Cham Says He Freestyled ‘Joyride’ Lyrics On An Actual Joyride To Portland With Wayne Wonder, Dave Kelly
It was during an actual ‘joyride’ to picturesque Portland that Cham and singer Wayne Wonder came up with the lyrics for their hit song Joyride, the deejay has revealed.
As Cham continued to tell the story behind his string of hit songs on the 21st anniversary of his Wow… The Story debut album on Instagram, he relayed how Joyride, which is the album’s bonus track, came to fruition, under the auspices of ace producer Dave Kelly.
“The story behind Joyride was very unique. It was my first beach party actually. Dave Kelly and Wayne Wonder came to pick me up. It was Wayne Wonder, Dave, Denise which was Dave’s wife in the vehicle. And we were travelling to Frenchman’s Cove in Portland,” Cham said.
He said he vividly remembered the day the song was conceptualized, as when the trio arrived at his Sherlock Crescent residence to pick him up, he, unlike them, was clad in attire which was considered to not-quite-fit-in with a beach party setting ie. mesh merino, ballet boots, and the other Dancehall trends at the time.
Cham says he remembered being bantered by his friends, who made jokes about his attire, but all in good spirits.
“So when they pulled up they were laughing, like ‘yo we are going to a beach party’,” Cham said chuckling.
He said that after they started the journey, Dave started playing the beat in his truck, and the fact that they were on a road trip inspired the song to be about himself and Wayne Wonder “cruising around wid a jeep full a honeys”.
“So Dave had the beat playing and was just telling me and Wayne Wonder fi freestyle,” the 42-year-old explained.
“Wayne Wonder started freestyling ‘takin a ride, a ride’. Dave had the recorder on record so that he could record everything that we were saying and he was telling us not to stop; just keep on flowing,” he added.
Cham said after Wayne Wonder, whom he described as the “Freestyle King” finished his chorus, he had to draw for poetic licence to string his verses together and maintain the flow.
“It was my turn and I had to freestyle,” he said.
“And if you listen, you hear ‘introduce-a mi-a’. There is no such thing as ‘introduce-a mi-a’. There is no word as introduce-a, but I was freestyling and Dave didn’t want us to stop, and I didn’t want to stop either and mess up di whole flow…,” he added.
“Big up to Wayne Wonder and big up to Dave Kelly. That was the first song that I did which was not actually penned. Nothing was penned…,” he said.
Kelly’s Joyride Riddim (also called Bashment), which was named after the song composed by Cham and Wayne Wonder, was a massive hit in Jamaica.
It included other songs from some of Jamaica’s biggest names including How it ago go, by Buju Banton; Sycamore Tree by Lady Saw; Bashment Girl by Wayne Wonder; Yuh nuh ready fi dis yet by Tanya Stephens; Hunting by Spragga Benz; Rubbers by Frisco Kid; Funny Man by Babycham and Mr Easy and Fresh off the Block by Alley Cat.
Cham, released Wow…The Story at age 21. The album, which was produced by Dave” Rude Boy” Kelly for his Madhouse label, and was released on 24 October 2000. The album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Reggae Album Chart on November 17 that year. It consisted of a double CD, the first titled In the Beginning and the other being Another Level, and was the first double CD album in Reggae and Dancehall history.
All but one of the songs on the album were produced by Dave Kelly, the exception being Desperate Measures which was produced by his older sibling Tony Kelly.
Disc number one on the album comprised The Mass, Many Many, Que Sera/Hottie Hottie Crew, Funny Man, Gallang Yah Gal/We No Sorry, Boom/Can I Get A, Boom Tune, Ghetto Pledge, Babylon Bwoy, Ma People and Man and Man.
Disc two comprised Who, Heading to the Top, On A Roll, Flossing every Day, More featuring Foxy Brown, No, High Rollers featuring Shaggy, Smooth Operator featuring Mr. Easy, Another Level featuring Bounty Killer and Mama’s Teaching.