Julian Jones-Griffith Talks Mavado’s New Album, Shenseea & State Of Jamaican Music

Music industry executive Julian Jones-Griffith has been in the music industry for over 30 years, having guided the careers of Dancehall acts such as Ninjaman, Bounty Killer, Busy Signal, Mavado, Serani, Charly Black, Jada Kingdom, and Stalk Ashley. With a label deal with Universal Latin, Jones-Griffith has a bird’s eye view on the development of Dancehall music and the industry and is back working with dancehall hitmaker Mavado.

In this interview, we talk about the state of Jamaican music and what artists can do to grow their careers.

What should we expect from Mavado’s new album?

Mavado is back in high-level creative mode after going through some of life’s worst experiences the last few years. For artists to be able to create, their mind and spirit has to be right, has to be clear no matter how gangster you are.

Life is f-cking real for everyone but all his life Mavado has fought the battle and is still winning. We have some amazing records to forward some of which are like nothing heard from him before.

As someone on the label side, what are labels looking for in Jamaican talent and music?

Unfortunately, labels are more focused on what’s viral and try to chase whatever has 40k videos on TikTok, not caring or even knowing if it’s a mainstream song or if the artist has a workable follow-up. There are exceptions, of course, but these days you definitely have to get your own buzz moving and get on the majors radar that way, rather than them finding and nurturing new talent from scratch based on amazing demos.

They rather turn an influencer into an artist than work with an unknown artist with global potential and turn them into an influencer. Greatest thing nowadays tech means it’s wide open so shit can happen for artists without a label. It’s hyper-competitive, now more than ever, with 100k+ songs dropping every Friday but you have to just believe in yourself as an artist or in the music you put out as an independent label and work round the clock.

What do you think about Shenseea’s album and will her release do anything for the culture, or open doors for other artists like Jada Kingdom, etc?

Shenseea always gets lots of comments but you have to admire the way she brushes that off and keeps chasing her goals, she’s blinkered asf. Everyone who knows her says she has an amazing work ethic which is essential – a man like Shaggy has been making history in music for decades now and he still grinds every day, ready to promote, ready to create. That’s what it takes.

Her album basically shut up all the haters, sad that there were people wishing for it to fail but the album surprised a lot of people with its quality and coherence as a body of work. She had massive support from the label and her team and she’s carrying great momentum.

We have to also step back and see if the buzz for the album outside of our world is the same and if it yields real hits but she is understandably proud of her debut. What is crucial is for all of us to support her and each other as a rising tide lifts all boats – she wins, we can all win. We’ve been fighting for Dancehall for a long time kicking in a door here and there so I’m delighted to see it.

How important is the team to breaking an artist internationally?

A team is crucial for all artists – locally and internationally. Starting out when there’s zero money being generated it’s sometimes just not practical to be able to pay a team so you often have to juggle it to get it going as a one-person band. Artists can also grow their team themselves, instead of being over-reliant on a manager to find or pay everyone out of pocket. But as soon as I come, it should be reinvested into growing a team for sure.

Teams and artists are very much about chemistry so it’s important for everyone to be comfortable and know their role and maintain that chemistry for as long as possible especially if it’s a winning formula. There is a lack of people who even want to be managers on a local level – I get artists and beatmakers hitting me everyday to work but literally NEVER a person reaching out looking for mentorship as a manager or advice, nothing. Big up all who a do dem ting whether family member or friend playing that role and we all had to start somewhere for sure but my door is always open for support.

The youth 450 for example already has a great team assembled around him and I think it will continue to pay dividends for him rather than having a bredrin basically answer calls and say back whatever the artist tells him to say. To maximize your potential as an artist you have to have sensible people around you, people with connections or at least the vision and the drive to build the network. Once an artist breaks the manager’s role changes because everyone starts coming to you rather than initially when you were hitting everyone to play a song or get a placement on a platform etc. So when that happens make sure whoever is in place is willing to learn and grow with your career so they can also have a successful and long career as a manager.

The Grammy’s are coming up, what are your thoughts on the nominees?

Big up all the nominees, they are all amazing artists and don’t need to be validated by a Grammy for us to appreciate them but I understand what it means so good luck one and all.

Top five all-time favorite artists?

An impossible question bruv, there could never be just a top 5, although obviously Bob is MJ, because the talent and impact of Jamaican artists are immeasurable.

Only a few Jamaican artists have sold a gold record. Do you think the measurement for success in Jamaican music is different from the rest of the world?

It is now, the Holy Grail for us presently seems to be YouTube local trending. Good place to start and no disrespect to anyone but dropping a new single every week or every other week to try and run down trending is not the way to build a catalogue of songs or long-term career. The general and justifiable critique is that we are not making hit records anymore or the records that have that chance won’t get the support.

The pandemic changed our genre a lot and it’s going to take a while for it to change back if it ever does. Dancehall has a heartbeat that pretty much dictates trends and sounds – it’s the nightly events, it’s the garrison parties that’s the core from which so much grows.

Prior to the pandemic, there was a status quo but during it, there was a major shift even down to the selectors that are running the streets and are therefore the tastemakers and gatekeepers to some extent. Banka and Shuttlebus have risen to the top during this period and the parties were deep in places that the curfew cops would not or didn’t care to venture. I think all of that contributed to the type of music that also rose – the Choppa lifestyle and it shifted away from girl songs etc because there just weren’t a huge amount of females attending parties. And the new crop of Artists put out a huge amount of music so even when there is a potential hit song the thirst from the audience for constant new music can shift focus away and it doesn’t get the justice it deserves. But hey you will never hear me dis or criticize the youth dem we should only support and offer advice.

Who is the most interesting artist you have worked with?

Man, they are all iconic. I’ve been so blessed. Ninjaman, is the samplest and most charismatic person I ever met in my life but then again so is Bounty Killer and basically everyone else. I always have to believe that any artist I work with can be an icon otherwise I can’t do it.