- Photo by Claudine Housen
Elephant Man cameos on Rihanna's set at Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest 2006.

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

A catchy hook, a good rhythm and two or more musical talents combine to produce some of the hottest songs. Collaborations are not a new phenomenon but seem to have increased over the years, especially among local and international artistes, and sometimes come about almost by coincidence.

Nadine Sutherland says for her smash hit Action, done with Terror Fabulous, "Dave Kelly did my demo to play to some record executives, released it as Nadine Sutherland and Terror Fabulous. Then it got changed".

Mr. Vegas has done a number of collaboratiuons, such as Here Comes The Boom with American rapper DMX and Tamalie with Fat Joe. He teamed up with Sean Paul to do Hot Gal, recorded Taxi Fare with Lexxus, went to the eastern Caribbean with Dance With You with Machel Montano and rocked Your're Gonna Miss Me with Jovi Rockwell. He says "sometimes the artiste searches for you. With me and Jovi it was just a vibe thing. Machel contacted me, DMX contacted me through Tony Kelly. I contacted Lexxus and it just happened".

Jamaican dancehall appeal

Quite often, the international act seeks out local artistes, trying to cash in on the Jamaican dancehall appeal. Spragga Benz is another big dancehall act who has collaborated with many artistes, resulting in popular songs such as Spanish Harlem with Ben E. King, Oh Yeah with rapper Foxy Brown, Turn Me On with Kevin Lyttle and Backshot with Lady Saw. And still he has other songs with Assasin and Bounty Killer, as well as a yet-to-be-released single with Kelis.

Spragga says "internationally dem approach we, 'cause dem want a dancehall flair. Locally we just come up in the studio and do a ting, create a vibe".

Elephant Man concurs that the overseas act comes calling and then it becomes a musically beneficial relationship. Elephant Man has done Don't Stop with Janet Jackson. Pon Di Replay with Rihanna, Bam Bam with R. Kelly, Get Low Remix with Lil John, Switch with Will Smith, Love You with Mariah Carey and the Da' Brat, as well as other songs with the Ying Yang Twins, Pitbull and more. "Usually the international acts call us. Then you link dem and seh if dem want you to do this den they have to do one back, on your track," he said.

However, one of the difficulties with collaborations is finding the time to perform the song. Nadine Sutherland and Terror Fabulous have performed together, but not of late. She says: "We have different careers, but we have performed it together. We toured a lot because it was a big hit internationally. We have not performed it locally recently. We have performed it at Reggae Bash and Reggae Sunsplash. One of the few times we performed it recently was at Cocoa Tea's show 'Reggae Jam Jam', at New Year's Eve".

"The problem is not everywhere I go to perform it Terror is available. Not anytime he wants me, I'm available. Sometimes the promoters might not want both of us on the show. Nothing is missing from the performance if he is not there, Action is such a big hit. I performed it in California recently and they knew it and loved it," she said.

Difficulties

Vegas has also had similar difficulties. He says "a difficulty with collaborating is getting the artiste to perform with you. After the song has been released different reasons and other arrangements come up. So far I have performed with Machel, Sean Paul, Jovi, Lexxus on stage, both locally and internationally. Promoters will sometimes book an artiste and think that the other artiste will automatically show up, but the other artiste may not show up because they are not getting paid. I don't like to go on stage and perform it by myself".

However, not all acts have had such issues. Spragga claims "I've performed with all of the artistes except Kelis and that's new. Most cases if they are international it's hard to go to all the stage shows or for them to come to yours. If the song is important enough you have to go on tour with dem, you have to make the important dates".

Despite the difficulties, artistes are still eager to work together. Vegas says "it's always good to collaborate with locals and then to have it cross over internationally. Internationally, when an artiste guest stars on a dancehall track, 99 per cent of the time it doesn't work. When a dancehall artiste sings with a international act its always a hit".

"Collaborating when the voices mix brings a different flavour, it stops the monotony," he said. Spragga agrees that "it's two different voices coming together to create a new vibe and energy. You bring together that person's fan base as well as your fan base to create one, building a new response".

The wrong artiste

Still, Elephant Man says "collaborating with the wrong artiste, sometimes the lines don't mek no sense. Nobody give you no compliments, the words are wack, cause you must always mek sure the song means something".

This year saw Rihanna and Elephant Man performing Pon Di Replay. "Stage shows like Sumfest, Sting, Fully Loaded, Sunsplash locally bring us together to perform. Internationally you have the BET awards, MTV and more. Janet Jackson she sent for me to perform with her at the BET awards. When the song hit, people have the two artistes perform together 'cause it can't get no better than that," Elephant Man said.