Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter
To-Isis performs at the Cooyah Scholarship Launch, held at Devon House earlier this year. - CONTRIBUTED
EIGHT YEARS in the music business have not been a bed of roses for the six-man group To-Isis, but they say at least they have earned the respect of their audiences through positive lyrics.
They admit, however, that their career should have been further advanced, but give a number of reasons why it has not.
"Before we were managing ourselves and doing our own stuff basically ... We are not at the stage that we want to be, but still at the stage where more established artistes are requesting to work with us. Even the fans - even if they don't recognise us and say we look like the guys in To-Isis," said Renardo Lewis, a member of the group.
They also agreed that they are more recognised for their producing and songwriting skills than for their singing, but remain mystified as to the cause. "I have no idea why that is. I don't know what other people's management teams do, but we will learn somehow," said Kevin Webb, another group member.
WHO WROTE REFLECTIONS?
Production is an important and regular part of the six men's lives. One member co-wrote Reflections, which Jah Cure sang as a part of a prison rehabilitation programme, while two others co-produced the new rhythm 'Bounce Back' and some of the songs on it.
They said there was some misinformation about who wrote Reflections and dismissed rumours that they were originally supposed to sing the song, but it was given to Jah Cure instead.
"That song was a part of a prison rehabilitation project that we came up with, and Gladston Wright was a co-writer and not the actual writer of the song. The project is a way of highlighting the different talents in prison and is another method of rehabili-tating them," said Duane Stephenson, who was involved in writing Reflections.
"With the Jah Cure song, people tried to play it as a negative thing. People started seeing the politics in it and associating the song with him and his prison sentence, instead of what he was doing. This project and that song was so that those in the inner city, and even those outside, would hear the song and if something comes their way say, 'prison ah nuh bed a roses' and prison isn't a nice place to be," he said.
SQUEAKY CLEAN IMAGE
Duane also said there are other artistes who are incarcerated who are involved in the project.
To-Isis, which means everything beautiful, has managed to maintain a squeaky clean image, though they say it is perhaps another reason why they have not been able to really hit the mainstream.
"Everyone sees us as a group that promotes positive music and positivity. This isn't only in the genre of reggae, because we also do dancehall and our stuff there is still positive," said Renardo.
Richard Morgan agreed. "This is true and wherever we go we get respect and this helps to pull fans toward us," he said.
They say they are a family group and people anywhere can relate to them. "In terms of commercial success, we don't measure our success that way, because what many people want isn't what we deliver," said Renardo and Kevin.
The group's better known songs include Bounce Back, Ghetto Pain, Heavens Will Rise and the newly-released Please Stay, featuring Turbulence. "We intend to keep moulding new artistes and helping them to decide what it is that they want to do. We have been there before and we know the different things they go through and we would be able to help them," said Renardo.
