Pamputae - Nathaniel Stewart

The hot trotters in dancehall and reggae to watch for 2009 have been chosen by New York based producer, director and promoter Johnny Wonder in his latest DVD 'Dancehall Draft Picks: Volume II'.

THE STAR caught up with Wonder who is currently in Jamaica recording the sequel to the popular DVD series 'Dancehall Draft Picks'. He took some time out to discuss the series and the next set of artistes who he believes will take Jamaican music to the international stage.

The upcoming artistes

Wonder says Volume II is all about, "the upcoming artistes we feel are gonna be the next big thing, who can take reggae to the next level. The new picks are Serani, Bugle, Konshens, Stephen 'Di Genius' McGregor, Linton 'TJ' White, Tarrus Riley, Etana, Queen Ifrica, Pamputae, Chino, Laden, DeMarco, Andrew and Wadah Blood, Mad Ras, Vybz Kartel and the Portmore Empire and much more."

With 20 years experience managing and producing artistes, Wonder started his DVD series to give the world an in depth look at the world of dancehall. Last year with his camera in toe Wonder got stellar footage with featured artistes such as Busy Signal, Mavado, DASECA, Tony Matterhorn among others. Dancehall Draft Picks Volume I sold well over ten thousand copies world-wide, it was made available on itunes and was even shown in Japan as a feature film. The DVD series captures the raw deal, as it unfolds on the dancehall scene with engaging interviews and hot performance clips from some of the most popular studios and stage shows.

Konshens - Contributed

Wonder has already interviewed a number of artistes including a special two hour interview with Bounty Killer, a hour and a half interview with Mavado and is looking forward to the interview with Vybz Kartel. While feuding is currently on everyone's mind according to Wonder that aspect of the dancehall will not be on his DVD, instead he is looking to get an inside look into the various artistes' mind.

According to Wonder the next volume will be 'pure madness' as he says, "I had some really interesting interviews, I spoke to Pamputae recently and she really let loose. She told me about losing her mother and her struggles through that, I reasoned with Ifrica for like two hours and was overwhelmed by her, I spent a day with Tarrus Riley which was amazing, I spoke with Bugle to find out what's on his mind and to get into the producing minds with people like Serani, TJ, Demarco and Stephen."

Dancehall Draft Pick Volume II is scheduled for release in 2009, and will include bonus features, a director's cut and much more.