by ERIN MACLEOD

Baby Cham’s recent single “Ghetto Story” is a hit. It’s the kind of tune that gets licked back four or five times. But this isn’t a surprise—the baby-faced Jamaican man with the gruff voice has been responsible for tunes that have been running the dancehall for quite some time. Touring in support of his new record, a double-album collection of hits and new tracks—some experimenting with hip hop and R&B—Baby Cham challenged the Mirror’s credibility, discussed getting a break in the cut-throat reggae industry, and commented on Jamaican politics, all from his hotel room in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Mirror: I’ve heard that one of your big influences is Major Worries.

Baby Cham: (laughs) How has a girl like you heard of Major Worries?

M: I’m a pretty big fan of King Jammy’s.

BC: Oh, I see, okay.

M: You must be into the ’80s sound as well.

BC: That’s where I got my love for dancehall music. My uncle had a soundsystem back in the ’80s, Studio Mix. They were King Jammy’s competitors in Waterhouse. Supercat used to deejay on the sound, John Wayne. Just by being there on a day-to-day basis, watching them do their thing, that alone influenced me over the years.

M: To me, you’re really a pure deejay. How would you describe your style?

BC: I would say that I’m a lyricist, someone that speaks of what’s going on around them. I write about real stuff that happen, not just fiction. In terms of deejay technique, it’s like old-school because I listened to so much of that Major Worries back then, but it’s with a new-school flavour, a 2020 flavour.

Getting schooled

M: You got started on this pretty young—scrounging up cash to take the bus down to the studios and tagging along behind Spragga Benz.

BC: (laughs) Definitely, [being at the studio] was the most important part of trying to get a break. Now it’s different because so much kids have Pro Tools sessions just by having a laptop or a computer at home. So you find that every house have a computer, every house have a studio. Back then, you had to be going in to the Jammy’s, the Penthouse. I used to get up at 6 a.m. and catch the bus with my mom when she was going to work. I’d reach Penthouse by about 7:30 and I’d be just there until 10 in the night. Just waiting, waiting, waiting. Because you never know when you’re gonna see Dave Kelly in a good mood.

M: And you had to wait a while for Dave Kelly?

BC: Yeah. Back then I didn’t understand. I was like, if you know that I have talent, why wouldn’t you record me? But he wouldn’t record me until I finished school. Now I give him all the credit because I know he understand the importance of finishing school.

Attack politics

M: When you write about your experiences, you have been known to talk about politics, more specifically politics in Kingston—which is something a lot of people don’t like to talk about.

BC: I hate politics. For Kingston in the main, but Jamaica as a whole. If you live where I grow up, you can’t vote for the next team. I grow up in a JLP [Jamaican Labour Party] area which is Sherlock Crescent. That’s green, and a PNP [People’s National Party] would be red. So, if you thought that JLP wasn’t doing the country right, you couldn’t vote for the opposite. Your parents, you, would have to move. That’s why I grew up hating politics. Most of my friends lost their lives, over nothing, politics. When you begin to understand the whole purpose of voting, what it means, for a party, what effect that has on your life, you realize that how it is running in Jamaica couldn’t be right. Politics in Jamaica is not just voting and that, it is a total different thing, people don’t get that, don’t live in Jamaica. It’s one of the main reasons for the violence and the crime rate.

M: Do you think that it is something that, as a deejay, you can do something about by speaking out about it?

BC: If I wasn’t an artist, I know I wouldn’t be supporting politics anyway, but I wouldn’t have a medium to speak about it. You have so many kids out there that don’t want to be a part of it, but it seems like it’s cool, they will just ride with it. But if they hear a Baby Cham saying, “Jamaica get screwed through greed an glutton, politics manipulate an press yout’s button,” they might think, “I’m not going to get involved, that bad mind ting.”

With guests at E.B. Resto Bar on Saturday, Feb. 25, 9 p.m., $25

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