Aiming for the international market
It was during his days at St Catherine Primary School that up-and-coming dancehall artiste RajahWild discovered his musical talent.
But up until three years ago, he was not pursuing music as a fulltime career. Now, the 19-year-old is putting his all into making catchy dancehall tracks in hopes of making it big internationally.
“I was in grade six when my teacher gave me an assignment to make a song about drugs. I put my song together and it was good, and all my friends and classmates started telling me that mi bad. That was when I started to really develop a love for it.
Then I went to seventh grade, and that’s where I started to do more freestyling, and so on. I loved it so much, mi not even did want to go class,” he told STAR on the Rise of his musical origin.
The young deejay attended Jonathan Grant High School, before being expelled. He then enrolled in the Willowdene Group of Schools to continue the secondary level of his education. However, he decided that it made more sense for him to focus on music, and stopped attending classes in 11th grade. He shared that while he was a not a “dunce” student, he just never saw formal education as the path for him.
Nevertheless, since making the decision, he has been reaping some success in the music business. His track Hate Yo, which was produced by Unapologetic Muziq, is currently trending on YouTube. According to him, the trajectory of his career is surprising.
“Is a good feeling to see people loving my music. I expected all of this to happen, but mi never know when it did go happen, so it is just that it’s happening before I expected. When people tell me say ‘your style of music interesting’, it is a great feeling,” he said. When asked to explain the type of music he makes and why, he expressed that he cannot categorise it. “I just make songs about reality and the things I see around me. Anything that comes to me I put in the music,” he said.
RajahWild, whose given name is Duijai Blake, believes that this is merely the beginning for him, and there is lots more in store for 2023. “I am working on an EP titled Songs of Pain right after summer, featuring eight ‘pain’ songs, ‘cause eight is an intimate number. For the rest of the year, my fans can also look out for more darkness. The goal is to do my promotion and get my music to the right ears in overseas markets,” he said.