#1: TOP CANADIAN MALE 2019 – EYESUS
It’s interesting to note, as our pollsters voted over a four week period, it was this category which saw the most back-and-forth movement as far as lead changes between contestants were concerned, a tribute to the mutual respect our pollsters have for both artists. After all votes were in, and results tabulated, the ReggaeMania.com ‘Tops’ Award for ‘Top Canadian Male Artist of 2019‘ goes to none other than – Eyesus!
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When you meet him, you feel like you are meeting a star. This talented Jamaican Kingstonian was born Ricardo Rhoden, today, he is known as Eyesus, already established as Canada’s most talented, yet most underrated dancehall artist. Tall, dark skinned, and always moving, this artist has been described as a ‘natural’ – an energetic, vibrant, an on-stage dynamo.
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After moving to Canada in 2003, Eyesus, backed by his ‘US Squad’ and Smoke Shop Studios, has continued to up his game year after year. Today, the effervescent Eyesus sits good with his place in Toronto dancehall. He looks like he belongs in it, and he’s always positive, patient, and engaged with his fans. Unlike his fellow artist Exco Levi, Eyesus is self-identified as a dancehall dee-jay, not afraid to live inside the trenches and lyrically explore the dark side.
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When it comes to lingo and swagger, Eyesus has got it. His lyrical patter and performance potency potential is off-the-chain, as he sounds just as good live as he does in the studio. While searching for his own style, he is, presently, a combination of a wide range of lyrical styles, and when he wants to, can can pick from or emulate any style or patter that’s hot. Eyesus is a good story-teller, and the incorporation of satire, humour and sarcasm, are common denominators in his formula for song writing.
Last year, Eyesus received recognition for his craft when his independently released ‘Neva Judge’ received a JUNO nomination for ‘2018 Reggae Recording of the Year‘. Back in 2011, he was creative enough to release ‘We Hate Yuh First‘, a collaboration song and video featuring Jamaica’s Jah Vinchi. Eyesus’s list of new releases since then is extensive, and as long as he keeps dropping new songs on his usual once-per-month basis, it should only be a matter of time before that magical hit song comes out of the Smoke Shop, and the very first dub plate is cut and personally hand crafted for Spex to play Sunday nights on Riddim Track.
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Eyesus is also a big sound clash fan, so it’s no irony that he is also one of Canada’s most creative writers of dub plate material which can be used to cripple opposing sounds during sound clash’s most crucial moments. He can even claim to have created an anthem that experts say all Toronto sound men need to have, the dub plate takes from the original Vybz Kartel ‘Money Pon Mi Brain’ track (Purge Riddim), re-written to say;
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‘T-Dot a mi bloodclaat place/get gunshot inna yuh bloodclaat face,
Matic inna hand, mi nuh have none fi waste,
Black hoodie ski mask, see wi give wi space,
Pure thugs a roll inna di bloodclaat place’.
Lyrically, when one hears Eyesus spit lyrics about Toronto’s rougher areas – ‘Jane and Finch, Weston, Rexdale, Malton, Scarborough, Brampton, Jungle, Eglinton’, you sense danger, because you feel like you’re there, and might even get goose bumps. Many of our big Toronto sounds, King Turbo, Klymaxx, Black Reaction, and Outcast included, have already used exclusive versions of this dub to receive major forwards in dance and bury sounds in clash, making Eyesus even more of a hero on his home turf.
Looking down the 2020 road, there’s still work to do in the Eyesus camp, things that still need to improve. I’m unsure as to the structure of his management team, but management needs to come up with a plan, for now, it seems there is none. The bigger their artist gets, the more important good management becomes.
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I can hardly wait for Eyesus to be inducted, when Canada’s most underrated dee-jay earns through song writing, his ticket to joining dancehall’s list of most elite international artists. I will balance my partisan enthusiasm by saying it’s critical for Eyesus, that his team understands the game, and are used to pouncing verses waiting for phones to ring. Eyesus’s social media platforms, compared to that of fellow artist Exco Levi‘s for example, pales in comparison, even though the content is there. Says pollster and VP Records rep Natasha Von Castle;
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‘Eyesus has so much in the engine, so much in the tank, there’s no sky for him, that’s how confidence I have in his talent. It’s just a matter of time before all the components come together.’
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Congratulations to Eyesus, 1st place winner of our ReggaeMania.com Awards ‘Top Canadian Male Artist of 2019′ category.
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