Cham Talks Co-Writing ‘Old Dog’, ‘Look’ And His “Shy-Genius” Mentor Dave Kelly

Dancehall superstar Cham shed light recently on how he and his mentor, legendary Madhouse producer Dave Kelly came to be a dynamic, dominant producer-artist duo.

Speaking to veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller on Friday’s Edition of The Entertainment Report, Cham said when he met the reclusive Kelly in 1993, he was a third-former at Calabar High School and the Joyride producer had a policy of not recording juveniles.

“He gave me a little audition, like ‘meck mi hear weh yuh sound like’.  An mi deejay for him and him seh: ‘Ok, yuh sound good; you can work on yuh breathing technique, but I wouldn’t record you now becaw, I don’t record schoolaz.  Two years after graduation, with proof of graduation, I will give you a shot’”, Cham explained.

“I didn’t wait till two years. I popped up at the studio every two weeks just to keep my face familiar in his eyes, because you have so many people going to these type a people – Dave Kelly, the biggest producer in the game,” he added.

Cham explained that he got his break in the summer of 1995 when he made his debut on Dave Kelly’s iconic Stink Riddim which was released in 1996.

“In the summer of [1995] he was playing this beat in his head.  No one was in the studio, just me and him and he took the headphones off and there was this sound coming…,” Cham said as if still in awe.

“And he said: ‘OK, if you can find something on this we have a chance of doing something’,” the 42-year-old added.

The “something” that Cham came up with was the single The Mass which was featured on the jugglin riddim which featured the likes of Beenie Man with Old Dog, and other  chart-toppers such as Merciless’ Gal Dem Gizzada, Captain Barkey’s Go-Go Wine, Alley Cat’s Hot Gyal, Kelly’s own Girls Anthem, which he released under the moniker “Rude Boy Kelly”; Spragga Benz’ Girl Watchers; Tony Curtis’ Do You Wanna, and Wayne Wonder & Frisco Kid’s Dreamland.

The bond between Kelly and the Sherlock Crescent tightened after that, and according to Cham, his levels of respect for the socially-shy Dancehall legend is sky-high.  Over the years he has recorded a slew of hits for Kelly including Ghetto Story, Ghetto Pledge, More Wood, Many Many, Gallang Yah Gal, Hottie Hottie Crew, Vitamin S, and Another Level.

“It is rare that you find people like that who don’t even want the spotlight.  There is no ego.  To him, it’s all about the music and the way that it is done.  It is never about hype,” Cham said of the 51-year-old Kelly.

“He is super shy, but if you were like a fly on the wall and see him at my house or at his house, it is totally different individual.   Then if people come into the room that he is not comfortable with he just tend to just go away,” he stated.

Cham then explained that he and Kelly had also co-written songs for some of the biggest names in Dancehall history, among them Bounty Killer’s Look and Beenie Man’s Old Dog, which was initially rejected by General Degree who explained last year, that he shunned the song as the lyrics were not in keeping with his modest image.

“Me and Dave kinda have that chemistry. The majority of the songs that we have written – even Old Dog like Me.  That’s really my song. I wrote the hook and everything.  So the majority of the songs – Look into my Eyes, if you check the publishing, we have shares in all these publishings.  So it is thing that I have learnt from Dave over the years,” Cham explained.