Overproof Records CEO Talks ‘Chop Life’ On Teejay’s Debut EP

Overproof Records chief executive officer Asa ‘Ace’ Smith is pleased with the response to his latest single, Teejay’s Chop Life featuring Malie Donn, which is one of the featured tracks on his I Am Chippy debut EP.

Malie Donn delivers a verse that celebrates the chop lifestyle, name-dropping designer brands and inspiring poor youths to manifest —often by any means necessary— a better life and lifestyle than the one they’ve known.

“The response to ‘Chop Life’ has been great, the official visualizer has almost 180,000 views in just two weeks. Both Teejay and Malie Donn go hard on the track, big respect to Warner Music for this global feature, it really puts Overproof Records on the map,” Asa ‘Ace’ Smith said.

The song is the number 4 track on Teejay’s I Am Chippy EP which hit the charts at No. 9 on the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart.

Released on February 2 through Warner Records, the 9-track project sold 1,000 in combined sales and streaming equivalent units during its first week in the US. According to data from Billboard’s sales tracker Luminate, the album racked up 200 in pure album sales and 1.1 million on-demand streams.

The EP, which included Teejay’s 2023 hit Drift as a bonus track, and its remix with Davido, has so far recorded 15,000 units in the US, including 22.6 million in on-demand streams.

There’s a variety of Jamaican talent on the EP. In addition to the Malie Donn collab, Teejay teams up with Tommy Lee Sparta on Dip, Skillibeng on Never, Bayka on Fully Auto, and Jaydon and Quada on Star.

A graduate of Cornwall College, Smith grew up in Montego Bay, St James. He has built up a solid team at Overproof Records with a roster of young artistes and talented beat makers.

“I got involved in music because of Jovexx, an artiste from MoBay as well, who I wanted to bring to the world,” he said.

He wants to elevate producers from being relegated to second-class citizens in the reggae-dancehall industry.

“I am taking a more label-based approach to music. There is the music business and then there is the business of music. Without labels, music would cease, so we have to seize the opportunity to invest and elevate our music to the world,” he said.

In the past, Smith has produced projects such as the Teardrops rhythm featuring Jovexx, Caano, Minx and Chikie Grainz, and the Kickback rhythm featuring Chezidek, Bugle, Jovexx and others. Smith’s most popular single so far is Jovexx’s Pain.