'Don't label artistes' Honorebel refuses to be limited

Howard Campbell, Sunday Gleaner Writer

If there’s one thing deejay Honorebel despises about contemporary music, it’s the habit of labeling, especially by record companies. He believes  the practice limits artistes and puts them in a box.

That’s something he refuses to accept. “I jus’ wanna make feel good music, I don’t consider myself one kinda artiste or that kinda artiste,” he said.

Whether he likes it or not, Honorebel is tagged as a dance/electronic music performer, based largely on his recordings in the last two years. 

Though he started out in the business as a reggae act recording for producer Willie Lindo’s Heavy Beat Records, he has quietly made a name for  himself working with big-name rappers like Pitbull and Sean Kingston.

Honorebel was recently in Jamaica pushing Party On, a dance song from Club Scene, his album which has been released jointly in Japan by Ultra Records and Avex Records.

Dancehall effort

He is also pitching two reggae songs: Welcome To My Life on the Southside beat and What a Woman, a combination with Gyptian on the Flava McGregor-produced Throw Back ‘riddim’.

 A remix of My Girl featuring CeCile, Etana and Lady Saw is another dancehall effort by Honorebel. The original, done with south Florida rappers Sean Kingston and Trina, entered charts in Africa, Australia and Europe last year.

 “It’s a clean song so it got promoted a lot on (BET’s) 106 And Park and Vivo and helped give me a profile in different places which I hope to capitalise on,” he said. For the dancehall version of My Girl, Honorebel worked with drummer Paul Kastic, bass player Mikey Fletcher and keyboardist Christopher Birch, who figured prominently in Shaggy’s 2002 multi-platinum album, Hot Shot.

 My Girl was the second song in successive years on which Honorebel collaborated with a high-riding Florida rapper. In 2009, he, Pitbull and Chicago dance mavericks Jump Smokers combined on the song, Now You See It.

Honorebel said he first met Pitbull while they were part of controversial Miami impresario Luther ‘Luke’ Campbell’s Luke’s Records. He is currently managed by Rude Bwoy Records.

Born Richard Bailey in August Town, Honorebel says his introduction to the music scene came at singer Sugar Minott’s Youth Promotions in Kingston.

He immigrated to Maryland in 1990, but moved to south Florida where he made his recording debut for Lindo, who had produced massive hits for Beres Hammond, Boris Gardner and Dennis Brown.

High-profile camp

From there, he did stints with the high-profile camp of Specs/Shang Records, which was headed by Clifton ‘Specialist’ Dillon. Specs/Shang was responsible for the crossover success of acts like Shabba Ranks, Patra and Mad Cobra.

For Honorebel, his greatest exposure came with Luke, the man behind outrageous 1980s rap group, 2 Live Crew.

While his recordings for the flamboyant producer were sporadic, he said he learned music’s business side while at Luke’s. “Luke prepared me for the international market.

He was the first ‘indie’ (independent record company) pressing his own records, long before Bad Boys and Suge Knight,” he said.

Honorebel is signed to Ultra Records, which specialises in dance music. He is scheduled to perform in Europe, Australia and Africa where My Girl made inroads, during the second quarter of this year.