JAICKO! THE SOUND! THE FUSION!

// September 11th, 2009 // Hott and Raw Exclusives

if LIFE was as simple as MUSIC … we would ALL live forever - DATZHOTT!

HOTT AND RAW EXCLUSIVE!

In looking at JAICKO, doubt seems a foreign concept. In hearing his music, it’s a word utterly stricken from the lexicon. He’s concocted an intoxicating island brew that washes over the listener as readily as a Caribbean swell. Leading the charge is “Oh Yeah,” an effervescent anthem boasting an infectious hook and Jaicko’s tongue-in-cheek sensibilities. The bouncing beat + Jaicko’s lightly-lilted vocals = this song is a no-doubter.

In this HOTT AND RAW EXCLUSIVE, Jaicko chops it up with DATZHOTT! about his style of music and seeing himself as an artist 20 years from now.

After LISTENING TO THE ABOVE INTERVIEW, check below for the latest video and links to Jaicko’s social media pages.

WHAT’s HOTT!!! ABOUT JAICKO!?!

His undying of insight!

“When I started to grow my hair and I got expelled from school, I knew that music was going to be my future. I thought ‘This is what I have to do now’ because I just sacrificed my education. School in Barbados is very different than in the United States because we were a British colony; you wear a uniform, your hair has to be a certain length. When I stepped out to do this that’s when I started to take music really seriously. I knew my hair would be a big part of my image. I knew there was no going back.”

It’s an intriguing tale, the rebel with a cause. But 17-year-old Jaicko [pronounced Jay-ko], has long been the author of his own destiny. Though he’s matter-of-fact about his forthcoming album on Capitol Records –“It’s life through the eyes of a 17-year-old”– this is an artist with a lot to say.

In fact, the native of Barbados is very much culling the classic American story: an immigrant who comes to our shores armed only with the best intents and an idea he believes has currency. The plan: “Caribbean-infused music: it’s a bit of Barbados brought to America. Music fans will want to listen to me all day. Caribbean fans will want to listen to me all day.” In this vein, Jaicko is a far cry from the current wave of teenybopper talents; no skin-deep musical charlatan, he writes and produces much of his own music. He and his father Phillip, a longtime nightclub musician in Barbados, comprise a formidable songwriting duo.

“My dad has always been a good friend, and a creative partner, so it’s never really been difficult to work as a father and son team,” Jaicko notes. “We write a lot of our songs together; most of the songs that got me my deal were songs we wrote and produced.” Indeed, under Phillip’s tutelage, Jaicko has been performing on stage since the tender age of nine. Yes, nine. And recording in studios since age ten. So while a 17-year-old’s gripes about the struggles inherent in the music industry may at first warrant a sidelong glance, further inspection reveals an earnest and unfazed artist.

“Around that time I was actually rapping,” he reveals. “I always knew I could sing but I never took it seriously. Back then, if you were a rapper, you couldn’t be a singer. That’s changing now though.” Jaicko first stepped onto the stage at a club called the Ship In, one of many establishments lining the famed St. Lawrence Gap, a hub of Barbadian culture and nightlife. Response was instant and unilateral. Jaicko went on to cut an independent album that sold 6,000 copies islandwide—“a good number,” he reminds, “considering our population is under 300,000 people.” Jaicko scaled the nation’s two Top 40 radio stations, “sandwiched between Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z,” he jokes. He opened for Ne-Yo when the latter made a tour stop in Barbados. Jaicko has also been nominated for numerous Barbados Music Awards, including five last year, often pitted in the same category as breakout Barbadian Rihanna.

Indeed, the island queen has quickly become the face of the small Caribbean nation. And her exploits are respected both home and abroad: “We were always seen as apart from the rest of the world,” Jaicko asserts. “It almost seemed impossible for a Barbadian artist to get a record deal. I was pursuing this before Rihanna, but seeing her success made me believe more I could do it, it removed whatever doubt was there.”

Video for “Oh Yeah“

Connect with Jaicko:

www.jaickomusic.com
www.myspace.com/jaicko
www.twitter.com/jaicko