J’can producer in Canada pays tribute to Dennis Brown in latest project

(CMR) A Jamaican music producer living in Toronto, Canada, has a project in honor of reggae icon Dennis Brown.

Tasjay James Smith, CEO of Tasjay Productions, officially released the ‘Outta Jamaica Riddim’ last summer, a full album inspired by the ‘Have You Ever Been In Love’ track made famous by Dennis Emmanuel Brown in 1981.

The Toronto-based producer, who grew up in Jamaica listening to Dennis Brown, said he was motivated to recreate something inspired by the prolific artiste.

For the remake, Tasjay Productions employed the original musicians Sly and Robbie's skills to recreate the drum pattern for the Dennis Brown track released on their Taxi label.

The project also has Firehouse Crew’s Paul “Wrong Move” Crossdale on keyboards and guitars, and engineer Delroy “Fatta” Pottinger, who created a fresh version of the popular beat.

“Dancehall is for a certain age group, after which we fall back to good old Reggae music, this kind of sound appeals to all kinds of people either allowing to reminisce or create new memories with the strong sound of this beat, that’s all we really want to do with music is inspire and edify people,’ Tasjay explained.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team did not actively pursue visuals last year, but they are now ready for the second phase of promoting the 16 track project, which features some great reggae artists. These include; Anthony B, Luciano, and Little Hero.

Tasjay Productions is now looking to create excellent visuals for a few singles to kick start 2021.

Some of the stand out tracks on ‘Outta Jamaica Riddim' are Luciano’s “New Sheriff,” Rad Dixon featuring Teacha Dee with the uplifting “Keep The Children Safe,” and Horace Martin featuring Vonnii with “Awake Jah Jah Children.”

The ‘Outta Jamaica Riddim' project is already garnering success, making it to several music charts, including on the Jamaica Music Countdown chart in Jamaica.