“Tonight, home is where music is.” That was how St. Catherine East Central MP Alando Terrelonge greeted Masicka at Monday’s media launch in Portmore, and it pretty much sums up what the dancehall star is building for December.
Masicka will bring the inaugural Forever 1NE Music Festival to Caymanas Park on Dec. 19, right in the hometown that raised him.
Joining him on the bill are dancehall artistes Dexta Daps and Shaneil Muir, plus reggae singer I-Wayne, all revealed during the official launch on Monday evening.
The timing lines up neatly with a busy stretch for the artist. The festival lands shortly after Masicka celebrates his 33rd birthday and puts out the deluxe edition of his album Forever Reign.
For Masicka, this one is personal. He said performing in the community where he grew up carries special meaning, and the whole event is being framed as a homecoming rather than just another stop on the calendar.
Entertainment and Culture Minister Olivia Grange was at the launch, and her take went beyond celebrating a big name coming home.
She called Masicka “one of the most dynamic forces on the dancehall scene” and said the project was “worthy of commendation.”
What stood out in Grange’s remarks was her push for artists to think bigger than their own catalogues. “There are many ways that artists can help pave the way for the future.
One such way is to look beyond their own performances and recordings, and take the initiative to create opportunities that can benefit the wider music industry,” she said, adding that this is exactly what Masicka and his team have done.
She also placed him within a longer story. Each generation of performers has helped push reggae and dancehall further around the world, and in her words, “Masicka represents a generation that has found its own voice, built its own following and is making its presence felt internationally.”
Terrelonge, who also serves as Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, leaned hard into the local pride angle. “
For years Portmore has been the incubator for Jamaica’s rawest, most undeniable talent,” he said, describing the sight of Masicka returning as an international headliner with his own festival as something that “fills every single Portmore resident with pride.”
The lineup itself mixes eras in a way that feels intentional. I-Wayne brings a reggae voice from an earlier wave, while Dexta Daps and Shaneil Muir represent the dancehall crowd Masicka came up alongside.
Grange closed her remarks by encouraging Masicka to keep creating openings for fellow Jamaicans while staying rooted in the community that backed him from the start.
With the first lineup names out and Dec. 19 circled, Portmore now gets to see how big Masicka wants Forever 1NE to grow.
