AlozadeTHEY EAT microphones for breakfast, stage shows for lunch and make it back home with time to spare for dinner. However, the individual that arrives at home to 'chill' with family and friends is different from the performer. It is an instant transformation, like Superman and Clarke Kent, minus the telephone booth.
Many local artistes believe that being an entertainer is too burdensome for one individual. That is why they say they have separated the professional and social aspects of their lives. The acquired personality handles the 'hustles and bustles' of their career and the innate persona takes care of the non-job related issues.
Versatile deejay Michael 'Alozade' Sterling is numbered among those who believe that their on-stage persona is different from who they are at home.
Sounds a bit schizophrenic?
However, Alozade backed his stance of having a dual persona but stated that he lives nowhere near 'Schizophrenia-ville', because unlike schizophrenic patients, he controls the manifestations of his innate and psuedo personas. "I intentionally separate the two characters because one is my personal life and the other is my career life," he noted. "The day you tie both of them together you are in trouble."
According to the deejay, Michael Sterling (his real name) is a 'homely' youth, one that enjoys staying with his family and friends, however Alozade is the persona he acquires to get his job done. He told The Gleaner that the things that Michael does while at home, many persons would not even imagine Alozade doing them. This, he says, attests to the fact that Alozade does not live at his home. Mr. Sterling's point was bolstered by the lyrical Assassin, christened Jeffrey Campbell. He stated that when he is at home around family and friends, Assassin is non-existent. He believes that the split in the personalities is automatic since both individuals have different experiences and experiences are what shape one's personality. "I am Assassin when I am on the road cause that's who the people know. Jeffrey Campbell was invisible two years ago," Assassin reasoned.
From his experiences, the young deejay reasoned that Jeffrey Campbell faces a more realistic reaction from people - because Jeffrey does not have much to give. However, he noted that his other half, Assassin, has to sieve through the 'false pretenders', thus it makes him a bit harder to deal with and a tad more intolerant. This shield, he says, is implemented to separate the sheep from the goats.
On the contrary, veteran female deejay Janice 'Lady G' Fyffe, begged to differ as she says on or off-stage she is the same 'Ol G'. "Basically when me go pon di stage a work mi go fi work but the things that I talk on-stage is the same things I would talk off- stage," she said. Lady G's declaration directly contradicts that of the first lady of dancehall, Marion 'Lady Saw' Hall, who thinks that her inborn persona and the shoes of the individual she fills while on-stage are quite contrary. At home she is the consummate country girl but on-stage she transforms into an urban sex bomb.
Alozade added that the major difference between his innate and acquired personas is that while Alozade welcomes the limelight, Michael is a humble youth that does not love the attention.
This statement makes it seem that Alozade is the wilder side of Michael Sterling. On the contrary, the deejay revealed that during that infamous incident that earned him nine months in prison, Michael Sterling was the culprit and not Alozade. "That was a part of Michael Sterling," he noted. "He snapped because he felt he was being belittled so he retaliated."
