Leftside Says Masicka’s Biggest Strength Is His Songwriting
Dancehall producer Leftside says Masicka is the Dancehall artist he is most eager to work with right now, as, among other things, the Calabar High School graduate’s song-writing skills are impeccable.
Speaking during a recent interview with Television Jamaica’s Anthony Miller, Leftside, who is also a deejay and a multi-instrumentalist, and who as a teen played drums on backing bands for Reggae legends such as Dennis Brown, John Holt, and Gregory Isaacs, said that once Masicka lays tracks on danceable beats, the 28-year-old will be unstoppable.
“I think if he’s on some different riddims dat more dancing, different Masicka yuh a guh si. His strength is his song-writing. When yuh listen him album, if him get some production backa fi him writing, is a different artiste yuh a guh si,” Leftside said.
“It lack di movement weh yuh want, you know. A lot of his songs dem, dem come and dem bad and dem lock di place because a how bad di song is, but musically, after a while it’s ‘OK that’s it’,” the producer stated.
Masicka’s writing skills have been long recognized. His former English Language and English Literature teacher at Calabar, Loris Fox had, in addition to praising him as being quiet and respectful, had hailed him in 2016 as being outstanding in both subjects, so much so, that he would read in class and even teach some of the concepts to his fellow students.
“That’s why him deejay so good,” she had said in an interview about the artist, whose given name is Javaun Fearon.
Masicka’s debut album 438, which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard Reggae Albums chart, was rated DancehallMag’s number one album of 2021.
Leftside, whose given name is Craig Parks, is son of legendary bass player Lloyd Parks. The producer started playing drums at age four.
Among the biggest Dancehall beats created by the Ardenne High School old are the Chiney Gal riddim, which had among its hits Cecile’s breakthrough hit Changez, and Sizzla’s Blaze Up the Chalwah. Another was Double Jeopardy riddim and the Martial Arts” riddim which had Sizzla’s massive hit Karate,” Beenie Man’s “Bad Man Chi Chi,” and Bounty Killer’s Look Good.
Leftside’s sentiments about Masicka’s penmanship and versatility was echoed by Bounty Killer and Sean Paul last year.
In July last year, Bounty Killer came out in strong support of Masicka’s inspiring single titled Special, dubbing it “music with meaning and feelings”. Bounty who has in the past lauded Masicka for maintaining the “Dancehall DNA” in his music, had already collaborated him on two tracks, Top Rank in 2016 and Diplomat in 2019.
In April last year, Sean Paul had affirmed that he holds Masicka in high esteem as the most multi-faceted of the new generation of artists.
While commenting on another topic, during an interview with veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller, Sean had touched on the fact that while some upcoming Jamaican artists appear to be better able to pen songs to fit Trap beats, as opposed to hard-hitting Dancehall riddims, Masicka’s musical acumen made him able to construct appropriate lyrics to fit any riddim, whether they be raw Dancehall or others.
“That’s a next thing. Some a di younger artiste actually sound better on these Trap riddims. If yuh give dem a Boasy track or suppm like dat, they do not really know what to say on it,” Sean Paul had said.
“Gage, Skillibeng. All a these guys are doing things that sound great on there. Ask them to deejay on a regular Dancehall riddim, they are gonna have to dig deep to try… People like Masicka does it effortlessly. I rate him for dat, yuh understand? I have seen him go on a Trap-Dancehall type a track, an a seen him go on a Dancehall track an him sound very dope on di both a dem,” he had added.
Sean Paul collaborated with Masicka and Skillibeng on the song Everest from his Live N Livin’ album, while Masicka recruited Sean Paul for Quality on his 438 album.