recording studio called "Living Room Recording Studio" I met Shaggy in there one day and I was there to do a solo song; he was there to do one. We We ended up combining one together with my smooth edged singing, and his rough dj style; and the chemistry just click from there.

Afiwi: Wicked.

Rayvon: And we just took it from there and just ran with it you-know? And the rest is history. So if you've been hearing those guys singing on top of those big Shaggy-songs, you might not know who it was, a lot of those songs was me.

Afiwi: Now the world knows for sure that you're just as responsible, having a whole amount of success for Shaggy going forward. Nuff respect to you for that.

Rayvon: Well thank you very much and I have to say that being on "Angel", you-know that the Reggae business and a lot of Reggae artist is like it goes up and down. You don't know the next place you're going, but at least you have to try to make a career out of it. So, starting from '92, making songs is like every step is a step in the right direction, and on another level.

So Angel right now is the most played song in history last year, over 8,000 spins in one week; number one in a whole lot of countries simultaneously and we're very proud of that, so Big Up all of the Reggae supporters out there. And who never used to like Reggae, they come on board right now, so I have to big them up too because trust me, we need to keep Reggae out there on the forefront, as a matter of fact the whole Caribbean music need to be out there 'cause a lot of money is being generated in the Caribbean but its not getting put down on paper, so we have to remember that.

Afiwi: Nuff respect and well-said! You see that's the role, that's one of the roles that afiwi.com wants to be involved with in the world; is to link everybody from the Caribbean diaspora and give us that avenue and access that we need to be on a level playing field with everybody else. So yeah-man nuff respect; we support your works to the maximum for that.

You had mentioned about the tune "Sweet & Pretty" and "Living Room Studios". That's Sidney Mills right?

Rayvon: (laughs) That's right! Because I'm going to tell you right now, that song was my first song that was actually released underground in The UK because the Living Room studio label was distributed by Jet-Star.

Afiwi: right-right

Rayvon: So that was "Sweet & Pretty" on one side and "Drive Proper" on the other side. That was around '90-'91, something like that.

Afiwi: When I first met Sidney Mills, Sidney Mills was telling me that he was laying some tracks with Shaggy and he mentioned your name as well, and here he comes full circle and you're the man telling it to me live-and- direct. Yean-man that's nice.

Rayvon: (laughs in the background)

Afiwi: Now tell us about your album that's being released this month June. The album called "My Bad". Tell afiwi.com about "My Bad". It's been used on one of the soundtracks. Tell us about it.

Rayvon: Yeah-well, "My Bad" is 14 (fourteen) tracks of wicked music, trust me, from start-to-finish, you're not going to be fast forwarding anything, you're not going to be skipping over anything. If you've ever heard Rayvon before, it's definitely Rayvon material.

You getting stuff for the bedroom, stuff for your car, you're getting stuff for your Sunday evening; you-know-what-I'm-saying? It's a well rounded album. It's produced by Dave Kelly, Robert Livingston, Sting International. So we have top producers on it, all brand new stuff no whole heap of sampling, nothing like that. It's something to be reckoned with, and people will want to go out there and pick it up because trust me, it's HOT!
The first single "2-Way" has been put out already in The States, done good. "My Bad" which is the title track right now is the second single to be released in The States, and so far it's number-1 in Hawaii, San Diego, Oklahoma City; number-3 in New Mexico, Arizona. So we're off to a good start.

I just shot the video, and it's another funny video like the "2-Way" one, and I think "2-Way" is going to be released in the UK July 8; so everyone's got to look out for that one. Officially released, the first single.

Afiwi: what!

Rayvon: The album is following on the 22nd June, full force; so make sure you get you 15pounds and put it aside from now.

Afiwi: (laughs) Well-said. 15pounds well spent.

Rayvon: (laughs)

Afiwi: I remember when I got the single of "2-Way", and the first time I played it on "Sounds of the Caribbean"[WLRN 91.3fm-Miami, www.wlrn.org] I instantly got about 4 (four) calls within the first 2 (two) minutes. "A-who-dat"? "A-weh-you-get-dat-from?"

Rayvon: A which tune that?

Afiwi: 2-Way

Rayvon: Uh-huh, yeah-man. We try to stay current when we make songs. A lot of the times you don't get serious all the time, we like to have fun with the music and so forth.
"2-Way" is a song about a 2-way pager going on right now in The States. It's something like e-mail on your hip. So you can walk around and people can be e-mailing you from all over the world and you talking right back to them and so forth. It was really meant for business purposes, but other people take it on a pleasure side as far as meeting. It's changing up the whole dating game, let's put it like that.

If you get somebody's information and you're having a conversation with let's-say 4 (four) people at one time, and I might be your wife and you're playing around; send your wife the wrong message that you were supposed to send your sweetheart, then you're in a lot of trouble.

Afiwi: Huh!

Rayvon: you-understand?

Afiwi: yeah-yeah Big problem

Rayvon: and you can say "It Wasn't Me (You)" 'cause the proof was in the pudding right there to say that it was you, ah-your-pager you-understand? So we just took something like that and put a storyline around it, create something, put a wicked beat, and we have a song. And that's just one of those songs on the album. "My Bad" is something totally different.

Afiwi: true-true

Rayvon: We try to touch on every little base. You see "My Bad" now, that actual song is the opposite of "Angel", because the song "Angel", we big-up all the woman-dem. It's like I have to say 90% of them strong, progressive women. What happened to the other 10%? We have angels and devils. Somebody's got to think about them too.

Afiwi: true-true

Rayvon: (laughs) Trust me, is a smart witty cutting edge album. The lyrics are sharp, the beats are sharp. It's something to be reckoned with, so when it come out everyone go and check it out.

Afiwi: Get their piece

Rayvon: Yeah-man, get their piece of the pie

Afiwi: true-true. Who inspired you in the business musically?

Rayvon: Listening to a lot of early Reggae greats: Sugar Minott, Little John, Junior Reid, Don Carlos, Lone Ranger, Brigadier Jerry. Those are the guys that really inspired me on the Reggae scene.

But I'm a well-rounded kind of guy when it comes to music; Stevie Wonder, The Jacksons. My father used to play Brooke Benton and those guys. So it's old school mixed in with the new school.

Afiwi: You're a man just like myself because I go that same way too my bredren.

Rayvon: (laughs)

Afiwi: I go definitely dem-way; Sam Cooke…

Rayvon: Yes man! Sam Cooke

Afiwi: The whole works. I have to commend artists like yourself and Shaggy for what you've done since The Millennium, and prior to The Millennium, for keeping Caribbean music as well as Reggae music, bridge that gap between let's-say The Caribbean and let's-say mainstream America; you- know you've done a lot to make Reggae more acceptable in the United States in places like Oklahoma City that you wouldn't really think about.

Rayvon: Exactly!

Afiwi: That's a humongous step that people like yourself and Shaggy have done, and I commend both of you for the works that you've done in that respect, bredren.

Rayvon: Thank you very much sir, believe me. Very much appreciated. Even to go on a soap opera like "All My Children" and sing "Angel" is like (laughs); so I had to wake up and slap myself because I couldn't believe it. Because "All My Children" is a soap opera that's been around for at least the early '70's and is still going strong today. One of the number-1 soap operas, so when you're doing shows like that, it really shows you how far the music is going and how many people it's reaching.

Because we did from Fox Kids right into the David Letterman Show. It's like a wide audience of ages; that's like the kids right upto middle-aged mainstream America. So you know, glad fi dat.

Afiwi: Yeah, nuff repec', nuff nuff respec'. Do you use the computer often?

Rayvon: Yeah, I'm still learning, but I can't afford to be computer illiterate in a world like this.

Afiwi: true-true, true-true. Have you had the chance to visit afiwi.com?

Rayvon: No, but I'm going to reach there now.

Afiwi: Well alright

Rayvon: Mi-nah-lef-it (I'm not leaving it) That's one of my favourite links yah-now.

Afiwi: Alright bredren, glad fe know dat. Tell the rest of our audience on afiwi.com what they can expect from Rayvon going forward from 2002 into 2003?

Rayvon: Well the sky's the limit for me. I think this album will open a lot more doors as far as my career is concerned. A lot of people usually see me in a lot of collaborations and so forth and they might not knowing what I have and what I bring to the table, so when the album come out, sky's the limit.

I'm coming to The UK to do 'Party In The Park' in July, and there's another show in Birmingham same month. So everyone look out for that. And we're going to be planning a tour and so forth. But sky's the limit, everything's possible; just look out for big and greater things; for real.

Afiwi: Nuff respect. Rayvon. On behalf of the massive right here on afiwi.com, we want to say nuff thanks to you and for Rebecca and all the people over at Big Yard Music (NY) for making this possible. We look forward to having you exclusively on afiwi.com as a feature artist.

Rayvon: Definitely! And I'm gonna big you up Ital for doing your job so wicked rude boy, trust me. Just keep the dot-com ting straight up to the top, you-hear-sah? "Afiwi dot com, yes flash it!"

Afiwi: Yes mi bredren, nuff thanks!!

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