Aidonia Promises Series Of “Big Collabs”

Aidonia, after a turbulent period, is regaining his footing in Dancehall. The veteran act delivered to thousands of patrons at the 12-hour-long Soca+ Festival held at Sabina Park in Kingston between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

“I’m good. Yeah, mi good…Ah gwaan hol’ it, yuh zeet?” he told DancehallMag with a smile shortly after his set.

For 30 minutes, he had the cricket stadium rocking with a mixture of “gyal tunes” and those with masculine appeal. Adding flavor to his set, Ding Dong made a surprise appearance.

Though he took a hiatus to spend time with family, Aidonia disclosed that he’s been busy in the recording studio, and that he’s ready to expand his music catalog further.

“Mi a work pon a lot, a lot! An’ di people dem a wait… mi ‘ave some singles fi drop. Mi nuh want dem pressure mi because mi wah release dem wid music videos. Mi premiere dem, an’ di response weh mi get was crazy, but, di music videos wasn’t ready yet, and they’ll be ready in a next week-and-half to two weeks… Bagga tings a release from now go straight down inna di rest of di year,” the deejay told DancehallMag.

Fans can also expect to see him teaming up with other Dancehall stars, although he refrained from dropping names, except for Shaggy.

“Lots of collabs!” he declared with a raised eyebrow and smirk.

“When mi seh a lot of collabs, [I mean] nuff a di yute dem weh a gwaan good right now, yuh can look out fi dem collabs deh…yuh can look out fi Aidonia doing collabs fi Trinidad carnival which is the first carnival inna next year, suh yuh can look out fi collaborations outside of Jamaica also, next year and whole heap a collaborations in Jamaica.”

“Mi do a huge collaboration weh aguh release December. Di only ting weh mi can seh ‘bout dat is Shaggy,” he added.

In response to a question about his desire for unity among dancehall artists, especially after he and the ‘Genahsyde’ deejay Masicka recently resolved their long-standing feud, Aidonia emphasized, “Look at tonight, with unity, Dancehall can easily do that.”

“We need fi unite and show di people seh yo, a peace an’ love, an’ fun an’ entertainment we a deal wid suh di people can come back roun’ an feel safe because more time people wah represent an’ dem seh too much war an’ too much bad man an’ too much of dat,” he reasoned.

“Once we unite people, we see past dat, and we start give out real love an’ di real energy. Unity for me [is] key right now and if it tek me fi put all di egos aside, a dat we a deal wid right now an’ just try build back Dancehall.”

The 42-year-old, whose real name is Sheldon Lawrence, will be a second-time father of a baby boy in a matter of weeks.