Move with the times, Kiprich advises

Dancehall star Kiprich is advising producers and recording artistes to have an open mind when listening to new material.

The entertainer recalled that in the early 2000s when he set foot on the scene, he was criticised for "coming with something different".

"Dem woulda ask, 'a weh unuh a guh wid dat fast sound supm'?," Kiprich said. "It is a cycle that not going to stop because artiste from a certain era going always cuss and criticise when something new materialise within a space where dem feel comfortable. Ska pioneers did it to the reggae artistes, the same happened with dancehall."

Kiprich said instead of complaining, he has embraced the newness of the rhythms that have become popular, and also changed his flow to suit the times.

"People are familiar with the high-pitched Kiprich but I had to tone that down for the type of rhythms we are hearing, the ones people are gravitating to from trap dancehall to pop fusion, whatever they want to call it," he said. "It does not mean I have given up who and what makes me me, because yuh cannot lose authenticity, there is no such thing. There is only change or improvement which one can hope makes them better."

Kiprich told THE WEEKEND STAR that the complaints are not only in reggae and dancehall, as even new rappers are criticised.

"But what are you going to do if that is where the people ears are? We have to move with the times or it going move lef we," he said. When he released Dancehall Gyallist last May, it was the emergence of a new him. But he said it did not happen overnight.

"I had to train my voice and test my writing skill with all kinds of rhythms and see how I could record in a way that was still true to me but marketable to new audiences. I have kept an open mind and believe if you have the ability to do it, why not. I have reinvented myself more than once in my career and it has worked," he said.