The ReggaeMania.com 2019 Tops Awards
Our 1st ever ReggaeMania.com 2019 Tops Awards spotlights the Artists, Songs, Sounds and Events that ran things in Jamaica + Canada in 2019.
Top Canadian Male Artists of 2019
#2: TOP CANADIAN MALE 2019 – EXCO LEVI
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Exco Levi was born Wayne Ford Levy on June 7, 1981 in Manchester and grew up in Clarendon, Jamaica. Since 2005, after emigrating to Canada, he has steadily risen to become one of this country’s most successful reggae artists to date. This hard working and driven Canadian artist currently works with Penthouse Records.
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Exco first scored with the Canadian anthem, ‘Oh Canada‘, in 2006. He is a natural born music man, a talented singer and songwriter, a player of musical instruments, and a person who seems most content because he has been blessed and musically gifted. He is one step above what it means to be a Canadian artist because he does not think like the typical Canadian artist.
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Exco would go on to do bigger songs on iconic record labels like Penthouse, where he would be the sole Canadian representative on riddims usually exclusively reserved for hi-caliber artists the likes of Busy Signal, Romain Virgo, Queen Ifrika, and such. He would team up with the jonesandjonesproductionsmanagement team led by Denise Jones, and with that came more artist grants, more sponsorship, more interviews, more radio airplay, more people on the team, and last but not least, more opportunity, including putting together the works that would create the first Exco Levi album to be released on Penthouse.
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Those who have met Exco would be correct in describing him as a down-to-earth musician, very humble, somewhat private, well mannered, and generally very manageable, staying out of trouble and doing all the right things. His degree of respect from local and international sound crews and fellow artists and musicians is paramount, and every sound man has made it their duty to have at least two or three exclusively designed Exco Levi dubs in their collection.
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Some may consider it an injustice that Exco Levi did not win our ‘Best Canadian Male Artist of 2019′ReggaeMania.com Award, but to put it frankly, one doesn’t have to feel guilty about this, because Excodoesn’t ‘need’ it, and he knows it. To understand why, just see what we cropped from his Facebook Page;
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EXCO LEVI ACCOLADES IN CANADA
2017 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Siren
2015 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Welcome The King
2014 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Strive
2013 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Storms of Life
2012 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Bleaching Shop
2011 Inaugural Irie Music Award – Song of the Year and Best Recording for Bleaching Shop
2011 Reggae Music Achievement Award – Artist of the Year
2009 Reggae Music Achievement Award – Best Male DJ
2007 Canadian Reggae Music Award – Most Promising New Artist
PERFORMANCES
Reggae Geel (Belgium) | Reggae Jam (Germany) | Rototom Sunsplash (Spain)
Hill Vibes Reggae Fest (Austria) | Sting (Jamaica)
Czech Republic/Zimbabwe/Malawi/Dubai/Finland/Switzerland/Norway/Berlin/Italy/Barcelona/Portugal
You see our point, Exco has already done it all, especially here in Canada where he is so adorned. He has had an excess amount of performance opportunities compared to any other Toronto reggae artist. During the past few years, he has performed on literally every major show and festival in Canada. As part of the conscious-artist movement, he’s sought after regularly for international stage shows and tours featuring mammoth artists the likes of Chronixx and Luciano.
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Things are at the point now where one has to ask, after Exco has done so much for our country, what more can Canada do for Exco Levi? What more is left for Exco to do here, when he seems to have already done it all. And if Exco has done it all, then personally, is that enough for Exco Levi? If he has already peaked as an artist, is there another gear left?
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Exco Levi is a great artist and we have to be patient with him. Personally, I still find his vocal range somewhat restrictive, which is why some of his songs have a tendency to sound the same. I remember seeing Exco in concert at the Opera House, and feeling after a solid performance, like the whole show went by in a blur.
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Exco just has to keep doing what he’s doing, an example of a few artists out there who are primed, ready to embrace stardom, yet still needing to find the right ingredients for a hit song that will put them through the gates of the international market. His most recent release, ‘Still Be Loving You’ (Time & Prayer Riddim), is his latest effort designed to do just that – push Exco Levi through the gate.
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Congratulations to Exco Levi, our ReggaeMania.com 2019 ‘Top’s’ runner-up for ‘Top Canadian Male Artist of 2019′.
#1: TOP CANADIAN MALE 2019 – EYESUS
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It’s interesting to note, as our pollsters voted over a four week period, it was this category which saw the most back-and-forth movement as far as lead changes between contestants were concerned, a tribute to the mutual respect our pollsters have for both artists. After all votes were in, and results tabulated, the ReggaeMania.com ‘Tops’ Award for ‘Top Canadian Male Artist of 2019‘ goes to none other than – Eyesus!
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When you meet him, you feel like you are meeting a star. This talented Jamaican Kingstonian was born Ricardo Rhoden, today, he is known as Eyesus, already established as Canada’s most talented, yet most underrated dancehall artist. Tall, dark skinned, and always moving, this artist has been described as a ‘natural’ – an energetic, vibrant, an on-stage dynamo.
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After moving to Canada in 2003, Eyesus, backed by his ‘US Squad’ and Smoke Shop Studios, has continued to up his game year after year. Today, the effervescent Eyesus sits good with his place in Toronto dancehall. He looks like he belongs in it, and he’s always positive, patient, and engaged with his fans. Unlike his fellow artist Exco Levi, Eyesus is self-identified as a dancehall dee-jay, not afraid to live inside the trenches and lyrically explore the dark side.
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When it comes to lingo and swagger, Eyesus has got it. His lyrical patter and performance potency potential is off-the-chain, as he sounds just as good live as he does in the studio. While searching for his own style, he is, presently, a combination of a wide range of lyrical styles, and when he wants to, can can pick from or emulate any style or patter that’s hot. Eyesus is a good story-teller, and the incorporation of satire, humour and sarcasm, are common denominators in his formula for song writing.
Last year, Eyesus received recognition for his craft when his independently released ‘Neva Judge’ received a JUNO nomination for ‘2018 Reggae Recording of the Year‘. Back in 2011, he was creative enough to release ‘We Hate Yuh First‘, a collaboration song and video featuring Jamaica’s Jah Vinchi. Eyesus’s list of new releases since then is extensive, and as long as he keeps dropping new songs on his usual once-per-month basis, it should only be a matter of time before that magical hit song comes out of the Smoke Shop, and the very first dub plate is cut and personally hand crafted for Spex to play Sunday nights on Riddim Track.
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Eyesus is also a big sound clash fan, so it’s no irony that he is also one of Canada’s most creative writers of dub plate material which can be used to cripple opposing sounds during sound clash’s most crucial moments. He can even claim to have created an anthem that experts say all Toronto sound men need to have, the dub plate takes from the original Vybz Kartel ‘Money Pon Mi Brain’ track (Purge Riddim), re-written to say;
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‘T-Dot a mi bloodclaat place/get gunshot inna yuh bloodclaat face,
Matic inna hand, mi nuh have none fi waste,
Black hoodie ski mask, see wi give wi space,
Pure thugs a roll inna di bloodclaat place’.
Lyrically, when one hears Eyesus spit lyrics about Toronto’s rougher areas – ‘Jane and Finch, Weston, Rexdale, Malton, Scarborough, Brampton, Jungle, Eglinton’, you sense danger, because you feel like you’re there, and might even get goose bumps. Many of our big Toronto sounds, King Turbo, Klymaxx, Black Reaction, and Outcast included, have already used exclusive versions of this dub to receive major forwards in dance and bury sounds in clash, making Eyesus even more of a hero on his home turf.
Looking down the 2020 road, there’s still work to do in the Eyesus camp, things that still need to improve. I’m unsure as to the structure of his management team, but management needs to come up with a plan, for now, it seems there is none. The bigger their artist gets, the more important good management becomes.
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I can hardly wait for Eyesus to be inducted, when Canada’s most underrated dee-jay earns through song writing, his ticket to joining dancehall’s list of most elite international artists. I will balance my partisan enthusiasm by saying it’s critical for Eyesus, that his team understands the game, and are used to pouncing verses waiting for phones to ring. Eyesus’s social media platforms, compared to that of fellow artist Exco Levi‘s for example, pales in comparison, even though the content is there. Says pollster and VP Records rep Natasha Von Castle;
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‘Eyesus has so much in the engine, so much in the tank, there’s no sky for him, that’s how confidence I have in his talent. It’s just a matter of time before all the components come together.’
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Congratulations to Eyesus, 1st place winner of our ReggaeMania.com Awards ‘Top Canadian Male Artist of 2019′ category.