Reggae | Cali P

IRIE. In 2000, you began your dancehall careers as MC of the Gideon Soldiers sound system. This led to you representing reggae music at shows all over Europe and the Caribbean. What was the experience like touring for the first time?

Cali P: I remember for me it was verrrry exiting to be able to travel for music in a very young age. 
I was 15 years old. just about to touch 16. We where spreading good music, Rastafar I word, sound and power all over. And people where loving it. I big up Gideon Soldiers and the whole Armageddon Times Family that I lived with in that time, because as a Teenager this is exactly what kept me very focus and conscious to not go out there and start to do bad things, it made me use my time wisely. Meditating Rastafar I and Music. When I see Selectas now in Jamaica like a Gabre Selassie or Yaadcore and the youths it reminds me somehow exactly of what we where doing before I was singing 14 years ago. Very positive! 

IRIE. You released your first album, Lyrical Faya, in 2008 under the Pow Pow label. You also released a multitude of  singles which caused your popularity to grow worldwide with each release. Can you take us through this evolution of Cali P?

Cali P: Yes I. Coming from the Sound System Movement I realized that Jamaican Reggae music is very very verrrry productive and if I want to be doing music in that scene I need to be ready. So what I did is buying all vinyl 7” with the instrumental on the b-side. My goal was to build a song for each and every Riddim I hear.

Because I said to my self if a producer link me I need to be ready to sing on any Riddim just like the artists I listen to. I was amazed to see a artist has 200 diffrent singles out on the market. And I wanted to get prepared to do the same. That was my thinking back then as a youth.

Also you have to understand I was in Switzerland at that precise time. So the was no Music Industry around me. Still I wanted to work professionally and I did that by just preparing my self for it. Like a school. I spent all my time going trough music history, and wrote a lot. I still have note books full of songs. That I never recorded or never released but that’s exactly what built me and make me be where I am today. Ingo from PowPow was the first big producer that told me yowwww yuh bad my youth and just like that we started working. Big up Pow Pow for that possibility.

IRIE. You’ve been working with Swiss-Irish producer Riga of Hemp Higher Productions since 2007. I truly dig the sound that comes out of this collaboration. How did you guys meet and what’s it been like to work together?

Cali P: Yes I, I always love to talk about this connection because to me it’s a very strong and positive connection. We met at the Montreux Jazz Festival and he told me that he just came back to Switzerland  after spending some years in a London. I liked the positive vibration and because I was meditating with my brethren Ras Theo that day, about going to this Montreux Festival to make a new big connection, I went with a open mind to meet new people. And I strongly Belive that that was exactly the big connection I was talking about. 2 weeks later we recorded Jah Rule The World our first song together. And then it’s history. I didn’t only find a good producer but a new brethren for life. This connection is special to me because in the past 7 years we went trough a lot. Happy vibes and also tension and Ruff vibes and still no matter what I see greatness in this connection, So today Riga is my manager and yea that’s what it is. Big up Riga!

IRIE. Healing of the Nation is pure Roots Reggae! Can you share with us the inspiration behind the making of your third album?

Cali P: Yes I very right, it’s pure Roos Reggae music. It’s a 9 track EP tho and not a album. My album will be out next year sometime. How this Healing Of The Nation came together was because mainly my fans really requested a Roots and Culture Record from Cali P. I get a lot of messages from People telling me how much my lyrics and vibrations from the roots music help them to get over any struggle in life. If someone write you and say “Cali P you know your song I know there is life saved me from suicide” then I take this to heart very much. That’s the mission the most high has sent me out for, and I would never ever give up that. So while working on my next album in Jamaica I realized that I want to release something in the meantime and here is Healing Of The Nation.

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