Music is LawGiver The Kingson’s calling

LawGiver The Kingson recalls the late 1980s when a host of aspiring artistes developed their sound on his uncle’s sound system in St. Mary parish, Jamaica. He knew from then that music was his calling.

The dreadlocked singer’s recording career began in the late 1990s. Last year, the roots-reggae singer released his debut EP, LawGiver The Kingson From Kingston; he is currently working on the follow-up which is expected out this summer.

The Southern California-based artiste again collaborated with Cleveland “Clevie” Browne (of Steely & Clevie fame) and Owen “Bassy” Reynolds in terms of production. They had similar roles on ‘From Kingston‘.

“I have a collaboration with Samory I (Real Hustler re-mix) and Treesha, a Kenyan artiste based in Germany who toured with Gentleman. Would love to collaborate with Jesse Royal or Iba Mahr,” said LawGiver The Kingson. “As for producers, I remain executive producer under my label Imperishable Uprising for my projects; I am also working with a producer from Poland called Kjah Sound and Anotha One Production out of Austria.”

LawGiver The Kingson was born in Jamaica’s capital Kingston but grew up in Islington, a rustic district whose most famous musical product is Capleton. ‘The Prophet’ was one of the acts who earned his stripes on his uncle’s sound system over 30 years ago.

(Photos by kind permission of Davyfrsh)

Although he never attained the fame of Capleton, LawGiver The Kingson has established himself in Southern California which has had a thriving roots-reggae scene for over 40 years.

“The fans here appreciate and love reggae music and the culture. They tend to gravitate to the One Drop, drum and bass, roots, dub, old school spiritual form of the music, which is the type of music that Lawgiver The Kingson gravitates to and continues to embrace. While change is inevitable, the roots of reggae will always remain Lawgiver’s focus,” he stated.

As much as he appreciates the enthusiastic response to his music in ‘SoCal’, LawGiver The Kingson is eager to work with music producers from Jamaica. High on his list are Chimney Records, one of the most successful labels in dancehall, and Clive Hunt, arguably the best producer in reggae.

Jamaican artistes and musicians such as Ras Michael and members of the Soul Syndicate Band have lived in Southern California for many years, helping to build a reggae brand that inspired Golden State bands like Rebelution and The Green.

LawGiver The Kingson is determined to follow suit.

“The demand for roots-reggae and dub music has grown more than ever, from my perspective. This is why my mission must continue to create more songs in this arena to fulfill the demand,” he said.