Stylo G Interview: Reggae will always be my number one love

One of the beauties of this country is how historically we’ve become the greatest mongrels around. Our ability to absorb other people’s ideas and cultures is one of the reasons our language is the most spoke across the planet, and within music it’s meant we’ve taken the ideas of others to next levels. Whether it’s the Rolling Stones doing blues, Massive Attack merging US hip-hop and soul or acid house spluttering into drum and bass, the UK remains one heck of a fertile ground for a cross pollination of sounds.

Stylo G is a poster boy for musical immigration at its finest. Relocating from Jamaica at the age of 12 after his father, dancehall producer and artist Poison Chang, was murdered, it’s led to a sound which is deliciously ambiguous, an amalgamation of the Caribbean heritage of his youth alongside the very clear impact his time in Britain has had upon. A fusion of dancehall, reggae, grime, and a delivery that flirts between the Soundsystem toasters in Jamaica and their ruffneck counterparts on dubstep and drum and bass systems on these shores. And his 2013 smash, ‘Soundbowy’, is just huge.

It’s a record that will go down in the history of big crossover records like Damian Marley’s ‘Welcome to Jamrock’, Barrington Levy ‘s Here I come’ and Wayne Smith’s ‘Under mi sleng teng’, destined to be rewound at Notting Hill and blaring out of student unions for years to come.  With him all set to bring his scintillating live show to Wireless’ ‘Legends of the Summer’ preview date on Sunday 15^th July, we caught up with Stylo, real name Jason McDermott, for a quick chat to get an insight into how the record has changed his life.

You must be pretty pleased with the success of Soundbwoy? Did you anticipate it doing so well?

I am very pleased with the success and the support that I got with "Soundbwoy”. I always knew the song would do well but it has certainly exceeded my expectations and I am very grateful for that.

It’s had the support of none other than Usain Bolt! How does that feel?

Usain is a legend and it’s definitely an honour for me that he likes my music!

We’ve read in previous interviews you attribute your sound to a mixture of influences, owing to your Caribbean and British heritage, and it is certainly something we can hear in the records. Do you think this is why you make so much music which crosses form one scene to the next?

I think it has to a lot to do with my Caribbean and British mixture that makes my music cross over from one scene to the next. I've been mixing my sounds of the Caribbean and the uk together and it seems to be working so far!

Britain has a history of producing cross cultural music, everything from the likes of Massive Attack to the very unique way jungle was created out of Chicago House and Detroit techno. Why do you think this is the case?

I think the UK has such a diverse multicultural community that it makes us so unique with the sound of our music. I grew up in Peckham in South London and it was there that I learnt about different cultures and how to mix the different sounds together.

Despite this do you consider yourself as a dancehall artist first and foremost? Or is that just the starting base for you?

I've always considered myself a crossover reggae artist. Reggae will always be my number one love but I think I’m cool with being a crossover artist, taking the sound further.

You’re playing at the Wireless Festival this summer. Who else on the line-up excites you, and are you looking forward to playing the event in London?

Too many to list! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Jay Z & Justin Timberlake,  and then Nas, Will I.Am, Misha B, Angel & my label mate Fuse ODG.

Who else would you count as key influences in your musical landscape?

My Dad was my main musical influence when I was growing up. He was a Dancehall artist from Jamaica called Poison Chang and he had a big jungle track in the UK called "Press the Trigger”.

Where else can we see you playing this summer?

This summer I will be at Glastonbury Festival, Tramlines Festival, Reading & Leeds Festival, and hopefully more to come!

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