Chronixx Says He’s Now Reflective Like Willie Nelson, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear

Jamaican superstar Chronixx says he has evolved from being the teenaged ‘Dancehall principal’,  into a more reflective artist, akin to the likes of Reggae icons, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear, and American Country legend Willie Nelson.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Chronixx, now 29, said that when he often reflects on his “evolution from a self-described teenaged dancehall head to a neo-roots Reggae star to making complex, often genre-defying Jamaican music grounded in Rastafari principles, he “sees a path of deepening understanding”.

According to Chronixx, historically, members of the Dancehall genre, have to be impressive and imposing individuals.

“Dancehall artists have to be tough, larger than life, superheroes. They can’t be the same as a country & western type of man or the R&B type of man,” he explained.

“I would say now I am more on the Willie Nelson side of the spectrum, or more like a Bunny Wailer, Bob Marley, Burning Spear. Reflective and bringing to the forefront the things that people are ashamed to talk about. Like, how are we doing, instead of the escapism mentality for your fans to exit reality.”

“The earlier songs are very caught up in the individual — who he is, who he is not,” told the publication, seemingly alluding to tracks such as his breakout hit Behind Curtain.

Born October 10, 1992, Chronixx, who hails from Spanish Town in St. Catherine grew up around the likes of Burro Banton, Norris Man and the legendary Gregory Isaacs, as his father Chronicle was also a musician.

He wrote his first song Rice Grain by the age of five.  Coached by legendary Main Street music producer, Danny Browne, he recorded his first song with him in 2003, under the name ‘Little Chronicle’.

Even during his boyhood days as a student at St. Catherine High School, Chronixx, whose given name Jamar Rolando McNaughton, was deeply involved in music, harmonizing for gospel artists such as Jermaine Edwards and Reggae artiste Lutan Fyah.

A former student of the St Catherine High school in Spanish Town, Chronixx, as a youth, provided harmonies on tracks for the likes of gospel artiste Jermaine Edwards and Reggae artiste Lutan Fyah.

At age 14, Chronixx he started producing music and creating beats for artists such as Konshens and Munga Honorable.

He also composed riddims such as the Freezer Riddim, on which Popcaan voiced his Real Bad Man track, Vybz Kartel voiced Watch Dem and Shawn Storm recorded Gaza Gallis.

Instead of going on to Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts as he had initially planned, Chronixx, released singles such as Behind Curtain, African Heritage, Wall Street and Warrior.

In the meantime, it appears that Chronixx’s Dela Splash, his highly-anticipated, but overdue sophomore album, will not be released any time soon.

Dela Splash was initially slated for release in Summer of 2020, and after that did not materialise, speculations were rife that it had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Chronixx has maintained that the delay did not have much to do with the pandemic, but moreso the fact that he was spending time raising his two year-old daughter.

In early March 2020, two weeks prior to New York City going into lockdown, Chronixx had staged a listening session at the Harman Store in Manhattan, where he shared, along with several other tracks, the album’s first single, the Trap-infused Dela Move, Jordan River, Nobody, Same Prayer and Darker Dayz.

In March this year, he released Safe N Sound, and then Freedom Fighter in late August.

Chronixx has, during the COVID-19 pandemic, been working on copious amounts of music, including an album with his Zinc Fence Redemption band, as well as an instrumental project with his brother Universal and wife Kelissa.