Jah Cure – royal soldier, full of class

There’s hardly anything that reggae singer Jah Cure would have loved more than to have been one of the celebrities in the audience at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles in 2015 when his album, The Cure, was nominated for a Grammy award. Quite likely, the icing on the cake would have been to have had his daughter walking the Grammy red carpet with him.

“Who knows? Maybe if I was there in person. I would have won the award,” he suggested, adding that he got emotional when he heard that he had been nominated.

“It sweet me like when a fisherman get a good catch. And so him go back to that same spot the next time,” he said.

The next time is actually now, and the Grammy-nominated artiste is looking for a similar reception with his just-released album, Royal Soldier. “This is my fourth official studio album, and it features only royalty,” Jah Cure told The Sunday Gleaner. Guest appearances on Royal Soldier include Melanie Fiona, Mya, Phyllisia Ross, Popcaan, Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley, Tory Lanez, Capleton, Yami Bolo, and Junior Reid. Singles off the album are Telephone Love, Risk It All, Life is Real, Marijuana, and, most recently, Pretty Face.

Already, it seems as if lightning could very well strike the same place twice because Royal Soldier made its debut at the top of the Billboard Reggae Album chart upon release and charted on iTunes at No. 1 in Belgium, No. 2 in France and the United States, and No. 3 in the United Kingdom. Jah Cure is excited about this achievement, and he is committed to promoting the product and ensuring that his presence is felt in North America, which is his biggest market. “I feel really good, and I am dancing on my feet. Sales show that your fans are with you,” he said.

To celebrate the release of Royal Soldier, Jah Cure appeared on Fame 95FM on Thursday, September 5, with VP Records for a two-hour live radio album conference, which saw Vibes FM in Gambia, Dub Master Chris on Irie Jam 93.5FM in New York, Bajan King on Reggae King Radio in New York, Rico Vibes on Daflava Radio in Atlanta, and Papa Richie on Chou 89.1FM in Ottawa, Canada, all live streaming the event to provide international coverage to fans globally.

CORE FAN BASE

It is this global impact that the artiste craves. He quickly points out that some of these markets are places from which he is barred and compares himself to some of his peers who have physical access but whose impact in these territories is not as heavy as his.

“Most of my support comes from the US and Canada, and I can’t travel to those places. But my peers, all those roots artistes who can (travel), never sell more than me. A lot of artistes are making a lot of noise in the dancehall and are not selling. Mi nuh fraid to go to IG (Instagram) and say, ‘Go and buy some CDs’,” he said.

A very active social media user, Jah Cure pointed out that he makes sure that he is in tune with “the ladies” all over the world.

“Beres Hammond taught me an important lesson: sing for the ladies and you can never go wrong. That is what I do. When I dress up nice and post a picture on social media, I get hundreds of likes from my female fans. I perform on a lot of sold-out shows, and after the concert, the women run backstage to see me, and I enjoy signing the autographs and taking pictures. I like to mingle with my fans. That is the best part of the show, getting that one-on-one with fans,” he said.

LOVE FOR SHOPPING

With his mention of “dressing up”, Jah Cure touched on an issue that is contentious to some: his perceived love of ‘things’. In response to his pictures of himself on shopping sprees across the world, trolls have denounced him as a ‘fashion dread’, but The Cure is not bothered in the least.

Without any apology at all, Jah Cure declared that he loves to shop.

“I’m a shopper and I love to buy clothes. Sometime I even go over to the women’s side and ask why the things look so much better. The sales person told me that it’s because women spend more than men,” the singer said.

Jah Cure, too, is not shy about his class, something he says he was born with, and he is quite in tune with the idea that he is the very definition of class. Real name Siccature Alcock, the Grammy-nominated singer told The Sunday Gleaner: “Me is a man who nuh have nuff ‘butu’ friend. Me is a man with class. My experience teaches wisdom. Make the little that you have make you comfortable.

“Capture (prison) has taught me that without a vision, you will perish. You have to visualise yourself around the corner. When I was behind bars, I told them to take a good look at me because when I’m out, yuh not going to see me. Not going to walk no lanes and zinc fence. You have to stay on track because you can slide, and it is easy to go in but very hard to come out,” he said.