Jeffery Campbell as Agent Sasco

As fickle an industry as it gets, the Jamaican music business is not known to laud longevity. Many, outside of circle, look on it as negative especially within the dancehall sphere if an artiste or a group of artistes has a career longer than ten years. This is opposed to reggae as it is understood that these acts can have a career for as long as they wish. Everyone, who is familiar with both genres, would have a laundry list of reasons on why this is so. From lasting nature of reggae versus the quick fix, get it now, aspect of dancehall to the lambasting the general decorum of our dancehall heroes; most enthusiasts has an opinion as to why the momentum behind a dancehall act generally stalls so quickly. But what about the artiste/s who are a part of the dancehall music fraternity but want to produce music that outlives any fad phase and who should they look to as proof that this line of thinking works? We at BACKAYARD would like to nominate Assassin/Agent Sasco as guide as to how to achieve longevity in dancehall without comprising the music nor whatever morals held dear. With the recent release of his third album, “Theory of Reggaetivity”, Sasco has proven that there is still a viable marketplace for this brand of dancehall. But how arduous was this journey? For it has been almost ten years since his second album “Gully Sit’n” and eleven since his debut “Infiltration”, when he became the very first artiste to grace our covers. But that ten year gap between albums could be deemed as problematic to those who have not been keeping up Agent Sasco nor his works. So we decided to have a sit down with him and update his fans, and maybe some naysayers, about all that has been happening professionally and personally with Agent Sasco and outline his plans for the future. Take it away ….. Agent!!

Sasco, it often said that you don’t ‘do road’ enough. That the people who really matter, the influencers, the disc jockeys, etc; have no real connection with you. What do you have to say about that widely held aspersion?

First of all it is not sustainable in my view. The second thing is that mi guh out fi my entertainment too and if me deh a one session and mi waan di music offering to be of a certain vibe and ting. If that is not the case, I won’t be back tomorrow …… fi suffer through it. I will be honest about the state of affairs inna our industry, yuh nuh. You guh to a party and it is not like how I remember a party to be like inna ’99 & ’00 when man a juggle and riddim play and a juggling play and yuh hold a vibe. Now is jus too much murkiness a gwaan. Selectors, not even selectors, whatever yuh waan call dem ‘pouchie’ dem. Wah stickup people fi money and yuh caan hold di business hostage like that. Because if the money don’t come directly inna your pocket, yuh start hear bout who nah bruk nuh bread. But mek mi tell yuh supp’im mi nuh know anyone in this business that cannot bruk bread. It jus don’t setup like that, dem might nah nuh bruk bread wid YOU. Yuh know what I mean but that don’t mean because you nah directly benefit, inna your pocket di money a guh, mean yuh a try sabotage people. So in other words, when mi nuh guh out is because mi nah guh openly be a part of that. Mi caan guh a nighttime and support dem almshouse deh. Mi nuh deh pon that, mi love music too much fi that.

Full disclosure, Assassin was one of the first artiste we interviewed. It was at Penthouse Records when Penthouse was round Half-Way Tree Road…

Not off of Half Way Tree Road, it is either Slipe Road or Ballater Avenue….

Yeah, that one there. Ballater Avenue.

Oh, cause if you said Slipe road a woulda waayyy back; fi real. Yeah man off Bamoral.

Well, the last thing we spoke about at from that time, was the so called ‘agreement’ between members of the Jamaican music industry and a few select gay rights organizations in 2005. From that time til now how has you seen your career progress and the mindset you had that time as opposed to the way you are now?

Well, I think 2005 was about the time, my reality NOW was being formed. In terms of, 2005 I became a father. I lost my mother that year. That year, my first album come out…

“Infiltration”

Yeah, and ahmm shortly after that in 2006 now was the time, I guess, mi haffi try move forward after such a checkered year; emotionally. That was when I started the whole ‘Agent’ ting and when it come into play. It wasn’t ‘Agent Sasco’ it was ‘Agent 006’ because mi did try kinda motivate myself again, yuh nuh, for 2006 especially after the death of my mother in 2005 and before that she was ill for like two years. Going through that really took a toll on mi. So mi cut off mi braids and don’t know if mi have in braids in the picture the last time mi was in the magazine….

Yeah man yuh can still see dem in the back…

Said ting, yeah man so mi hol’ a haircut and yuh nuh kinda like a reset and a restart, yuh nuh. And ahmm …. From that time til now, I think my conviction was moving in a certain direction but I was reluctant to follow for whatever reason. So from dem time deh from do di song seh -Mi get a daughter now- “Something Got To Give”, mi did waan do more reggae music. But it never come together, maybe it wasn’t time. I did need fi guh through so much more experiences in order fi really find a direction. I did some one-drop recordings a song called “Priority” come out in and around that time. Mi did do most a di tune wid Shane Brown: “Only God Knows”, “If Man Did Stay Like Bees” …. Rae rae rae …. Like a bunch of dem. Stephen (Di Genuis) did “Give Thanks” on the New Chapter riddim so I was doing a lot of it and like I seh that was the platform and foundation for my reality right now which is “The Theory of Reggaetivity”

You are lauded for your lyrics and your lyrical content, the way you put together your songs. How long did it take for you to decide to become that kind of artiste, where people have to think about your songs or was has it always been that way?

Well, I have never necessarily said, Oh I going to try mek sure, I am looked at in this type of way. Mi haffi jus do it first of all how I came to love it. Which is from 3 and half, 4 years old; Professor Nuts, Papa San, Lieutenant Stitchie, Spragga Benz, Buju Banton, Bounty Killa coming up the line. Those are all artiste that have strong lyrical content. So I think me learning it that way kinda led me to doing it that way. And I really have a sincere love and respect for the art form and respect for the listeners too. So just as how when mi a listen to a Professor Nuts song from when mi a 4 and a half, I could marvel at how he put his words together. I think that I even, subconsciously, try to give people that same experience when I am doing my work out there now.

When we spoke to you it was right after “Infiltration”, when you had the ‘006’. When and why did the Sasco come in?

As I did seh because it was the year 2006 coming. I said I would be Agent 006 to represent the year. But then after 2006 would be 2007 and 007 which is James Bond and yuh caan do that …. (Everybody Laughs) …. So after 2006, mi guh to Agent 00. Which to me meant infinity so it could represent any year after that. And then Sasco was formed as a derivative of Assassin, people used to just call mi Sasco as a nickname. So mi just put the two together and decided that I was going to develop that alternative to the name Assassin because of certain limitations that I figure the name had. I mean, yuh nuh, couple time well opportunities came along that we couldn’t take advantage of because of the name.

Do you mean like bookings?

Not bookings, more than bookings. Certain opportunities, certain partnerships that couldn’t be formed that just based on the name alone. For example, I remember in particular one time JAMPRO, when I started to do the business degree, was interested in using me for a campaign to market Jamaica as a business destination. It was me and a few other people, among them was Courtney Walsh. After they did the selection, it was right here at the Pegasus as a matter of fact they had the launch and everything. After that it was a tough sell, to get people to accept seh bwoy yuh going to do a national campaign wid di name Assassin. Outside a that sometimes in a more subtle situation where the name is just a little bit too abrasive.

I can see how…

Especially after 9/11.

Yeah, growing up we would have never really sat down and thought about those type of situations. I remember you were one of the few artistes that had the opportunity to actually do a degree.

We still use the name Assassin now when some people decide that a that dem know from a longer time so a that dem a work wid. The hip hop community, in particular, seem to gravitate towards that more.

I mean can market it both ways…

Yeah man pretty much, is like Coke and Diet Coke.

After “Infiltration”, what album came after for you?

It was “Gully Sit’n” in 2007.

Right… I remember the single and especially the video. That was one of the videos that really set a frame on a time period. Remember was the time for cable music stations REtv and HYPEtv.

Yup, that was the heyday.

That was the time when Jamaican artistes started paying attention to the visual aspect of their product.

For sure, that video really got a good run.

That song was one of my favourite songs from you because of the riddim and how you handled it. I think that was the only song I ever heard on that riddim.

No, that riddim was was a single actually produced by Zero Gravity. So after “Infiltration”, came “Gully Sit’n” which was another expression. Was still with VP at the time and even that experience, recording that album, having to work with the expectations of a record company, yuh nuh, rae rae rae. It kinda led me to not wanting to be a signed artiste. So after that I sought my independence from the label, just for me because of what my conviction was telling me. When you find that you are not seeing or having the same kinda perspective as somebody you have a contract with. Yuh haffi try and figure yuh way from dehso. That also played a role in how I approached “The Theory of Reggaetivity” and the fact that I try to mek it as independent project as much as possible and it is.

So you are saying that after the release of “Gully Sit’n”, this (“The Theory of Reggaetivity”) is your most recent album?

Yeah, an almost ten year gap. So between 2007 and 2010, I was going through the trying to get off the label thing and from 2010 til now it was pretty much me finding myself, yuh nuh, and just really accepting the conviction I was feeling from 2005.

From 2010 til now, it is noticeable that you are not on every riddim. Every pan weh knock yuh nuh deh pon it. Does that have anything to do with your conviction?

Yeah, straight up. I just wasn’t. It is a combination of things, so I believe more, as I said before, my respect for the art form and my love for the art form, meaning that I want to make sure that if I am putting music out it is of a certain level of not just quality but everything about it. Of course I could record a song every day but what it a guh really mean inna di larger scheme of things, how am I helping di industry by putting out this song, yuh nuh. So mi di start step back more and more and then mi realise mi haffi try work wid people who have similar objectives and tings like that. So yuh find seh instead mi just jump on a riddim because di riddim deh deh. Mi start realise seh me and certain people work better together so mi continue working with those people, you know what I mean. It start to form a kinda natural selection and then now one a di time dem mi decide seh I was not going to record on nutten wid a hip hop snare inna it…. (Laughs)…. That almost mek mi nuh record nuh song fi bout a year. Around 2011, mi decide seh me and di hip hop snare nah guh mek it. In other words, it is fine to try new things wid music and ting and it is fine to experiment and what have you. Nutten if you have a one or two ting where a man guh so and sprinkle some hip hop. But when mi did feel like this was now trying to be the new dancehall sound mi decide seh mi nah guh really support it.

Well that will run right into my next question about Boardhouse. It is known that label was between you, your brother and your cousin started it, When did Boardhouse start?

Boardhouse started…. When “Nuh Linga” riddim come out? That was the first release, di riddim is actually called “Look Gal” but people call it “Nuh Linga”. Maybe it was in 2007, so it was in and around that time the label got started. Boardhouse really got started di year before inna 2006, but that (Look Gal riddim) was its first release. And it did very well, Billboard and a bag a tings. Then we had the “Run Di Place” riddim that I see in one of your publications here. We had one name “Clean Sweep” that almost everyone who record music did record pon dah riddim ….. (Everybody Laughs) ….. A mussi hundred song deh pon that deh riddim deh, we did do di real clean sweep. Then we had “Run Di Place” riddim wid jus three songs: me, Killa and Elephant man. So yeah we had a good run since that time, let’s put it this way, I am no longer a part of Boardhouse. I caan tell yuh seh whether it still up or whatever but I am no longer a part of it. I have started a new label which the first release off of it is “The Theory of Reggaetivity” album, Sound Age Entertainment. But yeah that experience doing production was certainly interesting. Starting to produce as opposed to just recording or whatever yuh nuh I learnt a lot in that setup and it was good.

Alright, we have to talk about the actual album now which is one of the main reasons why we are here. When could you say you started thinking about doing the “The Theory of Reggaetivity”?

It was the summer of… What year wi inna now? 2016, last year 2015. So the summer before that in 2014 in Europe and like I seh I start to really now feel like I was going to commit to this conviction wah mi a feel and it meant, for a lack of a better term, divorcing everything else. So mi just decide seh mi a guh figet bout everything else and mi a guh concentrate on doing this ting wah mi a feel, which is more reggae. When mi guh Europe, mi love how dem experience the music; it is about the music squarely.

The music, when you go to Europe, based on what I have seen it is about the full band and that experience….

It’s about the music, even to the fact where you turn up to a show and it is not about the fashion and which car pull up and you know that is a part of the scene in the west. Going to a show, it is not about the artiste weh gwine perform and di music wah yuh gwine hear. Is about what you going to wear and who you going to see, who a guh pull up and who inna VIP. It’s a lot about that but in Europe it is pretty much about the show. So people just turn up.

I would say from the ‘80s coming up that was how Jamaican dancehall culture was. It was and still is about showcasing yourself like that. It was all about that kinda materialistic kinda thing…

Not necessarily, mi understand wah yuh a seh. But here is the thing. Dancehall, the fashion and the flamboyant nature of course is a part of the culture. Don’t get mi wrong, yuh nuh. But I can remember watching ’93 Sting pon di tape. Looking in that audience and as much as a man come out bush as wah. It was still about the show. Is a different thing when yuh come out bush and nuh care about the show. Is a different ting yuh understand? So it move from being a combination of fashion and whatever, the needle tek time start move towards everything else and the music tek a backseat. Since dem seh mi nuh guh out, ask di people dem weh guh out then ….. (Everybody Laughs) ….. If most party weh yuh guh or 9 outta 10 of them a people stand up and a look pon one another and who nah tek selfie or snapchat or whatever. Guh a Europe and see di difference in terms of it is about the music first. People come fi experience the music. So anyway being in Europe and getting that vibe, I was like, Yo this start feel more like wah mi a feel. So it was di bredrin who was the tour manager at that time, Pioneer, who is also the partner in Europe for the release of the album; Germaica Digital is the name of his label. So he suggested, Yo well if you are feeling this type of vibe di best ting yuh can do for yourself is an album. So that was the inception of the whole album vibe from summer 2014 but we never start recording til summer 2015.

So which song was the first song you recorded?

I waan tell yuh the wickedest ting, di first song I recorded was a song called “Reggae Reggae Ragga” which is not on the album. So we started recording from earlier in the year but after I did around 4 or 5 songs then came the song weh name “Mix Up” and that whole vibe. I realized that was the texture that I wanted to have. As matter of fact is going back to Europe mek mi decide what kinda texture I wanted the song to have. The songs I recorded before jus feel a likkle bit too light and I dare to say too happy, mi did want it have a likkle bit more roots.

I think that is the thing about our music culture. Dancehall/Reggae allows us the space to speak about reality a certain way. Learning about music history, I would say that was gave our music the edge over calypso/soca. People hear it and it….

Resonate wid dem, man.

Exactly! People would listen to calypso/soca and get a happy vibe while people would listen to dancehall/reggae….

To reflect. Yuh nuh, substance. So we pretty much went back to the drawing board in the summer of last year and in a month or two we were pretty much done with recording. The recording never tek nuh time, it was the post work, the mixing, selecting, yuh nuh, deciding the sequence and di paperwork, Lawd Gad.

That was the reason I was asking about the sequence because that sort of thing is quite important on an album…

Critical, critical. For di flow yuh nuh.

Recently it seems that a fair amount of hip hop acts have reached out to you for your sound. What do you attribute that to?

Not accurate ….. (Laughs)…. Now me is not a man fi sell geow and gwaan like seh. Di Kanye one definitely was not a matter of Kanye calling my phone and asking to collab. Di Kendrick situation, was a likkle bit closer to that but still not that necessarily. The producer wanted a Jamaican vibe pon a track that he was producing for Kendrick aka Boi-1da. So Boi-1da and Kardinal deh a Canada and Boi-1da reach out to Kardinal understanding seh him familiar wid the Jamaican culture. So him seh, Yo mi a work pon supp’im for Kendrick mi need a Jamaican vibe wah yuh think and Kardinal seh, Put Assassin pon it; I think it woulda mek sense and rae rae rae. So that is how that come about dem send it come and mi send back wah mi send back and them love it.

I heard about that Kanye situation. I believe GeeJam had invited some people…

Like it was an open call ting. Dem a record some bag a ting….

If I remember correctly it was Chronixx, you and somebody else as well …

A lot of people, because when I went there in the afternoon Lexus and Cecile were there as well. Help write verse and mi write verse for this and that, record something and left that same evening. Months after that mi hear seh dem select one. Mi not even know which one it was but they needed the paperwork to be done because Kanye selected one of the ting I did for his upcoming project, I didn’t even know it was for his album. So yeah that was that.

I know this might be weird to ask but did you feel anything knowing that you were selected? Because for me, personally as someone who reveres Jamaican music, mi nuh care who di person, mi woulda like fi see featuring on it like your name on it.

So hear what, it is a couple of tings. So for the Kanye track, dem use the recording as a sample still and in truth and in fact if you listen to the record. Him a talk bout girls and mi come on a talk bout badman and whatever. So it really was used as a sample. Having your name on there of course would have been fantastic, would have been great and rae rae rae but you get into a likkle bit of politics and leverage at that stage you know what I mean. So that’s just that. It was still a good vibe, still give thanks, and move on. The Kendrick ting now was once again just a matter of I don’t know what was said between the producer and Kendrick. By the time my people start talking, it was kinda like; Ahmm you know they are not doing features and blah blah. Yuh nuh, whatever. And then at that stage, I am like it nuh matter to me really…

Yeah, because you are an artiste yuh nuh really waan hear dem ting deh. You just want that clear and cut talk.

Yuh nuh, so that’s just that. How I feel about the whole thing is it is still a great opportunity. We give thanks for it, mek di most of it then move on.

So alright, back to theory now. One of the things that people would like to know is, which labels would it be released under? I know you mentioned them before…

Soundage Entertainment, which is my label and in the European territories we have partnered with Germaica Digital because they are on the ground over that side, so they are our they are our digital distribution partner. The record is a Soundage Entertainment record.

How many tracks are on the album?

So it is 14 tracks total. One track is the intro and then I have two skits after that so is really 11 songs.

I mean my personal favourite based on knowing the songs on the track list would be “Africa” and I like “Country Bus” as well. But which song for you was your favourite?

A mi pickney dem yuh a talk to mi bout now bredrin. Dem all have dem own value, yuh nuh.

I mean I can’t say for children because if your children hear back which is your favourite, it nah guh pretty…

Exactly, in other words so the song that is going to be the lead single is “Stronger”. And I can identify wid di sentiments of that song as most people will or can. It is similar to “Day In Day Out” which is also very dear to mi because it was one of the first songs I wrote when I started to learn to play the guitar. Still learning cah mi put it down from when. It is a similar sentiment “Day In Day Out” but I think “Stronger” is that more empowering. Yeah, I really love that one but as I seh is 11 songs and my first album in almost a decade. Trust mi, mi love all a dem.

Who are the people would say were integral in the making of this album?

Oh man, so we start off with Majah Label music group that is Kimani Smith and Roel Powell, they co-produced “Africa” and “Crazy” with my label. And of course, Joshua Jones of Soundcheq. He did a lot of work not just recording but helping with the editing and doing so much, yuh nuh. Protoje, of course, Paris Lamont, Diggy (Sam Diggy) di engineer up at UIM studio, Anju Blaxx did some mixing for mi and ting, Niko Browne, Silly Walks did “Stronger”. Di musician dem: Nambo Robinson, a saxophonist name Sheldon, a next one name Conrad, Hector Lewis a percussionist. It was fun recording di album and of course di two bredrin dem yah so, always on di mission Great Mice and Rodney. Oh yeah, big up Sherieta Lewis and her sister Kerri. All of those people were very integral in the shaping of the album, is a good vibe.