by JOHN BOYCE
One of Barbados’ biggest dancehall artistes is transitioning to kaiso and shedding the violent messages he once advocated.
The high-energy LR (Lone Realness) said he is no longer interested in that way of life as violence begets violence.
“I have hit songs with millions of views that I speak in a violent way, but I am not carrying my music in that direction anymore,” he told the DAILY NATION.
A father of two, aged one and two years, the artiste said he is committed to raising them in the right way and being a positive influence for the youth.
His contribution to the Sweetest Summer Festival this year is a six-song EP with a project called Love Soca. Five songs have so far hit the airwaves and the sixth is to be released shortly. They are Love Soca, Position, Pour It Slow, Pressure, Coconut Tree and Good Good.
“This soca season is to alert everybody that I am active and my eyes are on the prize for the next cycle. I just come to stamp my foot to alert the public this time,” he noted.
LR said the offerings Position and Love Soca are produced by Glen Benjamin and Lepricon, Seizure from Star Point Productions has produced Pour It Slow and Good Good, Coconut Tree is a Dwaingerous production while Pressure is produced by Minim.
In praising production manager Danny Reid, LR said he was thankful for the work he had put into ensuring his projects were of a high standard.
The artiste entered the music scene more than 15 years ago, and his first song, a reggae release called Never Listen, was an immediate hit.
He participated in several competitions throughout the country and as his popularity grew, he harboured ambitions of reaching audiences beyond Barbados’ shores.
In seeing the immense talent of local artistes, he wondered about the possible factors stunting their development.
However, he had no intention of being boxed in because the music industry held the keys “to how I would eat and feed my children, so it was no joke for me”.
Enter King Bubba and Peter Coppin, and with that combination LR released Never Listen on CD and “I became a household name”.
Looking at the fever-pitched Crop Over season, he said the increased competitive pressure is evident, but insisted that the focus must be on musical development, love and respect for each other.
In relation to the EP, he said: “[It] is to show my respect for the culture and I am not on the violent lyrics again because I want to be more uplifting and bring happy music.”
Though not completely abandoning dancehall, LR said if he performs again, it would be minus the flammable lyrics.
In referencing the upsurge in violence, the artiste, who has performed in Trinidad, Jamaica, St Vincent, Canada and Mexico, among other places, said the way the streets are going now, he does not intend to compound it by singing unwholesome lyrics.
While offering strong words of advice to the youth, LR appealed to them not to allow the streets to be their motivation “because now is not the time for mothers to be feeling this big capacity of pain”.
Describing himself as one of the local musical pioneers, LR, who wrote all of the songs on the EP, said he entered Pour It Slow for the Sweet Soca competition.
Though having offers from several writers, he said he wanted to stand on his own two feet this time around, establishing himself as a writer.
“Anything is possible when you got God and good prayer within yourself,” he concluded.