Moving to Ja the best career decision for French DJ

Raphael ‘Raph’ Vivet, a music producer and disc jockey from France, was always seeking to explore the sights and sounds of the world, but one culture which stood out for the creative was Jamaica’s. Raised in Tignes, a small tourist commune with a population of approximately 2,000 people, he dominated the space as one of the few disc jockeys who played reggae music.

“After travelling to work ... specifically 10 countries in Asia ... and [returning] home, I was like, ‘No…there is more to see.’ I was anxious to see more,” Raph told The Gleaner. “So, I did my research [and] checked which countries France partnered with for its nationals to get working visas.”

Raph subsequently lived in Canada for several years until he made the sojourn to Jamaica, where he has been living for the past four years. He said he was introduced to dancehall after visiting the island and becoming more acclimatised to the street party culture. The fifth edition of Iba Mahr’s Sound Di Alarm Reggae Music Festival in 2019 was the launch pad for him on local grounds, he said.

“Coming to Jamaica to live here was the best move I made in terms of my life and my career. Because I’m a DJ first, it was necessary for me to explore. I also wanted to evolve, and Sound Di Alarm helped me. At the time, it was Sativa Sound. I had lived in Canada before moving to Jamaica, and I got settled just about when the pandemic started,” Raph shared.

He added, “Instead of rushing, I studied how people played in the street dance and eventually made friends, who booked me. Then, I remained here while almost every artiste was stuck because of the lockdowns. It helped me to expand my reach and get connected with many of them. That’s when I took the next step in my career [and] started the Gold Up Music label with my friend Zack Ariyah, who is based in Montreal, Canada.”

Gold Up Music made its debut with the release of the single Belong With Me, featuring Shenseea, then Bubble It with Busy Signal. The production outfit is also behind Laa Lee’s viral hit, Leggo Di Bird. The two producers released their first compilation album, dubbed Prelude, two years ago. Last week they hosted the launch of their sophomore album, Introduction, during Super Heavy, held at Janga’s Soundbar and Grill in Kingston.

Raph said the album aims to reawaken the dancehall fanbase on the international scene by creating cross-cultural connections with the Jamaican genre and “other genres that have been born out of it, such as reggaeton, and even the Afrobeats mixture with dancehall now”.

“We work with a lot of African artistes, and when it comes to dancehall, there is a lot of support in Nigeria and Ghana, [so] on the album you will see collaborations between artistes from those countries with Jamaican acts. Not enough collaborations are happening, and we also want to bring back the fun of the genre and in collaborating,” Raph said.

Some of the African artistes featured on the 14-track album are Kelvyn Boy (Ghana), Shatta Wale (Ghana) and Reekado Banks (Nigeria). Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Nation Boss, Charly Black, Elephant Man, Busy Signal, Skillibeng and, of course, Laa Lee, are also featured on Introduction, which is currently celebrating 1.8 million streams in one week and hitting number one in six different countries, including Nigeria, Germany, Taiwan, Cape Verde, New Zealand and Canada.

He also shared that another goal of Gold Up Music was to get on the Billboard charts.

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com