Blvk H3ro On Success Through The Pandemic, His Inspiration And What’s Next

Blvk H3ro is a name that has been buzzing within the Jamaican music industry for some time now.  The 28-year-old Reggae and Dancehall singer, born Hervin Augustus Bailey Jr, has brought us tunes like Feet Don’t Fail Me Now, Young Boss featuring Wayne J and Skillibeng, and most recently It Nuh Easy. His style is different, mixing magical melodies with high-level flow patterns and lyrics, setting him apart from the norm.

In this interview, DancehallMag spoke with the young talent about his success in music despite the pandemic, sources of inspiration, and what’s next for the rising Jamaican star.

How would you describe yourself as an artist?

I just feel like my gift or my superpower when it comes to music is just like having conversations with people, I naturally do that in real life. I’m a sociable kinda yute, so I’ve managed to take all the ways that people reason and communicate and turn that into music. Making the songs so they feel like a conversation, that’s me as an artist. Mi feel like my job is to just express these emotions that we all feel and relate to, an mek wi can just have the words that bring forward that action and that feeling even more. So I feel as an artist I am very eclectic, straight forward to the point and I just feel like overall I’m easily one of the most accessible artists in Jamaica in terms of who you could dm and get an answer, a free-spirited kinda yute, yeah that’s me.

How did you get started in the business?

Getting started in the business isn’t like how people think about like “Business”. It’s not like starting up a shop or a car mart, it’s not that clear-cut at first. So I think getting into music starts with a passion or a dream or at least seeing someone do something so inspiring that you want to do it.  I think all three of those things affected me. I used to play music at church. I listen to music every minute of the day. I used to just see Michael Jackson and people like that on my TV and artists just performing so I would say that’s the start.

Professionally I would say 2016 is when we got started in the business. By that time we had enough knowledge about the registration of our companies, BMI so we can collect royalties, copywriting so we could protect our business. By that time we were performing all over Jamaica on shows with Rick Ross, Ky-mani Marley, Beres Hammond, Lee Scratch Perry and all these legends so that’s how we got started.  We used the internet and turned a passion, a hobby, into a dream – a career that has been going on for the last 6 or 7 years.

Most artists speak of a lack of support at the beginning of their careers, what is your experience?

I wouldn’t say lack of support, I just feel like in anything you do you have to show the value, put that work in, get in front of their eyes. I feel like once you do that it has to work. That’s what I did, I just DM’d everybody for years. I knew at some point somebody would have to answer., I knew in future conversations when we are in the same room and they look in their DM’s like “wow this ute was really texting me.”

I was doing everything I could to get the music, craft and brand to the next level so that support from others would be inevitable. I feel like a lack of support is caused by not putting in enough work to be seen. Or if you are trying to be seen by a specific set of people who aren’t giving you the attention, go somewhere else, that might work. A lack of support can also be caused by artists talking bad about people in the industry and other things of that nature. I have been supported in my career by musicians and non-musicians alike. So I couldn’t say I didn’t get support, what I can say is as an industry we can do more especially in a time where you don’t have to spend a million dollars to break an artist, where you can just post an artist on your platform and give him some strength so he/she can eat some food and share with family. These are the things that can move a whole family away from thinking about partaking in crime and violence.

Who was the first person to produce Blvk H3ro?

His name is Leon-Pierre Answer yuh done know Capone, from the Buss Weh camp, basically him name Bussweh Visuals right now shooting all the big Dancehall visuals. Yeah man dem man deh a di first producer. We an him meet up a NCB as coworkers, me lacklustre losing faith in the job 3 years in, him just a forward een and just about fi get started inna di work. It was my first time meeting a producer, first time going to someone’s house with a makeshift studio with a mic and some socks a hang on. Dem man deh a di first man weh produce wi, the experience was great, wi used to deh pon di road all di time, he was also very ambitious. Yea we had discrepancies and heads butted at times but when you look back it’s like a grateful journey because all of us from that time are on a different level and command some amount of control /respect in the industry currently. Big up Leon Pierre anyweh him deh and Big up BussWEh Visuals.

At which point in your career did you feel success coming?

I definitely felt success coming when I was on tour in Germany, Italy, and Belgium. It wasn’t a big banking tour however I could feel it like I was there in front of 20,000 people and I was in a different country. I didn’t pay for my ticket, my visa, anything. Music did everything so it’s like at that point I was like wow! I saw that success comes after hard work, that moment being in Europe was an opener for me honestly. I was there going to different studios, eating different foods and also getting my per diem. All in all, it was just a wonderful vibe.

You recently did a collab project (New Millennium) with young deejay Wayne J.  What was the thought process behind that and how did you guys get acquainted?

The thought process behind New Millennium is simple and me and Wayne J have known each other for almost 10 years now. I’ve been around him since he was a Young General in the streets a shell dung di show dem with the Chikungunya song and the 18 OR Older’s u zimmie, he was actually the first artiste to bring me on a stage before mi name Blvk H3ro or anything like that, suh mi know him fi a while. His producer is actually one of my closest friends Dennis The Greatest Hamilton.

The pandemic gave me a moment to myself to process the next move and that move was to link up with Greatest and Wayne J and make some songs. The New Millennium idea started from two songs called Original and Young Boss. When we did those songs we felt an energy so I said: “if we put out these two songs and they get a vibe we aguh put out a whole project.” We put them out and sh*t just start guh crazy, we could feel it. By the time we finished the other songs fate had it that Greatest (the producer) met Skillibeng and we worked on the remix, it was at that time we knew we had something special. We ended with 7 fire songs plus a remix from one of Dancehall’s young guns. That whole New Millennium experience deh come from us connecting again as a family unit during the pandemic knowing we were going to create some great music and whatever happen happen and history change.

What was the experience like working with Skilli?

Young Boss remix took on a life of its own featuring The Young Gad himself uzii from the Eastsyde. Dem man deh give it a real energy, working with skilli a di easiest ting man. Mi nuh know bout nobody else experience but dem man deh a real genius u zimmie, dem man deh a Capricorn if yuh know ntn bout di GOAT dem dem full a knowledge enuh. Suh when wi deh round him wi just feel enlightened yuh nuh, cuz him always a seh positive stuff bout life and the business. We weren’t in the studio, we just send it to him and hope fi get a one verse and he ended up sending two of the best verses in dancehall history.

It travelled the world, got a million views and also solidified me and Wayne J even more as the next ones up because yuh know Skilli a di Young Gad for the new generation. That experience was great because Skilli himself seh wi couldn’t pay him to do da song deh to how him love da song deh. Plus him rate everybody who a part of the project, the likes of Greatest, Wayne J and he also discovered me through doing this collaboration so a just blessings.

What was your favorite track from the New Millennium EP?

My favourite track overall though is #TopTeam because it embodies everything that the project is, who we are and what this generation sounds like. #TopTeam aguh crazy we a get some big brands involved and shoot a great video. Top Team is the sound of this generation and I also can’t leave out Young Boss based on how it changed my life. When mi deh a road “Blvk H3ro nuh wear cornrows” that is how people hail mi or dem she Young Boss and it’s the same for Wayne J. Young Boss brought us more notoriety in the community, in our country, in the space of dancehall and reggae became known, we became a part of the music’s history. Collabs aren’t really a thing again an mi nuh really wah seh a we but we affi attribute the two young g dem (Wayne J and Blvk H3ro). Us adding the Young Gad Skillibeng to our collaboration has made collaborations between reggae and dancehall so easy now. Young Boss nuh just change mi career, it change mi life so it has to be up there as a favourite.

New Millennium wasn’t your first project, tell us about some of its predecessors?

New Millennium EP is not mi first project we can take it back to mi first unofficial EP Heroes’ Day, which I released on Heroes’ Day in Jamaica. The other project was the “THC EP” which was The Herb Connoisseur is just strictly a project dedicated to weed and the stoners. The project that followed was the Immortal Steppa album (the sickest ting) and we’re at The New Millennium EP now.

Looking forward there will be another project before 2021 is out.

How would you say Covid is affecting the Music Industry? How are you navigating the industry as a result?

Covid’s effect on the music industry is bittersweet. For one it has forced us to come together — more collabs, more understanding, more respect, more communication. It is the most communication and clarity we’ve had between artists and companies ever. The negative effect is that it takes away one of our main income streams — which is performances. As an artist now you have to be relying on royalties and dubs to make money.

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I am navigating covid a lot better than others because I noticed young musicians are waiting for some guardian angel to come and buss dem. When I already knew that just like a shop you need inventory and I have been putting out music consistently from 2013. So I’ve built a catalogue and every mickel mek a muckel as dem seh. My business is up, I am collecting royalties and making sure my dubs are coming in. What I was able to do is benefit from the music I have out already. I have over 50 songs out already including an album, three EP’s, and a lot of jugglings /singles as well.

Is your new track It Nuh Easy inspired by covid related experiences?

Nuh Easy is inspired by Covid related experiences. I just wanted a song to sum up how I’ve been feeling over this last year. I wanted that song to represent for everyone so they could say “ that’s how I feel bro” without trying to be too lyrical and artsy. I wanted it to be straightforward and real. I wanted it to be presented in a way where what you’re seeing in real life is what you’re hearing from the track. A song with the ultimate mirror effect.

You laid 3 tracks on UB40’s Bigga Baggariddim album. How was that experience for you? Would you do it again?

Big up UB40 yuh done know for the three tracks on the Bigga Baggariddim album. Those songs are coming out soon, dem wicked yuh zimmie. Dem three track deh powerful: What Happened to The Have Not’s, Gravy Train and Alright. From those titles you can get an idea of what the songs are like.

The experience was wonderful because it showed me how powerful my Instagram/social media is. Matt contacted me through social media and he sent me a folder full of beats and told me to pick one. I picked four of them, did 4 tracks sent them back and they decided to use all four. One came out last year on their dub album while the other three are coming out this year. It was an awesome experience and I definitely plan to do it again.

You spent time with the late great Bunny Wailer. How did that experience impact your art?

The experience is so much, so valuable, so vast that it’s hard to summarize. What I can say is it’s the first I have ever met an individual (in music) that walks the walk and talks the talk. He exudes that energy where there is no bullshit, it was his real vibe, that was really him. He taught me that I could make it being me. I have only always seen that people had to change to make it, till I met him. I saw someone who kept it real, he had Grammy Awards, keys to the city and he didn’t die or go out like a lame person. He stood his ground, he was a revolutionary, he had ideas far beyond what they could see. So the lesson I would say I learnt from him was to be real to the end.

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What is next for Blvk H3ro?

Let’s see I feel like the picture is being painted while we are here. It’s a different time. The new revolution will be televised and I really feel like I’m here to save something, save music and the world at large. I can get the gangster dem, the hot girl dem, the ghetto people and the uptown people all in one room, mi sure bout dat.

That’s next for me like I want to take it to bigger better horizons. I plan on a lot of tours, a lot of music, a lot of albums, a lot of songwriting credits, vocal credits, production credit, a movie or two, scriptwriting, etc. What’s next for Blvk H3ro is bigger horizons, there is no sky, hence no limit.