Gyptian Explains Why A Collaboration With Beres Hammond Will “Never Happen”
Gyptian hasn’t had many collaborations since he rose to prominence with the 2005 hit Serious Times. While he is open to working with any peer, he’s confident that a collaboration with his senior, Beres Hammond, will never happen.
“The boss nuh waan sing nuh song with me man – me know that,” Gyptian declared during the latest episode of the Dancehall Hotseat podcast, where one of the hosts pitched the idea. The singer assured there’s no contention with the Sweet Lies crooner, even referring to him as his “general.”
“Memba is a man weh me tell him seh mi a go sing some of him song and him seh ‘do it’. A mi general like that.”
Yet, he explained, “If that (the collaboration) don’t happen already for all these years me a sing and the general know of me as a singer, as one of him protégés them, and him nuh send me a song, that will never happen man.”
He added, “Me deven think bout that… When we see the boss, we vibe with the boss and anytime we see the boss, the boss embrace we and we embrace the boss, but musically, we nuh deh deh. Mi nuh see it, him nuh see it, and music continues as it goes.”
To be fair, Hammond is also a man with limited collaborations. He’s known for primarily working with older acts like Buju Banton, Shaggy, Charlie Wilson and Wickerman, and surprised many by expanding his repertoire with millennial deejay, Popcaan, two years ago.
Gyptian’s most known collaboration is the crossover classic Hold Yuh (Remix) with Nicki Minaj, released in 2010. He’s recorded music with acts like Teejay, Serani, Tommy Lee Sparta, Bascom X, Collie Buddz and Khalia.
He shared that he has often wondered why his catalog doesn’t boast more collaborations, chalking it up to people not reaching out to him.
“The funniest thing with that, see the man dem all a sing mi song pon stage and me a seh, den if yaa go sing ‘these are some serious times’, that simply mean seh yuh in tuned with mi music right through… So, if you nuh reach out, how we a go reach out to you?… How we a go get number fi you?… You think it goes one way? But if Gyptian waan fi reach to somebody, yes, him a go mek a link to the link to get to weh him want.”
Overall, he’s more interested in working with certain producers than artists, listing American greats Timbaland and Dr. Dre as his top two.
“Fi sing with an artist, that’s not my priority. Production; that’s what an artist does, that’s what him seek – a good producer. Mi been a seh it for years, two (of the producers I’d love to work with are) Timbaland and Dr. Dre, but me nuh fantasize or fascinated bout that. Me is a fan.”
Gyptian is in the final stages of readying an album that he is aiming to release this summer. The feature-free project is being produced by himself and Hold Yuh instrumentalist Ricky Blaze, with contributions from other producers.
His last LP, The Difference, was released in 2020.