Ian Lewis of Inner Circle (Bad Boys) and Magazeen of Maybach Music Group (MMG) represent two distinct generations of Reggae. So, uniting them at the studio hotspot, Circle House, in Miami, Florida, was bound to create an idea exchange of massive Dancehall proportions.
And it did, as the two traded thoughts on what has become of Reggae in recent times, and what can be done to help boost its popularity. According to Ian, the culture switch happened as Jamaicans began to take an interest in the foreign market that is Hip-Hop.
“Hip-Hop went and got bigger than Dancehall and flopped Dancehall. It’s because Jamaican people love foreign things. Hip-Hop has Lil Wayne; Drake is getting bigger and bigger,” Ian observed. “You can’t be one dimensional. What do you think [Vybz] Kartel does? Kartel [sees] how Puffy and them do it, Jay-Z and them do it, and he realizes music is only 50 percent of what makes you an artist.”
In essence, the conversation about successful Reggae artistry came down to longevity, with Bob Marley still reigning as the number one selling artist in the history of Reggae music.
Magazeen, the lead Reggae artist for Rick Ross’ Caribbean music imprint, Maybach Jamaica, spoke on keeping his music appealing for the masses: “That’s why as a writer, an artist, and composer, you have to write different types of music if you want to keep abroad.” He also noted, “It comes back to your penmanship and creativity.”
Watch AllHipHop.com’s entire conversation with Inner Circle and Magazeen below (special thanks to Circle House Studio and Pharrell Williams):
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Fn7Ii9lZ8&w=560&h=315]
Follow Inner Circle on Twitter (@BadBoysofReggae) and visit their official website. Check for Magazeen’s (@Maga2DaZeen) new mixtape, Red, Gold & Green, coming soon to DatPiff.com.
Follow Mikey T The Movie Star on Twitter (@MTMovieStar).