Mavado
Government Name: David Constantine Brooks
Born: Cassava Piece, Kingston, Jamaica.
Age: 27
Genre: Dancehall
Mavado explores a darker shade of black
Mavado is the man behind the eerie wails of “anywayyy” and “gangsta fi life,” which have recently dominated dancehall. The lone singer in the crew of young guns called the Alliance, he is the melodic counterpart to deejay Busy Signal and producers Daseca and like them, a protégé of Bounty Killer. His spooky, almost plaintive style, heard to best effect on 45s like “Weh Dem A Do” and “Dreamin” is a direct descendant of Vegas, Chico and Wayne Marshall. But where most dancehall singers adhere to a regular pattern of subject matter—a gun tune here, a weed tune there, a love song for the ladies in between—Mavado’s sonic palette only has one color: full black. His trademark has been applying the vocal approach of successful singers like Vegas and Wayne Wonder to a mode of lyrical gangsterism more in keeping with the Warlord persona of his mentor. The monotone worldview, complemented by a uniform of dark glasses and head-to toe-black clothes, mirrors deadly serious happenings in Brooks’ real life. The overseas murder of his father and a near-fatal altercation with Kingston police have all contributed to a certain funereal mystique surrounding Mavado. But his latest boom shot; a dis tune aimed at fellow Killer protégé Vybz Kartel voiced over Black Chiney’s “Drumline” riddim, has taken the focus off real-life violence and back on lyrical war where it belongs.
