5 Questions with Likkle Addi
Published:Friday | May 6, 2022 | 12:05 AMSade Gardner/Staff Reporter
As he sings in his 2020 single, Easy Does It, before he could even drive, Likkle Addi had already purchased a car. While some artistes sing about fabricated or wishful lifestyles, the son of Vybz Kartel says his music videos depicting beautiful belles, stacks of cash, luxury vehicles and yachts, mirror his actual life.
“It’s a 100 percent accurate,” the 17 year old, whose given name is Akheel Palmer, told The Gleaner. “Whatever I sing about pertaining to my personal life is all true, whether it’s about money, the females, cars… It’s because this is indeed the lifestyle I live. If I didn’t have any of those three, I couldn’t deejay a song about a luxury lifestyle knowing I don’t have any idea what that is like.”
Just as it’s common for dancehall acts to hail where they come from, Likkle Addi doesn’t conceal his Norbook, St Andrew roots, rightly being one-half of UTG (Uptown Gaza/Greatness) with his brother Likkle Vybz. Since their music debut as PG-13 in 2014, they have gone on to sculpt individual careers with occasional collaborative projects.
Despite his affluent reality, Likkle Addi’s solo catalogue is diversified with songs that relate to other audiences, like the hustler’s mindset promoted in his Dollar Sign hit, and working hard and celebrating victories in Life Sweet.
On UTG’s debut album Team Different, he ups the ante with a slew of love songs like Euphoric Love, again, drawing inspiring from his life. The 13-track set is slated for release today through UTG’s Uptown Gaza Records imprint, and Likkle Addi speaks about this and more in this week’s Five Questions With.
1. You’ve said that the majority of love songs on Team Different were written by you. Some male artistes shy away from being vulnerable that way in their music. Why did you decide to share that side with the world?
A lot of dancehall artistes tend to shy away from doing sentimental songs because they’re trying to keep up a “gangster” facade that they have portrayed to their fans. Writing love songs helps me to understand myself and complex emotions, and I think everyone can agree when I say it does the same for them when listening. So, my reason for displaying that side of Likkle Addi is because I know a lot of people can relate to it, and UTG caters for the ladies so this wasn’t a challenge.
2. For a long time, you were shielded from the public but you are now a public figure. How ready and comfortable are you to be out there doing interviews, tours and appearances?
I mean, I’ve always been an introverted person since a child but I think I’m ready to crawl out of my shell and take on the road. The fans are definitely looking forward to see me perform and I’m definitely looking forward to see their reaction to my stage appearance.
3. What is one thing people should absolutely know about Likkle Addi?
Likkle Addi doesn’t limit himself. I always try to experiment with different sounds, different genres of music such as drill, pop, just to name a few. Variety is the spice of life, so, I never place myself in one category and stay there.
4. You deem your father your greatest/primary mentor. What would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt observing his career?
Big up my father every time, that’s a man who doesn’t take any breaks from music. I mean, even after being incarcerated he still maintains a lot of relevancy globally. So, my biggest lesson I’ve learnt from him is that without hard work and being passionate about what you do, you’ll never succeed and excel in your life.
5. What’s your vision for the Uptown Gaza Records label?
The purpose of a record label is to make money and that’s the harsh truth. To do so, you need artistes to promote, develop and distribute their music. Uptown Gaza Records will predominately be about exposing young talents like myself to the world and not extorting, if you know what I mean. There are a lot of successful record labels out there and with Uptown Gaza Records, we’re trying to be the label that gets mentioned when bringing up other successful record labels in a conversation.