Dancehall Icons Hail “Mystical” Producer Dave ‘Rude Boy’ Kelly On His Birthday
The mystique surrounding the enigmatic Dancehall producer Dave Kelly, was demystified somewhat, on his birthday by one of, if not his biggest aficionados, Ainsley “Notnice” Morris.
Nobody is sure where he got it from, but on Thursday, the So Mi Like it producer uploaded a short video of a youthful Kelly speaking during an in-studio interview at Donovan Germaine’ Penthouse studio, and wished the Pepperseed legend, whom he declared the Greatest of all Time, a happy 51st birthday.
“Happy birthday to a living legend. #davekelly 🐐 #dancehall, #idol Hope fi meet yu one day🤜🏾🤛🏾,” he wrote.
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NotNice’s wish to meet the reclusive Kelly, is not odd, as the producer has kept himself out of the spotlight, so much so that most artists under 40, except maybe for Spice, have never had the opportunity to come in contact with him. And certainly, even if you scour the internet for an entire day, it is likely that you would find only two photos of Dave Kelly, (one on Penthouse’s) website and, certainly, no media interview.
In NotNice’s video, a smiling Dave speaks in his Kingston ‘rude bwoy’ drawl, looking quite at ease as he introduced the members of his production team, praising them, while explaining that his and Penthouse’s ethos, was to take unknown artistes and propel them to stardom.
“Breaking artistes, enuh. Wi start with young artistes that nobody nuh know of and groom dem and bring dem and meck dem inna star. Like yuh know Cutty Ranks, Tony Rebel, Wayne Wonder, Buju Banton, Apache Scratchie, the works. And people weh you neva hear bout from long time, Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths, you know,” Kelly explained.
“We have a lot of engineers: Tony Kelly mi bredda, Delly Ranks mi sidekick and Snakie, Stumpy- caan figet him and myself enuh,” the Kingston native added.
Some of NotNice’s followers were astonished to see the images of the writer and producer of Bounty Killer’s Anytime.
“👏🏾 I thought he wasn’t real. 🔥🔥🔥,” one follower wrote.
“Fuss mi si or hear di man… the most mysterious figure in our music,”
daclansh845 added in amazement.
“One of the humblest man I yah you not even see him. Bless you strong king many more to forward,” aka_nebaru said.
Bounty Killer also reposted NotNice’s video and heaped his own accolades on the man who wrote and produced his classic Poor People Fed Up.
“Salute di legend real producer not reproducer nor reducer☝🏿,” the Warlord wrote.
It was over on Cham’s page though, that artists rained praises on the reclusive producer, who created several seminal beats, in the 1990s, including Showtime, Joy Ride, Stink, Dugu Dugu, Fiesta, 85, and Bruk Out, on his 51st birthday.
The Lawless artist posted a photo of himself and Dave with the producer’s face covered with a yellow emoticon.
“Please help me to wish the Gena #DaveKelly a Happy Birthday!!! 🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎉🎊🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 #NoFaceNoTrace the man say 😂😂🎉🎉🎁,” he wrote of his friend, mentor and producer of his biggest hit song.
Mr Lexx was among the artists who acknowledged the legendary status of Kelly.
“If u doh know wat Dave Kelly look like doh talk to me bout Dancehall,” he wrote, while Bounty Killer added: “Salute di stranger earth strong blessings more hits health and wealth👏🏿”.
“Blessings on blessings to the Genius Dave Kelly ✊🏾 Respect tall!!” Romain Virgo wrote while Ce’Cile noted: “Happy bday DK the great.”
Selector Foota Hype was exuberant in his birthday greetings to Kelly.
“Bless up the quiet noise maker the man wid di biggest loudest dancehall riddims of all times,” the Cassava Piece native wrote.
When machine_gun_keke wrote: “Mi did swear Dave Kelly was you 😂😂😂,” Cham responded with a series of laughing emoticons at the thought of himself being thought of as being Welly Skelly.
Cham has long lauded Kelly as an inspiration and a musical mastermind. Two weeks ago whilst speaking on Television Jamaica’s The Entertainment Report with host Anthony Miller, Cham had heaped praises on him for inspiring the writing of his biggest hit, Ghetto Story.
“Dave called me the morning and told me he had the beat. He was saying ‘just play the beat and see weh yuh can feel’ but He basically was the inspiration for that. Because he was saying ‘yow, I need you to talk about your life – anything that comes up from back then’. In our minds wi have the single; wi have the big song; wi have di song with Foxy suh wi good. He was saying, ‘just talk about the story a yuh life’”, Cham had explained.
“Dave is the type of person, if you give him a line or three lines, he is going to take it somewhere different. He always says some songs need gear, like when you driving – first gear, second gear. So for him, ‘I remember those days was cool’ and that’s the first gear. It need a next gear… the song was so big to him, that he needed something people could sing along and he put the ‘Rah, rah, rah,” he continued.
Added Cham: “He is just genius to me. No matter how good you think you can write, you know what I mean – that’s why I say an artiste is as great or as good as the producer that he gets to work with. Because you think you are a great lyricist, yes, but when you give him something, he carries it somewhere totally different.”