Mavado rises Internationally

Mavado might be absent from the local dancehall scene, but internationally he continues to gain traction with several collaborations and tour with Drake now being added to his ever-growing résumé.

In recent times, Mavado seems to have somewhat graduated from the realms of the Jamaican dancehall scene. He has taken his brand in hand and is heavily targeting the international market with his singjay method of delivery. He has had success in this area. He has nabbed a spot at one of the biggest record labels, YMCMB, via a merge with DJ Khaled's We The Best label (to which he was originally signed), and he's had a few collaborations with big name acts such as Sterling Simms and Maybach Music Group's Meek Mill. He has also had a touring gig with Drake.

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"Drake is like family so when he invited me to be a part of his tour I didn't have to think twice. I think Drizzy was a bit surprised just how many of the white people in the audience were singing along to my songs when he brought me on stage! He knew I was big but this opened his eyes as well as mine - we were singing to 20,000 people in sold out arenas to people of all nations and they were singing my songs word for word," he said.

But that's not all the entertainer who rose from the depths of the Cassava Piece garrison asking Wah Dem A Do to the heights of stardom chanting So Special has up his sleeves.

He's currently working with a lot of different international/local producers and artistes in getting his name to the level he believes is possible.

"I have songs with a lot of the hot rappers out there as well as some of the big icons. We'll be dropping them over the coming months, starting with a remix of Like Me done by Fabolous - a song I originally did for Chimney Records. I'm getting in studio with Swizz Beatz to work on some material soon and I have a crazy dancehall song for the girls produced by Dave Kelly that I'm confident is going to be a big problem. I just feel so blessed to be working with so many legends, it's an honour. What's humbling is that when I meet all these superstars and legends they all tell me they're big fans of my music, sing my songs to me and say they ready to work with me," said Mavado.

He continued, "I just did a remix for Kanye West and Rick Ross' I Wish You Would record, and just shot a video forSo Suicidal, a track I have on DJ Khaled's new album Kiss The Ring that's dropping August 21. YMCMB boss Baby came through on the set to make a cameo appearance and give me a strength in the video so it's just a family ting. The video mad, we had Ferraris and Rolls Royces on set, flame torches, nooses all kinda tings! I think it's gonna come out great and definitely give me more exposure again. It should premier on Worldstarhiphop.comnext week and get some airtime on MTV Jams and BET."

His recent collaboration, Tell Her Again, with the newly signed Sony act Sterling Simms and Maybach Music Group's Meek Mill samples Barrington Levy's popular Murderer. It uses a similar rhythm and the popular "woii!" and "murderer!" lines.

Mavado said Simms was a fan of his music and added that the reggae flavour of the track caused the artiste to reach out for him to feature on it alongside Meek Mills.

"There are a lot of hip hop and urban records out there now that are sampling our music and adding that Jamaicans, swerve to their ting and I think it's very positive for the genre. It can only help tune in more people's ears to our sound so that when we come with that big record the public will love it even more," he said.