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Re: Montreal Int'l Reggae Festival
<span style="font-size: 11pt">Warming up and cooling down
Gyptian speaks to the fine ladies and the combative kids
From songs for the ladies to conscious commentary, Gyptian has a tune for every time. Born Windel Beneto Edwards, Gyptian was responsible for last summer’s ubiquitous “Hold Yuh.” With the catchiest of piano hooks, innuendo-laden lyrics and remixes galore—one including a verse from Nicki Minaj—the song has found new fans of this versatile singer from Portmore, Jamaica. In advance of his Reggae Fest performance, Gyptian spoke to the Mirror about his music, methods and that song.
Mirror: Your song from a few years back, “Serious Times,” seems to be quite fitting these days.
Gyptian: I was actually in London when there was mix-up and all of that. It’s really serious. That song was meant for a serious time in Jamaica then, and it’s still a serious time now. It will always be a song that people can sing and look for better days. The message is to enlighten the youth to what is going on in their society and let them know that crime and violence doesn’t pay. To ask them to think about how good it is when they can sit on the corner, have fun with their friends, walk to the next neighbourhood. But the youths, they divide up everything and cause war amongst each other, so this one can’t leave from this road and go to the next road. The song tells the youths to cool down.
M: Speaking of positive options for youth, you’ve started a studio.
G: Just One productions, alongside my management. You see, when you own a studio as an artist, something can come to you, you can write something and just sing a song. You can do it 24/7. You can wake up from a dream and go to the studio and work on something and finish it up in the morning.
M: Because of “Hold Yuh,” you have become one of the most well-known Jamaican artists in the world. Did you think that song was going to become such a big hit?
G: That song actually wasn’t finished. It was half done. It’s three chorus and two verse. I did the song about a year-and-a-half before anyone knew it. The producer basically put the song on the Internet. And it came to life.
I was in France in ’09 and these fans at one side of the stage were screaming “Sing ‘Hold Yuh’! Sing ‘Hold Yuh’!” And I thought, “What song is that?” So I went to the other side of the stage to avoid them, and there are more saying “Sing ‘Hold Yuh’!” When I finish, I exit the stage and my manager comes and asks, “What song are they asking for?” I say, “I don’t know!” And there were thousands of downloads at that time! [laughs]. So I did some research. And that song was done with Ricky Blaze in New York, and he flipped it. So my management called Ricky Blaze, and he said yes, he put the song on the Internet. The song just broke from there.
M: So it’s a must at every concert now!
G: It crucifies me, you know? I was in the Virgin Islands and the police came and said I only had five minutes. I was halfway through my set and I run off without singing that song. I had to sing it from the dressing room for the fans! You don’t want disgruntled people in the building, you know?
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<span style="font-size: 11pt">Warming up and cooling down
Gyptian speaks to the fine ladies and the combative kids
From songs for the ladies to conscious commentary, Gyptian has a tune for every time. Born Windel Beneto Edwards, Gyptian was responsible for last summer’s ubiquitous “Hold Yuh.” With the catchiest of piano hooks, innuendo-laden lyrics and remixes galore—one including a verse from Nicki Minaj—the song has found new fans of this versatile singer from Portmore, Jamaica. In advance of his Reggae Fest performance, Gyptian spoke to the Mirror about his music, methods and that song.
Mirror: Your song from a few years back, “Serious Times,” seems to be quite fitting these days.
Gyptian: I was actually in London when there was mix-up and all of that. It’s really serious. That song was meant for a serious time in Jamaica then, and it’s still a serious time now. It will always be a song that people can sing and look for better days. The message is to enlighten the youth to what is going on in their society and let them know that crime and violence doesn’t pay. To ask them to think about how good it is when they can sit on the corner, have fun with their friends, walk to the next neighbourhood. But the youths, they divide up everything and cause war amongst each other, so this one can’t leave from this road and go to the next road. The song tells the youths to cool down.
M: Speaking of positive options for youth, you’ve started a studio.
G: Just One productions, alongside my management. You see, when you own a studio as an artist, something can come to you, you can write something and just sing a song. You can do it 24/7. You can wake up from a dream and go to the studio and work on something and finish it up in the morning.
M: Because of “Hold Yuh,” you have become one of the most well-known Jamaican artists in the world. Did you think that song was going to become such a big hit?
G: That song actually wasn’t finished. It was half done. It’s three chorus and two verse. I did the song about a year-and-a-half before anyone knew it. The producer basically put the song on the Internet. And it came to life.
I was in France in ’09 and these fans at one side of the stage were screaming “Sing ‘Hold Yuh’! Sing ‘Hold Yuh’!” And I thought, “What song is that?” So I went to the other side of the stage to avoid them, and there are more saying “Sing ‘Hold Yuh’!” When I finish, I exit the stage and my manager comes and asks, “What song are they asking for?” I say, “I don’t know!” And there were thousands of downloads at that time! [laughs]. So I did some research. And that song was done with Ricky Blaze in New York, and he flipped it. So my management called Ricky Blaze, and he said yes, he put the song on the Internet. The song just broke from there.
M: So it’s a must at every concert now!
G: It crucifies me, you know? I was in the Virgin Islands and the police came and said I only had five minutes. I was halfway through my set and I run off without singing that song. I had to sing it from the dressing room for the fans! You don’t want disgruntled people in the building, you know?
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so we gave him his space. 
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