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From Islandevents.com PRINT Features
In December 2004, Dawg E Slaughter released his first international album Represent. The album features 18 solid tracks, both new and old, including past hits like Trample, Tik Tok and Pokey, as well as new songs West Indies; which is currently receiving widespread airplay as well as What’s My Name and Carnival (I Love You). There is also collaboration with Konata from Caution on the track Taking Over.
Slaughter, who will be on the road with Islandevent’s for Carnival 2005, both as DJ and artist, is not only a recording artist and song writer, but also a DJ for Xcaliber International and arranger. He recently sat down with IE for this one-on-one interview.
(IE) Who do you consider to be your greatest influence in life? (S) Well my grandmother and the Mighty Shadow – for multiple reasons. My grandmother showed me how to stay rooted and Mighty Shadow to me was always the underdog in the entertainment industry in Trinidad and Tobago. That is how I class myself, because I don’t enter competitions and a lot of people feel that because someone does not enter competitions then he is not fit to get the recognition like the other contenders.
(IE) Why don’t you enter competitions? (S) I don’t enter competitions because I have seen friendships torn apart by competitions and my personal philosophy is that after I put my blood sweat and tears in a studio, no man can really judge me. Because who is man to judge another man or to even dictate the pace to another man. If the masses love X artist it does not mean that they cannot feel Y artist. So I don’t really like to get mixed up in the ‘passa passa’.
(IE) What is your greatest achievement as an artist? (S) I don’t want to sound as if I am blowing my own horn but I have many. I am a song writer, a co-producer, an arranger and so far to date it has to be accepting COTT’s award for my talent in the presence of the President and also doing Singing Sandra’s song Cry for Peace (which he wrote).
(IE) What is your favourite tune that you have recorded? (S) Represent (Artist Struggle)
(IE) What are your plans for the future? (S) As long as the Lord keeps giving me the health and strength I will continue to make music that makes people move or stop and say wow that is deep. I honestly cannot say how I can see myself as an artist, these things usually happen on vibe. The most you can do is say a prayer and hope to put your best foot forward.
(IE) Who is your favourite performer? (S) It depends. Locally I love every single soca artist from the biggest one to the smallest one. To me it is not about name, it is about vibe, it is about presence. And when I say presence I don’t mean when you jump on a stage seeing everybody with their hands in the air. To me sometimes people walking away saying ‘he was deep’ or ‘I like his vibe’, means more to me than everybody putting their hands in the air. Hands up in the air is just a seasonally thing. Abroad I have many. Anything that sounding good is what I like. That list can go on and on. (IE) Soca or Rapso? How do you define your music? (S) Soca. Soca with my personal twist. Each artist has their own little magic that they work to obviously be at an advantage. For example Machel - his energy is on stage that works for him, his wining abilities. Maximus is like the Sizzla or Capleton of soca music, Maximus doh wine but he does get his love. Bunji, no one in this world can compete with Bunji freestyling on a stage. So I had to look into myself and say alright, what you can do that will be considered different. Because if you can’t then it doh make no sense you in the business. I had to rely on my writing ability, my ability to feel a rhythm and know that I can sit down on it good and just ride because the more people see me they say ‘look at this red or brown-skin little fella – that’s your voice? Yuh have a big voice’. I use that to my advantage. I also like to see women having a nice time and wining. I notice that apart from when I sing the realistic music or should I say the conscious music, when I sing songs to make women wine they like that – like Pokey and Tic Toc and thing – they like that.
(IE) What do you do for relaxation? (S) Play with my children. I love to spend time with them because I don’t do it often since I work as an artist, a sound system selector/ owner. Every chance that I get, when I am not touring, I like to spend it with them.
(IE) Married or Single? (S) Hmmm!!! TBA
(IE) Best advice ever given to you and by whom? (S) I would have to say I have gotten advice from many but the ones that actually stand out would be from my vocal trainer – Chris ‘Tambu’ Herbert. I went to him at one time when I had no confidence at all and I asked him ‘wah I need to do on stage, everybody telling me to wine like Machel and some people telling me to do this or do that.’ He said that I don’t have to do that just know to yourself that everybody cyah eat pelau everyday, at some point in time they going to want a change so just wait on your turn. Your time will come.
(IE) Granny used to say ……….Do what you does do once you happy with it I will be happy with it once you make sure something good comes out of it. Because if you do something and nothing good comes out of it then you wasted time.
(IE) Person you admire most ……my grandmother, Tambu, Shadow and more importantly GOD.
(IE) Is there any artist/ producer that you would like to work with and why? (S)Shurwayne and Maximus, are definitely first on the list because it is long awaited. Every time we say we going and do something, something does come up and we does do something else but if I had to pick any artist to work with those two names would be the first.
(IE)What was your happiest moment? (S) The births of my children, the both of them, they equal.
(IE)Who was your childhood hero? (S) Bob Marley, I always liked his musc.
(IE) If you were not a soca artist what would be your dream profession? (S) Military! I always loved that, any one of the Special Forces and looking at the current crime situation, it makes me actually wish I went into it.
(IE) What is your favourite dish? (S) Oh Gosh! Sunday lunch, anything dealing with Sunday lunch, macaroni pie, stew chicken, curry crab you name it. I really like my belly so anything involving Sunday lunch.
(IE)What is your worst nightmare? (S)Not being able to see my kid grow up and enjoy life.
(IE)What would you most like to be remembered for and why? (S) Everyday I get up I ask myself that question and I still come up with the same answer. I want to be known as a person who can always bring vibes to anywhere, like you cyah help but notice it and regardless if you like it or doh like it you have to remember me and say ‘ he always used to push that kinda positive vibes’. I also want to be remembered as someone who could always make people laugh and smile.
(IE)How do you see the soca industry in the next five years? (S) I would love to see the soca industry in full bloom but that won’t happen unless we artists start uniting and promoters stop fighting amongst themselves for competitions and titles and we start to look at the bigger picture. We need to start looking at it as Trinidad we represent, like how Jamaican represent their business, that is the only way I can see it happening, sad to say. I think in Trinidad especially, soca music’s downfall is not the type of music or the beats per minute or the lyrical content but because we fight so much. We spend so much time fighting down each other that we bypass the whole main issue. For example everyone down on Kevin Lyttle at the moment (make sure and put this in eh!) but what they don’t realise is that Kevin’s first set ah boo was from Trinidad and in NY it was Trinidadian booing him. Yet when he reach on BET and MTV and he don’t big up Trinidad they vex. Rupee is a very good friend of mine, state this word for word eh, but when he cross that line and gone international he cyah big up two countries you know. He can only big up one – which one you feel he going and big up – Barbados. So until we can start to appreciate our own then it will never happen.
(IE) What do you have by your bedside table? (S) Bible
(IE)What’s the last book you read? (S) Whhoo! That’s a long one boy. I doh know A book for people of colour. That’s the name of the book boy? Not sure if that is the exact name of the book but it is definitely something about colour.
(IE) Soca Grammy – Negative or Positive? (S) I think that they shouldn’t have that now they should have had that long time ago. I am upset that people like Kitchener and Sparrow and these veteran artists cannot get recognition off of it because sad to say as you make your bed so you lie in it. Because of our bickering the world will now know Kevin Lyttle as the father of soca.
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