Recently The 10,000 joined multidimensional artist Demarco as he starred in and produced the music video for his new song “Dance My Stress Away.” Recorded in collaboration with eight-time Grammy Award winner Stephen Marley, the ultimate summer anthem will be featured on “Melody,” the artist’s forthcoming album. Read on to learn more about the Jamaican-born, Atlanta-based deejay, producer, music video director and songwriter and be sure to scroll through to watch the music video, which premiered July 30th.
How did you get involved with music? Did someone or something specific inspire you to pursue a career in music?
I started by DJing, just playing records as a teenager. We had all these famous disc jockeys in Jamaica like Collin Hines, Alric & Boyd, Mixmaster Marvin, and I used to want to be just like those guys. After I started doing that, I started to want to create the music myself. There’s a producer named Dave Kelly who I always looked up to and made me want to produce. Also, growing up Bounty Killer and Beenie Man man were my idols too. Me and my cousin would have battles where we would go back and forth and I’d sing all the Bounty Killer songs and he would sing all the Beenie Man songs. When I started singing I used to try to mimic how Bounty Killer sounds until I found my own sound. It’s really a compilation of all these people who made me want to do music and brought me to where I am today.
You’ve collaborated with several leading producers and artists including Shaggy and Sean Paul. Tell us about a recent collaborative experience that you’ll remember for the rest of your career.
Stephen Marley, because I look up to Stephen Marley so much. Ever since I was a little kid I’ve been seeing him do music and to just be able to do a song with him, and have it be such a powerful song, no money or nothing can go above that. It’s crazy — I just texted him for this collab because I was worried I didn’t even know what to say to him if I called. And he knows me from the music I’ve produced and made, so I figured I’d just try to text him and see. And he was with it. So for him to do a collaboration with me and for me not to even speak physically on the phone with him about it was mind blowing. I’ll never forget this one til I go to the grave.
Melody is the name of your forthcoming album and your newborn daughter. What inspired you to name your album — Can fans expect a specific song named after your daughter on the album as well?
I named the album Melody because it just felt right to name the album after my daughter. I love her so much and I love music so much that it just felt natural to call it that. I get so much happiness from singing and playing music and creating melodies, and that’s where her name even came from to start with.
No, there’s not a specific song on the album named after her because the real beauty of this album is in the complete piece of work. There’s no one song that’s more important than another, it’s the whole thing together that’s the real representation of my love for music and my daughter.
