Every week resident FADER selector Eddie STATS runs through dancehall riddims and other artifacts from the ghetto archipelago.
If you read FADER you may have noticed that our favorite thing is to go out on a limb for new-brand artists we really fuck with. That is partly for the just cause of shining a light on deserving creative endeavors but also partly so we can sit back and congratulate ourselves with every future success that artist has (which is way better than being mad at an artist’s success, if you think about it). The intrepid staff here at thefader.com have done a pretty good job of chronicling the mounting successes of F42 cover star Mavado, but it seemed like high time to take a step back and ponder the overall phenomenon he’s become this year and say, Wow.
Mavado Megablend:
Mavado f. Serani, “Dying Pt. 2”
Mavado, “Step In the Future”
G Unit f. Mavado, “Let it Go”
Mavado & Asafa Powell, “On the Go”
Mavado f. Jay-Z, “On the Rock”
Mavado, “We Need Barack” (Green Lantern special)
Mavado, “Mr. Palmer”
Mavado, “Life of a Gee”
Considering how unmarketable and un-mainstream that dude looked when he went head to head with Vietnam in December 2006, by '08 it seems every major brand in the world is looking at him to cosign their shit. And when I say major brands I’m talking about Nike. G Unit. Jay-Z. Barack, MF Hussein, Obama. Technically, the Obama plug was unsolicited, or more accurately, solicited by Green Lantern on behalf of the once & future black prez, but to see Nike doing a limited edition Cassava Peace dunk and sponsoring what is basically a Nike/Mavado dub-plate featuring doops in the studio with sprinter Asafa Powell is more than a little crazy. Yes, Usain Bolt went and made the lyrics irrelevant by breaking Powell’s record like the day after the song was recorded but the fact that people still give it a big run (get it?) anyway just kinda highlights the fact that it’s Mavado’s voice that is selling the whole thing. And when you see Jay-Z and G-Unit trying to get a piece of the rock, it pretty much seals the fact that Mavado is putting the street in street cred, at least for this Summer.
So this little megamix (little mega—my new dancehall name? Like Biggie Smalls get it?) is just my way of saying: YOU’RE WELCOME, WORLD. Not asking for royalties or anything. A simple thank you note would suffice. Or the election of a Black President.
