Austin Yolando Green was born in the community of Red Hills. Now as a Reggae and Dancehall Producer “Austin Kevin Green” has seen the best and worst sides of the genre. As a well respected studio engineer, he has been in the business of music production for over 9 years starting his illustrious career back in 1998 at Gargamel Music, home of the superstar Buju Banton, who is also his first cousin.
While at Gargamel Music, Kevin became acquainted with the techniques needed to become a fully professional engineer and after spending months learning and perfecting the craft, he got his first big break as an engineer mixing tracks for Buju Banton. Night after night, he did numbers of live sessions in the wee hours of the morning tweaking the sounds of Banton’s Friends For
Life album and at the same time experimenting with sounds and phrases for a possible riddim compilation.
As his network grew and the credits began to pile up Kevin made his move and ventured into the mainstream as an independent producer releasing his very first riddim called the F 150 during late 1990’s and early 2000. Soon after that it was time to test the waters again and in 2001 he released his second riddim called Vacuum and the third called Hypnatic, a few months later with cuts from Sean Paul and Elephant Man and a host of other big named artists like Bounty Killer being featured on the tracks.
Impressed with how talented and determined this budding producer was, Bounty Killer immediately sealed the link and allowed him to do exclusive mixing projects during his studio session. Not the only one to notice Kevin’s brilliant approach to production Jet Star, one of the biggest reggae recording and distribution company based in England, drafted him into their organization where he spent 1 1/2 years working with them in their state of the art studio facilities, where many international projects for a host of artists including New York rapper Fat Joe. Never losing his love for production he later released two of his most popular riddims to date. The Garrison and the 100 Watts Riddims were successful projects that got heavy radio and street rotation which features Assassin, Sizzla, Bounty Killer, Buju Banton, Vybz Kartel, Elephant Man and Spragga Benz among others.
During the summer of 2006 a mutual disagreement between himself and Buju Banton led him to leave Gargamel this after producing 2 (Jig / Nothing) and mixing several other tracks for Banton’s 8th official album Too Bad which was a Grammy Nominated Project. Un-phased by the incident Kevin sought advice from Bounty Killer, and later decided it was time to build his own empire. After recruiting a young batch of talented Singer and DJs to form Pay Day Music Productions. Bounty then added his influence to the mix by officially introducing him to the Boss Lady of Solid Agency. Sharon Burke then welcomed him into the organization. Since becoming apart of Solid Agency, he has released three other riddim juggling including the Not Out which feature his group of upcoming artists – Lando, Boom Steppa Mental, Martina, Carlos Turner and Bad Cash (his brethren for 9 years) alongside the superstar DJ’s Mavado, Busy Signal, Macka Diamond and Vybz Kartel.
The most popular artiste among the youth presently, Mavado was introduced by Daseca. Kevin mixed his hit songs “Dying feat Serani,” “Dreaming” “Touch Di Road” “No Fear” and newly released “Informer” produce by Kevin for Payday Music. In 2007 when Busy Signal made his comeback in Dancehall by introducing the hit single “These are the Days” produced by Daseca. Kevin took on the mixing responsibilities for the song. He is also responsible for mixing the hit song from Bugle “What I’m gonna do” and his follow up singles “Journey” and “Living Legends” ft Junior Reid, all produced by Daseca. Since then he has done major mixing projects for Fire Links hot, new “Drum Lane riddim.” Daseca’s newest act Serani, received a touch of Kevin’s skill on a majority of his tracks, for example the new hit song, “Everywhere I go.”
Currently residing in the Red Hills Road community of Common, his riddims are currently being played on all the major radio stations including ZIP 103 FM, FAME 95 FM an IRIE 107 FM and he will be once again giving his young DJ’s a strength as he is working on a number of projects. As for his engineering skills they have already been requested to mix a few tracks for Bounty Killer’s highly anticipated new album Extra Bullet and he once again worked with Buju’s Banton on his latest release “Rasta Got Soul.”
He’s also been on several world tours with Bounty Killer not to mention a host of local events including Reggae Sum fest, Sting, Saddle to the East, Follow di Arrow plus many other international shows.
With his career aside Kevin is also highly involved in his community as he currently holds a post as the Assistant Manager of the Donmair All Stars Basket Ball Team which competes in the local Division 2 league.
As with any good producer with an eye for talent Kevin has dedicated his future to the development of new artists. “I believe the youths aren’t getting the right opportunity for a start, too much talent is being wasted. My plan is to open a complex for new acts whereby I could try promoting them weekly. I’m talking about a mega structure, a complex with even a CD Burning and Packaging Plant, a state of the art Video Suite, Rehersal rooms, 6 different Studios, and my own Distributions. I want to be the first major local based distributor to compete internationally, so that firms like Sony and VP Records have to come to us for music”.
Most recently Kevin has partnered with Bounty Killer to build Money House Studios which has resulted in a string of hits that have been receiving international airplay throughout the world including Bounty Killer’s EP “Raise Hell on Hellboy,” the “Honeycomb Riddim,” and the “Style Dem Riddim.”
Special Thanks to: “God” Mother Julia Watson and the rest of my family Bounty Killer Buju Banton Bad Cash Payday family Sharon Burke Sharon “Mummy Wills’ Williams Desmond “Herbie” Shirley Daseca Solid Staff Members of the ZIP 103 Family Lorna Strawn And everyone else in and out of the music fraternity
Very good article sir