WHAT DO YOU DO when international artiste Shaggy reaches out to you and asks if he can do a remix with you? You stand silently in shock, in disbelief, then you answer a resounding “Yes”.
That is what happened to King Bubba FM and next week he will be releasing the Crop Over mega hit Mashup (When Ah Touchdown) in its remixed form as Mashup Gone Global.
“I was in Bahamas preparing for a show in Freeport (April 14) and I see my cellphone blowing up with videos from the CHUM FM show of Shaggy (Mr Boombastic, Oh Carolina, It Wasn’t Me fame) performing my song. I was blown away. I said a Grammy winning artiste doing my song?” he said in an exclusive interview with WEEKEND BUZZ.
King Bubba FM the businessman and artiste said he wanted to capitalise on that unexpected surprise.
He thought of reaching out to Shaggy but had no contact. But the fate of the gods were at play and the next day Shaggy reached out in the form of Dee Sonaram who runs Brooklyn Knights, the label that Shaggy has a joint venture with Sony.
“Dee Sonarman tracked me down . . . . I asked how did Shaggy find out about King Bubba and Mashup and he responded that whenever Shaggy goes somewhere to perform his DJ, Kue, researches what is the hottest record in the clubs and streets and Shaggy incorporates it into his set.
“So when he asked the people to represent where they were from DJ Kue dropped Mashup as his opener song at Chum FM concert in Barbados and the whole place went crazy,” he said.
King Bubba FM said he realised that the venture would move him to a more global platform and he can also use the song and “run with it for the carnival season”, and he is on cloud nine with the prospective life of the remix.
“This was the first time that someone has reached out to me to do a remix and not the other way around . . . and someone of Shaggy’s calibre. I was working hard for many years and when I did Mashup it was for international export as well as local. So I am glad that Shaggy recognised the potential and was willing to work with the song.”
The remix is finished and will be released under Shaggy’s label and King Bubba FM has high praise for Shaggy’s work.
“Shaggy voiced his verse and hook in New York and sent me his files and I am at the moment producing the remix at home by myself.”
King Bubba FM said Shaggy “mash up his part. He ride the riddim real hard and I can’t wait to release it. It sounds even more mainstream than it did before. It put a new spin to the song. It is the same song that is a favourite that everyone loves but Shaggy is in there just destroying his verse and his hook.
“He literally is gonna take the song to another level in my eyes.’
King Bubba FM says he has been speaking to Shaggy’s team and is hoping that he can at least be at one Crop Over performance and he can return the favour by appearing at a couple of Shaggy’s stints.
And when King Bubba FM touches down during the Crop Over season expect to hear Mashup Gone Global.
“This is the song I will be performing this year in my set – the remixed version featuring Shaggy.”
King Bubba FM hasn’t had time to be home for long periods as he has been performing between the United States and the Caribbean.
“I have had great success with Mashup since I released it. I knew I had a good song but it has gone further than I expected. It was different as it was fusion between dancehall, pop and soca.
“It was an experiment. When I built the song I built it strictly for party with the vision of people getting on bad, jumping up and mashing up the place.”
King Bubba FM, who entered Party Monarch and the International Soca Monarch competition in Trinidad with the song, said competition was far from his mind back then.
“When the song came out people encouraged me to enter. I am glad I did as I am loving the journey so far. It has been amazing.”
King Bubba said he has received more overseas work than before.
“I was travelling sporadically with Who Drinking Rum like once a month, and my first time to perform Mashup was in St Vincent when the song was just three weeks old and I haven’t stopped travelling since.
The artiste said he has been learning to perfect his stage craft and through this he has met many fans, artistes and musicians.
“The other songs are doing really well too and I feel like all the hard work I have put in has finally paid off.”
King Bubba FM said he has grown as an artiste, producer, deejay, engineer. and as a music man on a whole and is in the studio working on new music, hopefully to do the same thing all over again.
“I am hoping to do many more remixes with other artistes – hip hop, EDM . . . I am currently working on one with a French artiste from Martinique. I want to take this to another level. (NS)
