5 Questions With Seanizzle

Sean ‘Seanizzle’ Reid is no stranger to the Jamaican musical zeitgeist. Since rocketing to fame in 2010 through his One Day Riddim, Seanizzle has been using his wide musical interest to infuse international sounds into his beats. Juggling the duties of both a producer and recording artiste, he has collaborated with some of Jamaica’s musical heavy-hitters, like Vybz Kartel, Fambo, Konshens, I-Octane and Bugle. Though he generally stays in the dancehall and reggae genres, he has ventured into soca, reggaeton, hip-hop and many other styles of music. With his international yet authentically Jamaican sound, he has had several entries on the Billboard charts, as well as three Grammy nominations, including one from reggae icon Beenie Man’s latest album, Simma. Though the famed producer appears to be jet-setting across the globe, sharing his influence on international music, he welcomed The Gleaner to his Kingston, Jamaica home for a chat in 5 Questions With ….

1. What inspired your decision a few years ago to start mentoring young talent through the riddims you posted on Instagram?

With the whole COVID thing and no one was able to go to studios, I thought this was a great idea to keep the mind alive and the creativity. And give new acts an opportunity because, within the COVID time, a lot of things had slowed down and a lot of people started to get the attention because there wasn’t much to do. So I thought it was a perfect time to showcase some new acts and some new talent.

2. You’ve been in the music industry for quite some time, with numerous connections and opportunities to move on. What motivates you to stay and keep building riddims year after year?

It’s just a passion, it’s something that I genuinely love. I don’t just do this to make money. It’s something that I love that turned into an income. We just love music overall, and just love to see the impact that it has on people. Once me can make somebody smile, someone can come up to me and say ‘you know seh? ‘Bwoy you produce a song weh a it carry me through one rough time’. That’s the greatest reward ever. So, dem thing deh motivate me.

3. How do you determine which riddims to voice yourself and which to share with other artistes?

Any riddim me wah voice pon, me feel like me wah give it to an artiste because that mean it bad. So, I never really take one and say this a fi me and fi nobody else. Unless it’s a single. But, once is a bad riddim, me wah everybody fi hear it man.

4. Your work has been recognised as part of dancehall’s heyday. How do you feel about the current state of the dancehall space?

It’s a new generation right now and, even when I came on the scene, people were saying that I came with something. Some seh yuh change and some seh it get too pretty. So, as long as you on earth and you’re living, people going have something to say. We’re in a world where it’s constantly evolving, so certain people move with the times, some take a while to get with the times. You just affi do you and make your light shine.

5. As a highly awarded member of the Jamaican music fraternity, what is one goal you still hope to achieve in your career?

I’d like to open a museum. And, within that museum, I’d also have an institution where I get the young people to be a part of it. A safe haven to come and just express yourself within the music industry and in art in general, not just the music. I think, with all these great people that we have in Jamaica, we need more museums to showcase what they have done. So, that is something that I have on my mind that I want to execute.

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com