A RED RAT CRAWLS THROUGH HOLLYWOOD

A couple years back, three years after the smash success of his debut, "Ooh No! It's Red Rat," this light-hearted dancehall superstar passed through Los Angeles in one of his promotional stops. He was there to let people know about how mature he'd become with, "I'm A Big Kid Now," his second album on Greensleeves Records.

This lad is quite a character, one who never misses the opportunity to retread life’s humorous experiences onto his records. In person, his zip of energy isn't unnecessarily overdone--he’s just a down-to-earth and surprisingly very spiritual youth, with more focus than the average entertainer. Hardly boasting his famous call of "Ooooooh Nooooo" all over this album, his new cry is, "Oooooooh Woooow," a sure sign that he's all grown up now.

Just before Red Rat and Elephant Man stormed what is becoming the West Coast's largest and most well respected Dancehall Reggae club, "Jamaican Gold," run by DJ White Lightening and Q Bwoy Productions, I met up with Red Rat at his hotel so we could discuss these past few years of him touring and finishing up this sophomore album. Despite the break up of Danny Browne's Main Street Crew, once comprised of Red Rat, Buccaneer, Goofy, Degree and Hawkeye, the most recognizable, most animated and most distinctive of the bunch tries to continue where he last left off. Later that night at the club it became jam-packed with the Jamaican, Belizean and Diaspora massives, all swaying in unity for the sake of some hardcore dancehall entertainment.

Mr. Marlon: What determined the decision to have ""I'm A Big Kid Now," released almost four years after the release of your 1997 debut, "Ooh No! It's Red Rat?"

Red Rat: I did stop writing for a while to promote the first album, and it still selling. About a year and a half ago, we were working on this album but the fallout of Main Street and such held it back a while. I had to take it up in my hands and produce the album myself. I didn't want to just throw some songs in, like take all of the singles out there and just put it on CD and say yeah! No! I wanted to sit down and produce it properly, and make songs for the album, so mi never wah rush it.

Mr. M: Music wise, Main Street CEO Danny Browne is not as involved in the production as he was before. How has his departure effected your career?

RR: Well, we started the album with him. He did a few instrumentals and I finished it. Danny still did a couple… Everyday mi call him still, yuh know.

Mr. M: What was the reason for his sudden pulling out of the music scene and dismantling Main Street anyway?

RR: Him just change! He was driving home one day and passed a dance and saw some girls, head top wining. The song that was playing was one of his productions, and he said he never knew this is what his music was doing to people--people drunk and ah smoke weed and…. He say, "Bwoy, mi nah wah do dat…" That's HIS explanation.

Mr. M: Your image is like no other in the dancehall, and it's very high energy. Is it a task to maintain this demeanor when fans expect it, even when your body and mind call for some solitude? Is their solitude away from the "Red Rat" image?

RR: I look at it like it’s my nine to five job. You have fi wake up fi go work 9 o’clock in the morning if you’re doing clerk. You have to smile and, "Hello, nice to meet you, can I help you?" and then after 5 o’clock, you go back down and vex. It's my job to do it. If something’s bothering me and a fan comes to say, "Red Rat can I have an autograph?" I can't just (makes a motion as if to shoo away something). It’s dem buy my music and I have to show dem love. Plus, anytime I see my fans no matter what’s bothering me anyway, I just cheer up.

Mr. M: It definitely says something about your fun attitude and open-mindedness towards music outside of reggae, for you, a dancehall artist, to state that your most memorable performing experience was at Notting Hill Carnival.

RR: That performance was a whole heap ah t’ing that did happen now. First of all, there were two million people! That was my second time in England, plus before we performed, Wyclef was on stage, so we performed after Wyclef done MASH UP the place! And I said, "noooo, how we ah perform after Wyclef? Shit, wah we ah go do now?" And believe you me, when that emcee announced, "OUT OF JAMAICA, WE BRING TO YOU, THE GUY WHO SAYS, OOH NOOOOOOOOOO…" Bomboclat. The whole place lifted up and when I ran out, man ah just say, "Mi woulda shame/Mi an yuh a fren but trust mi Dwayne …!" (The opening lines from his smash hit, "Dwayne"). Every two million people hands inna di air dey so, and I was like DAMN, powerful. Wake up the whole Carnival. Believe me, you can’t forget that. That's one of my memories I can’t forget.

Also, in Trinidad, the Weekend Concert with Chinese Laundry; first time in Costa Rica too, they treat me like a king; also, the first time in Uganda, they treat me like a king there too. For example, the hotel was supposed to take you about a half-an-hour from the airport, but it took us 3 hours because the two sides of the road were full with people waiting. I tell people it’s surprising to know how big an artist is out of his country. Believe you me, the world BIG!

Mr. M: Where do you come up with these hilarious concepts like "Fat Girl Slim Girl," "Skin A Slap" and many others songs that might warrant music videos?

RR [laughing]: I know that too, anytime mi ah listen to myself, mi ah say you know that youth he have no sense! Believe me!

Mr. M: Where is all this humor coming from?

RR: I don’t know, I guess that's just me and I just look at things to talk about that are real but funny, and make sure I put it down that way. When you listen to it, you say, "ah true him talk," but you haffi laugh. Inspiration from God.

Mr. M: You dedicate a song on there to your daughter, Taiye, and mention Italee a lot as well.

RR: Italee is my queen, and our daughter is Taiye. People might not know also, but when the whole Main Street thing broke up, I was real down and I was like, what the hell am I going to do? Because I left everything up to Danny Browne. When my daughter was born, I was like, "yo, mi cyah wait 'pon nobody fi do nothing for me, mi haffi do it myself becaw' mi daughter go want pampers, she soon start school! Do it yourself and say, yeah!" It's all about Taiye.

Mr. M: What's the difficulty with commanding some broader exposure amongst your musical peers in hip-hop or R&B, when everyone knows that dancehall music is one of the most potent forms of dance music throughout the urban areas of the U.S. Its force is so obvious in most major dance clubs.

RR: Even Calypso! How I look at it is, when it comes to stage performance, nothing beats a calypsonian or a reggae artist. We put out that energy. So when we’re behind the microphone doing a song to put it on record, we deejay like we see a crowd of people, AND PUT IT! But I guess in hip-hop, it's more focussed on the lyrics and the flows and stuff, but it's all about the vibe that you put on record.

Mr. M: And these labels can't see the strength of this, and the mainstream radio as well. Do you not feel like it's us against them sometimes?

RR: That's it! That's just it! Nobody’s willing to spend enough money on dancehall to make it explode over their thing. Plus, we had a chance, but the artists never understood the business. Now they understand and you can see it building back up with Beenie Man with "Sim Simma," Mr. Vegas with "Heads High" and Sean Paul too. It’s driving ah back. And, I think dem 'fraid of dancehall artists. Because every show that a hip-hop and a dancehall artist clash on, dancehall ALWAYS take it, always! [laughs]. That's what stopped Shabba. Shabba was taking every show away from Bobby Brown. The people here were saying it was a Shabba tour, and they don’t like that. Dem don’t want to know say, a dancehall artist, which is not their thing, taking over.

Mr. M: In life thus far in your career, what has been the most influential force in determining the way you maintain your humbleness and sanity throughout the "supposedly" glamorous and hectic schedule for you?

RR [without hesitation] Father God! God! Nothing in life is possible without God, that's my motto everyday. Anything can happen. If I stub my toe, I say thank you God, because I could have stubbed my toe, dropped and then bussed open my head instead! But Him just made me stub my toe; probably Him need to say, hey look where you a go! I don't want to take credit for anything in life, I thank God for it. That is Father God’s work, definitely man!

Marlon "Mr. Marlon" Regis, "Musical Murder" columnist of The Beat Magazine, is the dancehall reviews selector, as well as the annual guest editor for The Beat's dancehall issue. He's occasionally the digi DJ under another alias, DJ Pelau, and he's been a music consultant for DMX Music's reggae format for the past five years. Outside of the reggae world, he's a staff writer for hiphopsite.com, and continues to be a contributing writer to The Source, Rollingstone.com, Cdnow.com, launch.com, Atmosphere Magazine (UK) and more if you can catch him!