Mr. Vegas No Longer Searching For Hit Songs
Gone are the days when veteran singjay Mr. Vegas was pursuing hit songs.
After almost three decades in the biz, the Heads High artist said he’s content with touring on his existing catalog due to the current musical landscape.
“We sing pon stage, we love deejay pon sound system, we love the music, we love record…it inna we DNA,” Vegas told fans during a recent Instagram livestream. “But there’s a price that comes with the love to do music. One, you can spend back every dollar weh yuh earn back inna music and end up back at the same place you were before you got your break. Meaning, you can end up broke… So, you have to get to a point where you know what, mi accept seh mi last number one was what it was…”
The Bruk It Down entertainer, however, will still release new music, void of big promotional budgets.
“You keep putting out music but yuh nuh really put a lot of resources behind it because it’s like it becomes the lotto now…” he said. “You just a buy a ticket true you waan have a chance. So, it’s not like back inna the days where you do a good song and if Big A, Collin Hines, Troy McLean or Garfield Hamilton dem pick it and start pump it, or Stone Love or Renaissance, the song break…”
“We have less outlets and those outlets were what people depended on to hear music… We nuh have dah legacy deh anymore… With not having that legacy and still trying to create music, you’re gonna put yourself, or I have found myself in a position where mi a spend a bag a money and the returns nuh mek no sense…”
He recalled a bad deal with promoter Walk and Talk, who served as a liaison to producer DJ Mac. According to Vegas, he gave the former $350,000 to record and shoot a music video under DJ Mac’s Banga Rock rhythm, then $250,000 to promote the project. The song never saw the light of day, but he received a partial refund.
“Mi just pay $350,000 fi learn, but mi always know seh just lowe dem likkle youth yah. Accept the fact seh you have how much hit songs already. Just gwaan tour pon your song dem. If a new one come, you just accept, but nuh try go out deh a look nuh hit song and a voice fi dem likkle boy yah cause either dem a go kill you or you haffi go kill one of them.”
So far, he’s satisfied with his organic approach, highlighting that his May-released track Lolo (featuring Topo La Maskara) is taking off in the Latin market.
“Mi nah release no more song and promote it inna the base market because mi a go go broke or mi a go get myself inna trouble, because you can take so much enuh, but at some point you ago break.”