From ‘Selecta’ To ‘Singa’: Yaadcore Talks Debut Album ‘Reggaeland’

Today, prominent selector/DJ Yaadcore finally released Reggaeland — his debut album through his label 12 Yaad. The 14-track project features fellow Reggae stars Richie Spice, Jah9, Pressure Busspipe and I-Wayne, along with the late genre innovator and music icon Lee “Scratch” Perry.

On listening, you realize that Reggaeland is not of one specific genre. Though Reggae is the root, Yaadcore draws on classical works, hip-hop and jazz to form an eclectic bass-forward sound. Rather than a release of new works, this debut album is a compilation (and in some cases, re-creation) of different songs he has recorded over time and carefully curated into his first album release.

“I’m a very snobbish DJ so I’m very skeptical of music. My standard is very high. Nowadays, a lot of people jump to claim they’re artist. I respect the art very much so I won’t just jump and say ‘I’m an artist and my standard is low,” he recently told DancehallMag from his apartment in Boston, where he was scheduled to perform later that night.

As a founder of the global party Dubwise, creator of the popular Reggae Aroma mixtape series, and the first person to play artists like Chronixx and Protoje over Jamaican airwaves, Yaadcore remains one of the most influential DJs working in Reggae today. Highlighted as one of the essential players in Jamaica’s New Reggae Movement by Vogue Magazine (2015), he has worked with everyone, including the Marleys and was also the first-ever reggae DJ to spin at the Afropunk Festival in Brooklyn, NY. His open love for ganja has seen him tapped for sponsorships by cannabis brands including Leafly and Blazy Susan. Most recently he was profiled in the U.S. ganja bible High Times.

We spoke to Yaadcore about his transition from DJ to artist and his debut album Reggaeland.

 

On Bee With Me – you say ‘she never know mi ah sing/she thought it was just a selectin ting”. What made you decide to switch it up on your audience and pick up the mic?

I never planned to become an artist. It was mystical. In Reggae, there’s a style where you play the song, then the instrumental riddim. Once in Italy, I was opening from Protoje. I played a riddim and everyone was shouting ‘sing a song’ but at that time I wasn’t able to. From that moment, I always wanted to chant on the riddim to enhance my DJ scene. Then I found out about Mikey Dread– the selecta with the first Reggae radio show in Jamaica. He’s also a producer and artist and that inspired me even more. Producing also puts you into more writing sessions so I got the chance to develop there as well.

Why choose the title Reggaeland?

Reggaeland is Jamaica so I pay homage to the genre and the country.

What are you trying to say with this album?

My music really is to inspire people to know themselves more and get closer to the Creator. This is also my official transition from a DJ to artist so I want people to know I’m a serious artist and not just a DJ.

Why choose to reintroduce a remix to Ready Now (2019) with Pressure Busspipe and I Wayne on Reggaeland?

It’s the third song I ever wrote and the first I released. If you listen you can feel the experience within my transition towards being an artist so it was important to have it on the album.

What’s is your creative process?

People send me riddims and I write the song and then work to create something with the same energy. Creation also comes through conversation and just listening to the riddim.

What was the experience working with Lee Scratch Perry?

My only experience working with him was as a DJ for a show in Negril. I also did a song with him called Green Brain from US reggae producers Green Lion Crew but unfortunately, he passed away two weeks before it was to be released.  For ‘Play God’… after I wrote it I happened to be listening to one of his interviews and he actually said the line ‘they want to play God’ and I thought I had to incorporate him on the track.

What memorable moments do you have from creating Reggaeland?

Definitely voicing the Pressure verse for the Ready Now remix. I was in my studio and he was in his studio in Atlanta while his engineer was based in Miami so we recorded it over Zoom. There’s a way you can connect Pro Tools through Zoom so when he hooks up his mic and voices it shows up on the other engineer’s laptop.

Also when I was writing the Shrooms song, I was actually on shrooms. It was 3 am and I was on the couch flying and I recorded the melody on my phone. We voiced it the next day.

Shrooms aren’t something we hear a lot of in the Rastafari/Reggae movement. As a tastemaker in Reggae culture, are shrooms are the next upcoming meditation tool in Jamaica?

Definitely.  The mushroom industry is growing in the country. There are a lot of shroom retreats now. I wrote Shrooms in 2018 before the wave and now… it’s just mystical how everything happens naturally.

 

How did your other collaborations come about?

There’s no better feature to get on a ganja song than Richie Spice. He is the ganja king. So I reached out to him with ‘Nyquil’ (Spliff a Light Spliff).

For ‘Police in Helicopter’, the producers originally linked me to do the song. Me being myself, I never really wanted to sing the chorus because I didn’t think I could do what John Holt did to that chorus. We reached out to Jah 9 because I thought she had the perfect sound for it. I did my verse and sent it to her and  she recorded her part in Tanzania.

With ‘ La Laa Laa’, Sarah Couch reached out with the song and it’s a great song even without me on it so it was an honor to make it a part of my album.

Favorite songs on the album?

That’s difficult but I’ll say Reggaeland, Ready Now (remix), Bee With Me, Play God.

How is it possible to be so fiery lyrically while sounding so calm vocally (like on ‘Play God’)

For that song in particular, I’d have to compliment the riddim and producer (Blak Yaad Productions and Treydrums). It’s really a calm riddim but it has a certain energy to it. Like lava. That riddim influenced the lyrics.

As a musical tastemaker and influencer, what new sound is currently catching your attention?

There’s a band called the Cavemen from Africa I really like. You should check out their Roots album.

On another track, you drop the line ‘Independence wit no getaway plan’. As Jamaica approaches 60 years of independence, do you think the country has actually achieved independence?

No. We just got to run our own country but there is still a Queen and a Governor General and our taxes still go to the Queen so we’re not independent. We’re still owned.

Any promotional tours coming up?

We’re working on setting up the tour right now. The release party is In New York on Monday 21st March, then we go to Jamaica on April 8th which is my birthday then LA April 23rd.

What are your musical influences?

Definitely Mikey Dread, Super Cat. Black Chiney Sound System influenced me a lot, Tony Matterhorn, Bob Marley, Prince Alla.

 

Production on Reggaeland comes from a committee including the USA’s Subatomic Sound, Ian McKee and Green Lion Crew, and Jamaica’s Micah Shemiah, Treydrumz and Chillmuchmore, along with Yaadcore himself. Helping give the project its distinctive sound on the mixing board are Grammy-winning engineer Bonzai Caruso (Damian Marley, Notorious B.I.G.) and Tippy-I (of I Grade Records and Zion I Kings), among others.