Agent Sasco featured alongside hip-hop heavyweights

Time and time again, the issue of Jamaican musicians not being given the appropriate credit when they have contributed to popular music has been raised. Earlier this month, the question as to whether the excising of dancehall contributors is deliberate or not was explored by popular music magazine, Rolling Stone. “The American mainstream has partially erased the important contributions of several Jamaican musicians in recent years,” journalist Elias Leight surmised in the publication. It would appear that dancehall and reggae stars have systematically been locked out of mainstream success. However, the local music industry and treatment of dancehall-reggae contributors may be on the cusp of radical change. On August 21, accomplished rapper Royce Da 5’9” released his latest single – Summer On Lock. Featured on the track and in the music video are Jadakiss, Fabulous, Pusha T and Jamaica’s own Agent Sasco.

The Winning Right Now singer controls the bridge of the hip-hop heavyweights track, which sings: “Our sun shines all day long, our summer all year long!” On the credit list his contribution to the song is well noted.

Leight observed: “An initial version of Drake’s Controlla that leaked online featured Popcaan, but when the album Views arrived, he had been excised. More brazenly, Agent Sasco provided key contributions on Kendrick Lamar’s (single) The Blacker The Berry, but he wasn’t credited as a featured vocalist on the album, unlike the many other background vocalists and chorus singers identified as featured performers on Lamar’s album To Pimp A Butterfly.”

In response to his omission from the credit list, Agent Sasco told Rolling Stone: “I’m grateful for the opportunity, because they could have not put the verse on there. But if they are going to use it, then let it be used in a way that more access is granted, and more opportunities can be granted. We need access, and we need proper leverage.” When contacted by THE STAR about his inclusion on the credit lists for his tract with Royce Da 59, he said he had no comment.