Masicka is headlining Barclays Center in New York City, marking his first US arena show and a milestone that the Jamaican dancehall artist describes as a long time coming.
The show, billed as Masicka Live at Barclays, arrives alongside the release of his third album, Forever Rain, his debut project for Def Jam Recordings.
For an artist who grew up in humble circumstances with his grandmother in Jamaica, the significance of the moment is not lost on him. “Great feeling, great, great, great, great, great feeling seeing where I’m coming from with the music,” he said. “New York is one of the place where I get the most love.
They play my music a lot, them support me music a lot, the movement over here is real.” He added that he is grateful both of his parents are alive to witness it.
The Def Jam signing was not a rushed decision. Masicka held multiple meetings with label executives before committing, and he credits those conversations with giving him confidence.
“What really gave me the push was meeting the execs and talking to them and stuff like that and seeing the direction,” he said.
“We have a lot of one-on-one meeting before actually signing, and the vision that everybody had, the passion for the music, the love for the music, so we work out the best possible deal.”
Among those he consulted before putting pen to paper was Buju Banton, who he says gave him advice and his blessing.
Banton’s influence on Masicka’s career stretches back further than the Def Jam deal. Masicka credits the reggae legend as someone who showed him support before he had his breakthrough, and he lists him alongside Bounty Killer, Sizzla and others as the artists who shaped how he approaches his craft.
The origin of the name Masicka is a story rooted in a difficult period of his life. After leaving his grandmother’s home to live with his father, a relationship that was not close at the time, he found himself withdrawing from the world. “It create a depression within my life,” he said. “
Kind of start regress, talk, lock up in a room all day every day.” His aunt noticed the change and gave him a CD player loaded with a 50 Cent album.
He listened to it every day, and the title of that record became his name. That music also crystallised his purpose. “This is what really I do,” he said. “This is my passion.”
He had loved music long before that moment, citing Eminem and 50 Cent as early favourites alongside OutKast and acts from the pop world. He considered rap but ultimately committed to dancehall, the culture he knew best.
He is clear-eyed about why that path was harder to navigate. Breaking through as a rapper in Jamaica, he explained, is rare because the platforms for it are limited. Dancehall, by contrast, has a proven road to recognition, one that runs through the streets first.
You have to dance a yard before you dance abroad,” he said, invoking a Jamaican saying. “You have to control the streets first. The people them have to love you genuinely.”
He sees the same principle at work in hip-hop, where an artist’s name spreads through barbershops, nail salons and restaurants before it reaches the wider world.
Forever Rain also features a collaboration with Jnr Choi, a pairing Masicka says came together organically in the studio. The two recorded multiple songs together, and he recalls Choi gravitating toward the track without any prompting.
What struck Masicka most was the veteran artist’s hunger. “Him still have that drive and that hunger for the music,” he said.
Barclays Center, August 15. Masicka says to expect special guests and, in his words, a one in a lifetime experience.
