So Unique Records boss Elvis Redwood says he did not need approval from Vybz Kartel to pair the incarcerated dancehall star with young female deejay Shenseea on the hit ‘Loodi’ single.
Redwood posted a video online early Wednesday addressing the brouhaha which erupted earlier this week over Loodi, after handlers of Vybz Kartel posted on his VEVO page the original copy of the song with Kartel’s vocals without Shenseea.
The post, which effectively revealed that Kartel wrote the entire song, was accompanied by the caption: “My song was never a collaboration!”
Redwood acknowledged that the song wasn’t originally intended to be a collaboration, but noted that, as the owner of the record, So Unique had the right to choose what to do with the track.
“‘My song was never a collabo’, Kartel could ah neva ah tell me that cause me know it was never a collabo,” Redwood said in the video.
“What are you blaming me for? For putting Shenseea on a Kartel song without permission?” he asked rhetorically, adding “Mi neva inna the past need Kartel permission to put anyone on a song. Mi just know the do’s and the dont’s and I always do the do’s.”
Redwood noted that he had the Kartel track for a number of years before releasing it. He explained that he did not release the song because he did not want it to overshadow a song by former So Unique artiste Keshan, Tricks are for Kids.
After parking Kartel’s solo of Loodi for several years, Redwood said he went to Keshan to do a female version but she refused the chance.
“I tried to add two other female artistes and mi still never hear wah mi waan hear. Mi link Blade and him say Romeich have a bad artiste called Shenseea. Mi listen her song, mi link Romeich and say put him artiste on that, him say ah Kartel. I gave him specific instructions, don’t touch Kartel hook, sing over the two verses dem inna the female version, of the song. The plan was to drop the video and the song same time.”
He further laid out the intricacies of how the project was done, and also highlighted when it began to receive backlash from Kartel associates.
“Mi no go half and half on young artiste, Romeich pay Red Boom fi mix the song, he paid Ruption half a million dollars to shoot the video. Then on the day of the video shoot, somebody got wind of it, ‘Elvis ah put out a Kartel song’, somebody link him and say ‘the song caan go out and Kartel an ruh’,” Redwood said.
“Mi say ‘ah PimPim, him say no, tell the man fi link me’. Romeich tell the man fi link me, no call, so mi get the man number. The person name Donwell, mi call, him nah ansa phone. Mi say ‘hombre, how yu get involved inna mi project?’. Bout six minutes after that mi send another message, ‘hombre, anywhere yu see the name So Unique or Elvis, stay far! If any of your associates have a problem, link me’.”
He explained that the business relationship between himself and Kartel is “good”.
“So Unique ah my label, mi a So Unique Records, mi no answer to no man, mi do mi own thing, as mi say, mi and Kartel good, we ah business associates, we have projects together that ah generate food for both of us,” he said.
“Putting a young artiste on a Kartel song was never an issue. And if it was an issue, why ah now Kartel ah seh – if it is really Kartel – it is an issue?”
Source: I didn’t need Kartel’s permission for Shenseea collab, says ‘Loodi’ producer | Loop News Jamaica
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