How Fantan Mojah Went From Windscreen Wiper To Hit Reggae Artist

This year marks 20 years since reggae singer Fantan Mojah rose to prominence with Hungry. Highlighting the financial plight of struggling Jamaicans, the track also reflected his reality as a windscreen wiper in Half-Way Tree, Kingston. 

His life would change when he crossed paths with Downsound Records chief Joe Bogdanovich. 

“When I met him as a kid, he was a window washer,” Bogdanovich told The Voice in 2023. “We got into a conversation that ended up with me recording him, and I made some really, really big records with him.” 

Though his name is more associated with organizing Reggae Sumfest, the prominent businessman has a long history of managing Jamaican artists.

He briefly managed Scare Dem Crew and Lukie D in the 1990s.

With the forming of Downsound Records in the millennium, he, alongside his right-hand man Skatta Burrell, managed acts like Toya (his late wife), Ishawna, Ninjaman and Harry Toddler. Marcy Chin and D’Yani are now on the label’s roster, but Bogdanovich told the publication that Mojah remains his biggest musical success. 

Given name Owen Moncrieffe, the singer had tried several times to break into the industry before meeting Bogdanovich. First going by the moniker Mad Killer, he entered talent contests in and around his St. Elizabeth base while attending school. Mojah would later become a handyman for the Kilamanjaro sound system, before making his recording debut in 1997 with When I Rise for producer Tristan Palmer.

Though he’d go on to record the Hail the King album at Downsound, his time at the label ended that year, igniting the start of their on-and-off relationship.

Last year, the Nuh Build Great Man singer called out his former boss for not booking him for Reggae Sumfest, considering their history. 

“Joseph Bogdanovich, mi and yuh nav nothing; a mi buss the company,” he vented online. “Skatta Burrell, mi and you nav nothing. Memba mi kids dem want food too like everybody else… Mi fans dem ask every year, ‘How yuh nah work Sumfest?’; mi a tell dem fi ask unno. Mi nav nothing ‘gainst unno and unno nav nothing ‘gainst me. Unno have something ‘gainst me? Mek mi know.”

Mojah last performed at the show in 2018, marking his first solo Sumfest set in over a decade. 

The festival wrapped on Sunday with performances from acts including Babyface, Beres Hammond, Luciano and Ras I.

Mojah is currently promoting his latest release Guh Dung, produced by DJ Jahmar.