Newsletter

ASSAILANT UPBEAT AFTER UK DEBUT TOUR
Young alliance member, Omar 'Assailant' Thompson returned from a two week tour of the UK earlier this month. The tour stops included Birmingham, London & Brixton. The tour, which lasted for two weeks, kicked off on December 28. Assailant he did six shows in all

On January 2nd Assailant headlined his own show, dubbed “Dirty Money” (one of his singles ) in the Midlands city of Birmingham. The show, by all accounts, was well received. “The crowd sang the said single word for word,” Assailant reports.

The tour was his European debut and was headlined by one of Alliance's frontrunners, Marlon 'Bawse Dawg' Williams, formerly known as 'Bling Dawg'

Commenting on the trip, the artiste said "it was an excellent learning experience. Everything went as planned, except that the weather was way too cold. And since my return, I have been getting a lot more bookings. I’m going to keep building my rapport with audiences and honing the craft so I can move to the next stage as an artiste.”

Assailant is part of the Solid Agency family.

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ON THE RISE

Its easy for an up and coming DJ to get overshadowed with the abundance of talents in what has become a highly competitive Dancehall Industry but 26 year old Fabian Wilson more popularly known as Boom Steppa has no plans of getting caught in that trap. The most peculiar name was given to him by a friend because of how he walks with a rhythm to which he later added the Boom to describe the type of explosive tracks he planned on bring to the mainstream market.

Born and raised in the St. Catherine community of Central Village, Steppa grew up pretty much like any normal youth, enjoying his childhood days but when he turned 15 his focus began to change and music soon became his calling. Starting out writing simple hooks, Steppa spent his days teaching himself the techniques of song-writing and later began to share his creative lyrics with his brother who at the time was a trying DJ. As his content grew, and his mind adapted to that of a recording artist Steppa had developed a style of his own and before he would finish high school was a budding DJ.

Though he understood the importance of school, former student of the Jonathan Grant High Steppa still succumbed to negative influences, and was subsequently expelled. The continued education came in the form of Tivoli Gardens High, were he did his final two years in school, often times taking to the streets in search of recording studios to jump start his career.

In 1998, his chance came as a link brought him to the Black Roots studios of veteran rock steady music icon Sugar Minnott where he recorded his very first single "Ghetto Life" a year later. The opportunity gave the still young Steppa even more confidence in his music and off he went recording for other producers.

As the years passed, Steppa took on the added responsibility of ghost writing for not just any DJ but some of the best in the business. Between 2005 – 2006 he penned "Foreign", "A suh wi do it" on the Gigi riddim, "Love is the only way" and ”Smile” for DJ New Kidz as well as "Thug Love" for Mr Lexx, but it wasn't until Steppa joined forces with the Alliance general Bounty Killer that his name began to resonate in a few circles. Bounty recorded two tracks for the young writer - "Firm & Strong" in 2006 and 2007 "Four Season" hit. That same year he was featured in the Holiday Medley video with Bounty, Vybz Kartel and Bling Dawg on a track called “That’s Who We Are” with Mr Lexx, but soon after had to take a break from recording because he was shot and hospitalize for three months. Steppa however recovered and realized that his own career was essential recording the song "So Much To Me" on the Not Out Riddim In 2007 with a video directed by Robin Chin soon following For PayDay Music he has done "Nuh Bwoy" on the Gangsta Beat Riddim and "Protect Me Please" on the Grung Ghad Riddim, ”protect the children” on the Merge riddim.

Now riding high on the growing success of the single “Naaw Stay Poor” it’s obvious Boom Steppa is destined for great things. A definite one for the future Boom Steppa believe his time to break mainstream is not far away and as such will continue paying his dues. "The future is unpredictable you know but at the same time I'm gonna always work the hardest I can because I wanna take my music to an international level and the ground work is necessary so this is just me looking for the hits to make it happen but I'm not going to rush it I'm just going to do Boom Steppa".


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Profile – SOLID Agency

WHAT DOES YOUR COMPANY DO?

We at Solid Agency consider our selves the one source for entertainment services in Jamaica with a proven track record and global reach, including artiste management booking agency for dancehall and reggae (Shaggy, Bounty Killa, Wayne Marshal, Elephant Man, Freddie McGregor, Marcia Griffiths, Tessanne Chin, Etana, Ding Dong, Morgan Heritage, Mykal Rose, Tami Chynn and Iyaz – the current #1 Billboard artist) even production, artiste & event publicity.

HOW DID IT GET STARTED?
By being the talent scout for Reggae Sunsplash. Through that process, I found that the artistes believed in me and it was easy to form professional bonds with them. Synergy, the producers of Sunsplash, did not want a booking agency, so I decided to make a go of it on my own.. Started in 1982, with Deejay Papa San. From there, I was subsequently able to link with Wyclef Jean, Doug E Fresh, Eve, Heavy D and many others

CORPORATE CULTURE.
International reach – Africa Europe etc. extensive experience with big name acts and major events – Shaggy Foundation lasting partnerships with artiste and corporate from all strata – look at it Sean Paul was once my personal assistant


DESCRIBE YOUR BIGGEST SCOOP
Being event producer of the Shaggy Dare to Care concert venture, which twice in consecutive years now has given over USD300,000 to the benefit of the Bustamante Children’s Hospital, using acts like Macy Gray, Joe Boyz II men

HOW DO YOU STAY RELEVANT?
Keep hiring young bright ambitious people with talent, intelligence and drive, regardless of their socio-economic background – keep ears to ground, maintain high level of energy, FRESH IDEAS, plus I have the benefit of experience, to quickly assess situations and respond in the most appropriate way

WHAT’S THE COOLEST THING ABOUT YOUR COMPANY?
I can pick up the phone and within seconds be talking to lots of people who are influential in their respective aspects of this business, across the world.

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
Can work from home, and still maintain contact globally through facilities like SKYPE, Facebook, MySpace; you don’t have to have as much time and capital resources tied up in supporting physical product like on-shelf CDs; you can make decisions and conduct business more quickly without sacrificing efficiency



WHAT ONE THING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN IN THE BUSINESS?

For more of us [Jamaican artistes] to be selling platinum records on a regular basis

WHERE WILL YOU BE IN 10 YEARS TIME?

1. Setting up office ion Africa. We in the Western Hemisphere underestimate the gigantic potential of the African market for Jamaican music.

2. To have a distribution deal as an independent alongside a major record company.



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