Usain Bolt Working On Second Album
Retired Track and Field star turned Dancehall producer Usain Bolt is cooking up a second album, according to the UK Sun, just months after the release of his debut project, Country Yutes with friend and manager Nugent “NJ” Walker.
Bolt told The Sun in a recent interview that the onslaught of the pandemic provided an opportunity to explore his passion for music. “Music is just a part of me. In lockdown I wasn’t doing much so I thought I could take the opportunity to get into music as it is something that I love to do,” he shared.
“For me the album we did was just to show people that we were serious. When we started out people thought I was just messing around and bored with nothing to do but I wanted to let them know I was serious. I wanted to do a proper body of work and put it out there. Now we have done that, people are reaching out to work with us so I am going to be doing a lot more this year.”
Released in September, the 14-track Country Yutes album debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart with 1,807 equivalent album units sold in the United States during its first week, according to MRC Data.
The father of three also told The Sun that he has several collaborations in the pipeline but shied away from divulging the details. “We have talked to a few artists in the UK who we would like to work with as well. I would definitely like to do more collaborations on the record,” he continued.
Prior to Country Yutes, Bolt released three riddim projects — Olympe Rose, Immortal, and Clockwork.
However, the track icon has complained that his “contributions” to Dancehall and Reggae were being shunned and criticized by some established industry players.
Undeterred, he told Television Jamaica’s Anthony Miller on The Entertainment Report, in June 2021, that for the follow up to the Clockwork riddim, he would be recruiting artists who have a track record of singing on authentic Dancehall beats, as he wanted to bring back the original 1990s Dancehall feel for which many people have been clamoring.
“We are going to sit down and really put an extra effort into this one and call a few people that we think that will help to push the music, that people miss hearing like proper Dancehall,” the Trelawny native told Miller. “So that’s something that we are gonna work on… it is going to take a while, but I’ll get it done, because I see that people really miss the hardcore 90s Dancehall type of music.”
Speaking with Donovan Watkis later that month on the World Music Views podcast, the eight-time Olympic gold medallist declared that he would be treating his music career just like Track and Field, with his ultimate goal being the winner of a Grammy Award.
“The music industry is very harsh and I can’t understand that because the pie is very big. Everybody is doing music so why can’t I? Look how many rappers, they are a dime by the dozen and everybody is just cool cause the pie is so big. So I don’t see why when I come into dancehall it’s an issue?” he told Watkis.
Bolt continued, “If you do good music it doesn’t matter what kinda music me do it nah take nuh money outta your pocket. It is something I love and I’m gonna pursue it. Just like how in Track and Field, the haters and the negative people were there but it never bothered me in reaching the top so I’m gonna treat music just like that.”
“I want to win a Grammy, that would be the biggest thing for me. That’s my end goal,” he added.