Dancehall artiste Teejay says everything he worked for nearly went down the drain, hinting that he became a criminal target and had to leave Jamaica.
The dancehall artist went ghost for a few months after he ended his relationship with Romeich Major after a falling out over the latter’s support allegedly favoring Shenseea over his other artists. Months later, Teejay was announced as an artiste under Solid Agency. The deal has led to many successes for the “Rags to Riches” artiste, who is now signed to a record label, Warner Music, and has opened many doors for him abroad.
While on the Let’s Be Honest podcast, he says he had to leave Jamaica at one point in his career to get himself together.
“Mi a go through a lot of thing in my life which I can’t talk about on the net but real real thing go down and me did affi stay so and exit Jamaica for a while just to fix some things not just music… Badness bro. mi name get mix up inna some things inna the street weh it never shoulda get mix up inna you get me. Me fawud from [Montego Bay] and mi come a town and me always tell myself mi nuh buss fi buy gun, mi buss fi do music and take care of my friends and mind mi yute them,” Teejay says.
At that point, Teejay says he reached out to one of his close friends who was close to Solid Agency’s Sharon Burke and asked if she could manage him. The artiste said his life was changed by Burke, who helped to buy back his masters and set him on a better path.
“Mi did under a publishing deal where before me link the past management, and a say yow how mi coulda get outta da publishing deal and him a say ‘yo mi no know enuh, you affi go deal wid that’ so me as an artiste feel that too much struggle deh pan mi brain,” he said adding that some of his friends died and responsibility fell on him.
“Sharon Burke help me get the publishing thing out of the way…[she] basically tell me don’t do not show. Just gwan easy. We ago set the thing. We ago gwan put in some work, link link, network yourself… people who need fi come Jamaica help the artiste push them thing,” he said.
The Uptop Boss also said that Sharon Burke stopped him from marrying an American so he could get citizenship and helped him instead get a work permit so he could work and travel in the United States freely.
As for his debts, during the pandemic, Burke helped him pay back over 200 producers, get back his master’s, and set him on a better financial path.
Teejay has been dropping gems for younger artists on his social media accounts, which he said comes from his learning the music and publishing business. He also revealed that he now owns all of his publishing, administered through his company Teejay Publishing, which has a deal as part of his Warner Music contract.
Teejay also revealed that he listens to Burke who because he dropped out of school in the seventh grade and doesn’t know much about the industry. The artiste revealed that his mindset has also changed in that he sees the big picture management is seeing because now he is more minded to consider offers to perform where money is not paid. Still, the benefits would far outweigh the money.
In the meantime, Teejay also defended reports that Burke is a “gatekeeper.”
“If a man nuh come give you a homage like ah Jaii start highlight artiste that them cam come talk the truth make nuff people know da artiste…sometimes it’s not about gatekeeping it’s the work weh you put in, the network weh you network yourself,” he said.
He also shaded Popcaan, who every artiste that comes to Jamaica links up with him.
“How every rapper weh fly in a such man dem call? Such man. You know who me a talk [about]. Such man and him reach a every rapper foot. So how nobody ah see him a gatekeeper? Shaggy always say a thing to me, bro, If mi a 53 year old and me a do 13 million monthly listeners and you a run dancehall but only 800 listeners bro you need fi catch up, you have work fi do,” he said.
Teejay also said that in the dancehall space, a “handful” of people or a “circle” of people follow each other and work as a clique to blackball certain artists while making their friends alone make money.
