The Magnum Top Performa competition has sparked much conversation online since the show debuted 15 weeks ago.
The show is a combined effort between the corporate brand, Magnum Tonic Wine, and Romeich Entertainment.
Top Performa aims to give emerging artistes a platform to showcase their lyrical talents and genius to the world at large, due to its large digital presence .
Apart from an interesting line-up of artistes, the show also includes musical producers who create rhythms for the show on a weekly basis. The rhythms have been getting a lot of buzz online and fans are curious to know who created them. Today, we get to know more about the rhythms and the producers.
Pierce McLean, aka 'Daddy P', is a director at Juss Buss TV. He produced the Loud and BNF rhythms. He explained that through being a director, he has made a lot of rhythms and as a child, he has always had the passion.
"The BNF was actually made because I was teaching a friend how to make beats and we were just vibing and that's the beat that came from that vibe," he said. For Pierce, he appreciates the initiative by Magnum and hopes that they keep up the "good" work.
Xavier 'Code Lank' Brown is from Code Red and is responsible for the Billions and Want You rhythms. He revealed that Want You was not complete when he was first approached to do the show and mentioned artistes who have recorded on the rhythms
"It was last minute and I just threw it in there [my submission] and everyone liked that one. Because I'm a DJ and producer, we had made a link to Vybz Kartel for some dubs. So I tried my luck. I made this riddim specifically for Kartel, that late 2000s old-school dancehall kind of vibe. That was the pree, an authentic hardcore, Kartel kinda riddim," he joked.
"Big up Magnum and Romeich for this platform for up-and-coming artistes because as a young artiste, it's hard to buss. It's really helping artistes to get a foot into the industry," he remarked.
Trinidad and Tobago-born Klase Gonzales, aka '1st Klase Ravers', is a member of the Ravers crew. He created the 'Ok' and 'Shaolin Vest' rhythms.
Rayon Curate, aka 'Slyda', is from the Romeich Entertainment camp, and he produced the El Matador, Hard Knock and Bad Bounce rhythms.
"I knew this time around, Magnum Top Performa would require something different, some beats that would challenge the entrants to be their best. So, I decided to join dancehall with other genres. For example, the El Matador riddim has a bit of dancehall as well as a Spanish feel to it. You think horns and immediately you think Spanish. The Hard Knock riddim has a pop element to it while keeping a dancehall bounce. Featured on this riddim is Shenseea [on a single] which will be released sometime in the near future," he said.
Karim Thompson, aka 'DJ Karim', from Stainless Music created the Inspector rhythm featured in round four of the competition.
"The Inspector riddim was inspired by a cartoon called The Inspector, it was like Pink Panther type and then Elephant Man suggested that I add a Dave Kelly vibe to the beat. You know Dave Kelly has an original dancehall sound, so we added that to it which made it Inspector. We added Elephant on it, Sizzla, Busy Signal, Sean Paul, Mavado, Bounty Killer, Jaguar, Lady Saw, Ce'Cile, Mad Cobra, basically [if you] name an artiste they were on this riddim. I recorded 20 songs on this riddim," he said.
"I find all the finalists interesting, they just need to work on their breathing," he advised.
When asked about their favourite for the finals, the producers were tight-lipped but mentioned that both artistes are "extremely" talented. The finals for Top Performa was held on Thursday, December 9, with King Calie and Prince Saj competing for the title. The winner announcement ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 18, at 10 p.m. on TVJ and @magnumtonic Instagram page.
The winner will walk away with $1 million and a music video and song produced by Romeich. The second-place winner will receive $300,000 and a feature on a compilation rhythm from Romeich.
