Dalaz’s Grasp Of The Digital Landscape Is Contributing To His Rise In Dancehall

In today’s sea of musical talents, tools exist that can help artists to stand out with ease.  While the most obvious is controversy, underused implements like discipline are very key for longevity. Dalaz, St Catherine’s very own, is one of the very few using such a tool to put himself in the minority of artists that achieve mainstream looks.

His hit single White Tees and Polo, springboarded him into the homes and streets of Jamaica without a proper introduction.

Yet, the Computer Science graduate has managed to maintain the momentum and build on his singles with the release of his mixtape Real Tape. Since his entry into dancehall space, Dalaz has been well received and seems to have also to his advantage, an impressive control over the way he presents himself. When DancehallMag caught up with the budding star, at a studio owned by one of his frequent collaborators, producer Icon, Gage is also on scene pontificating the complexities of COD and Dancehall subject matter. We managed to reason with Dalaz about his journey in music and plans for the future.

DM: How old are you?

Dalaz: I’m 30.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in three different places in St Catherine, but native to Portmore. During high school years I grew up in Old Harbor, spent a year in Linstead then back to Old Harbor where I finished school. Came into Kingston, where I lived in Papine for like five years while in college. Now I still live in the city just not there.

What did you study?

Computer Science.

That’s interesting because of your age, in the sense that you were born in an analog time but the birth of the digital era wasn’t very far behind so you have a decent grasp on both periods in time. Do you think that has an impact on how you decide to strategize or how you see projecting forward in the music space?

Yeah, because, I don’t know if I would be a middle child but I do have the experience of both the old and new world. It gives me an advantage, in the sense that I understand the technology that the younger generation are born into, and I also understand not having the technology. So even with the tech, because you know there’s a cry for artists who are more tech savvy. In performance, they prefer someone who can work with a track or CD, but I appreciate the live band instrumentation aspect of performance. So in a way, I will be preserving that tradition.

So you prefer to perform live and you practice that way?

Yeah man, I practice it. I did a live performance at uptown Jamboree.

It seems like it also helps you to be more open in a way, because you’ve seen the paradigm shift before your eyes, certainly in terms of music. At one point it was Vinyls and CDs, now it’s streaming and flash drives. Does it affect how you see the musical landscape and your approach to innovation and growth?

Well for me, because I have a tech background I can adapt smoothly.  Yeah, in fact I love that. I love the change, so I’m for the change. Because if you notice, with technology music moves faster and to more people. Even though some people may not like that it moves fast, to me it just means it gets to more people. For a genre like Dancehall, once it might have taken eight months for a song to reach Europe, now it gets there in one. So all you have to do is, find your own way of doing things.

So you’re saying it could take you as little as a month to achieve a full blown viral moment whether through song or what performance etc?

Yeah. Not only Jamaica, but because Jamaica is so loved a lot of viral moments cross over into the region and then internationally.

What kind of work would you say you did with your background in tech and how deep does it go?

Well as you know social media is one of the main sources right now for artists to get themselves out. So the fact that I understand the metrics, data, engagement and all that. So because of my background I don’t really approach it naively. So you know some people try tricking the game to get followers quick, but I understand what tricking the game can do to your profile.

Yeah, it really bottoms out your reach and you can get shadow banned in some cases.

Exactly so I’m more thinking how I can swindle the game legally.

Do you feel like covid affected how Jamaican people consume music online?

Yeah, I feel like the pandemic increased the engagement on the internet. Even if you look at the service providers, they fitted some of their packages so that more people could be online for longer. So it really improved it, but Jamaica was naturally on that trajectory where online activity was concerned, just at a much slower speed.

Look at previous artists like Gully Bop who had success because of a viral moment. Now it’s faster. That is not to say the street element isn’t effective because some people have a viral moment but it doesn’t translate in the physical Dancehall spaces. So you have to make sure as an artist that when you go viral, that your music makes it into the dance spaces, so the selectors are still very important.

Facts, and it seems like you already have that kind of connection going on.

Yeah because some people say Dancehall corrupt, but two years ago when I came into it–probably because of my business approach and maturity. So I understood that when you’re just getting into something, it’s not really easy. I had that approach that I wasn’t really looking for any special treatment. Also the way you pitch things to people kind of give you an advantage.

I met Gutty Bling who knew Boom boom and when I spoke to him he respected how I carried myself so he just reached out to Boom Boom. They just naturally said we’re gonna endorse him. I met Supa Hype, came here to the riddim nation and met Icon, met Gage and it just blossomed. So I wouldn’t have that thought that it’s corrupt or that people are fighting me.

So what are your plans– you’ve dropped this mixtape, what’s next?

I dropped this mixtape and the fanbase that I created over the internet really supported it and it reached the Reggae iTunes chart. Peaked at number fourteen, so the plan was to create more videos from it so I have a song on it called SciFi which is the fan favorite and there’s another one I’m planning a video for in November called Lavish lifestyle. The next single though, will be more conscious, and will be titled Dreams so people can look out for that as well.