Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor Breaks Down Jada Kingdom’s ‘GPP’ Intro

Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor in his beat breakdown of Jada Kingdom’s GPP, demystified how he created the intro to the song, which has been baffling many music connoisseurs since it was officially released in August.

“The intro – this is the interesting part, ‘cause a lot of people think this is a sample,” McGregor, who is the younger son of Reggae veteran Freddie McGregor, explained in the first episode of “Lab Works” on YouTube. 

After pulling up the song, he deconstructed the audio, which amounted to the words: “Gotta be careful, don’t you know”, and went on to explain that in the absence of a song that he could sample, he invoked the early sounds of Motown and created the intro all by himself with his own vocals.

“Initially I was trying to find a song that I could sample that would kinda relate to what our song is saying.  And I just couldn’t; I couldn’t think of a song, so I just started like putting something together vocally, where I could sample myself and make it sound old school,” the Ardenne High School boy revealed.

“I vocal-pitch it up of course, but that is me just channelling that kinda Motown vibe: like what would those guys sing?” the Don’t Walk Away producer stated.

His compatriot Tanya Stephens was among the Jamaicans who applauded McGregor’s ingenuity. 

“Mad! I was puzzled cause me couldn’t identify a song it sample from but this is pure genius!” the It’s a Pity Singer noted to which Di Genius replied: “@iamtanyastephens Legend!! Thank You🙏🏽❤️”.

They were comments from his fellow producers including Dre Day who noted: “We can stop search fi the sample now lol bad yuh bad 🙌🔥”, with a pleased McGregor replying: “😂😂 Facts!! See nuff people a kill up dem self bout it”.

Many other followers expressed relief that the GPP intro had now been cleared of all its mystery, as they had been searching in vain to find the original of what they initially thought was a sample.

“Amazing! 🤯 I def thought it was a sample too. Been here bussing my brain trying to figure out what song that was. Thanks for clearing that up, sir!” kaliahrey said, while bossy.yassi added: “When you are not only confident in your own skills, but humble too …. You have no problem sharing your knowledge & handing out gems like this. BIG UP GENIUS!”

“That is why your called the genius.  Respect bro you have trod a long way proud of you fam keep pushing 👏🙌,” byjahmmys noted to which McGregor replied: “blessings bro! 💪🏾”.

Stephen, who turned 32 years old in January, wrote and recorded his first song in 1995, at the age of five, a Dancehall track titled School Done Rule on the Skettel riddim, which was featured on the compilation Reggae For Kids.

By age seven, he was already skilled in playing bass, guitar, keyboards, and violin, and by the age of 12 had an almost full-fledged career in music production.

His first hit riddim titled Cartoon, was released in 2004, whilst he was still a schoolboy, after he and his elder brother Chino approached Elephant Man to record a track on it.  Elephant was the first of 15 artists to voice on the riddim, in addition to Wayne Marshall, Mr. Vegas, Mr. Lexx, and others.

In September 2020, Stephen was featured on Apple Music’s ‘Behind the Boards’, a playlist series celebrating the work of some of the world’s biggest names in music production.  That feature him among an illustrious group of music producers who were highlighted, including Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Pharrell Williams, and Kanye West.

Apple’s playlist had featured 29 songs that the Kingston native produced.

Among the tracks were Mavado’s Weh Dem A Do, which was co-written by McGregor at age of 15, and which gave him his big break in music as well as Damian Marley’s Slave Mill from the 2018 Reggae Grammy-winning Stony Hill Album, in addition to  Drake’s Controlla, and Amarillo from Shakira’s El Dorado album which won Best Latin Pop Grammy Album, also in 2018.

Sean Paul’s Press it up, Now that I’ve Got Your Love and So Fine from his 2009 album Imperial Blaze, which rose to the top of Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums charts were also featured, as were French Montana’s Writing on the Wall which featured Cardi B and Post Malone and Ne-Yo and Shenseea’s Major Moves from the Jamaican movie Sprinter.

American R&B singer John Legend’s Bigger Love and Don’t Walk Away featuring Koffee, from Legend’s Grammy-winning Bigger Love album, were also highlighted on the playlist.

But McGregor’s production repertoire does not end there.  He also exclusively produced Vybz Kartel’s 18-track album titled The Teacher’s Back in 2008 and created the Red Bull and Guinness, Power Cut, Street Swag, and Peppa rhythms.

Some of the other Dancehall hit songs produced by Di Genius include Come into My Room by Mavado and Stacious, Cyaan Friend Again by himself, From Morning by Chino and Strike Force by Govana.