'High-end' artistes

They may be dancehall artistes. However, they have the drive just like the high-end luxury brands that inspired them.

It is not hard to figure out what luxury vehicles inspired deejays Mr Lexx and Benzley Hype!

Mr Lexx, whose real name is Christopher Palmer, told Automotives his vehicle of choice has always been a Toyota Lexus and will always be.

"Lexus is my favourite car. I used to own a Lexus RX300 until I changed it to a Benz. But, I still love Lexus, though. It's just my favourite car," Mr Lexx said.

Mr Lexx, who has been in the entertainment industry more than 15 years, said he has gone through several name-changing phases.

"The first stage name I had was Spragga Lexxus and that was given to me by my friends," he said. "Back then, Spragga Benz did a run di place, and his name came from Benz. This was 'bout '94. And, Lexus and Benz were the hottest cars out, so my friends just decided to call me Spragga Lexxus."

The artiste said he didn't like the name, dropped the 'Spragga' and just kept the Lexxus.

"I was comfortably using Lexxus until in the early 2000s, when Toyota sent me a six-page letter. It said due to my growing popularity and there was the Lexus brand, it caused a conflict of interest. So, I had to change my name," Mr Lexx said.

"I had to end up changing it to Mr Lexx. But, I was really surprised and quite impressed that a big company like Toyota acknowledged my presence. So, I thought I must be doing something right."

New year, new focus

Mr Lexx said this year he would be focusing more on his kids.

"I want to make myself a better man. And go even further than I have gone in the music business. All in all, I want to make myself a healthier and wealthier man," he said.

Benzly Hype! whose given name is Hemsley Morris Jr has his eyes set on a Mercedes-Benz DTM.

"That's my favourite car," Hype! said.

"As a youth, I used to hang out with the LA Benz crew. This was back in '95. LA Benz was a sound system that was owned by Ricky Zilla. Spragga Benz was a foundation artiste that performed on the sound back then. And, all artistes that had ties to that sound had a name with Benz. My friends just decided to name me Hemsley Benzly."

Hype! and his cousins later formed the group Innocent Krew and that was when he changed his name to Benzly Hype!

"I was the second artiste to have Benz attached to my name. But, I was the first Hype!," he chuckled. "I used to hail people by saying 'Hype!'. My friends said that was 'bad', suh they added it to Benzly."

Hype! said for 2011, he intends to seek the truth and cut off excess baggage.

"A lot of things we think are real, normally prove to be fake in the end," he said.

"As entertainers, we are programmers. So, we need to know what we are doing. My daughter turned one on New Year's Eve," he said. "I think we need to do better, as our children will be the product of our environment."