Mad Dog trying to bring fun back to dancehall
Having done well in the eastern Caribbean for several years, Jamaican artiste Mad Dog says he is back home to bring back the fun to dancehall.
Mad Dog, whose given name is Donovan Lawrence, said his biggest song is Early Morning, which was recorded in Barbados for that island’s Crop Over carnival.
“I was introduced to Crop Over by a soca artiste. It all came together after I did a dub plate for a sound system in Canada ... they took the dub plate to Barbados and the dub mash up the place,” he said.
He was invited to the annual event, and was amazed at how much fun patrons where having with songs that were not promoting violence or glorifying the gun.
But the Hanover-born entertainer said at the heights of his career, his manager had to return to the UK, leaving him to handle matters on his own.
Despite that, he continued to be a popular figure on the party circuit in the eastern region, earning him the moniker ‘Caribbean Bwoy’.
GUN SONGS
He said he has returned to Jamaica to not only let Early Morning be associated with a face, but to bring some fun to dancehall.
“I travel out the whole Caribbean and you can count the artistes that get forward for gun songs, only in Jamaica,” he said. “Sing a girls song, a fun song and all the ladies can relate. You will never stop hear Hawkeye, Mr Lexx, and Mr G in these islands; their songs live on.”
Mad Dog started deejaying in school and did his first recording in 1988.
He used to go by the name Shacka Ninja but that changed because an engineer at Roof Studio in Ocho Rios kept saying he resembled international recording act Snoop Dog.
“They started calling me Snoop until they gave me the name Mad Dog, and it kicked off from there,” he said.
Mad Dog said his latest tune, Fresh, will allow fans to see his versatility.