The Prophet Burns Again

We're in New York City, metropolis of the world. Nothing seems to be the same here anymore. It's a cool Monday morning, 58 degrees to be exact, around 9 a.m. Midtown on the East Side is quiet. I'm traveling a little ways uptown and human, transit and vehicular traffic aren't the usual hustle and bustle you'd expect for Manhattan. On the eve of Capleton's Still Blazin' worldwide album release, the Prophet and his entourage of David House Bobo Dreads got ready to roll around the financial capital in order to interface with the various media outlets of the music industry. The lineup for the day is indeed an intense one. Photo shoots with Thrasher magazine; phone interviews with Word magazine out of Canada; various radio and dubplate I.D. drops; visits to offices at Launch.com, MJI Broadcasting, Sirius Satellite Radio; and yours truly would spend the entire day with him, observing and asking some questions. For this day, Capleton has a round-the-clock publicist, stays in the somewhat-posh Bentley Hotel, a van with a driver is provided and his record-label rep oversees the entire day's proceedings, trying to make it run smoothly. In this day and age, even when it comes to dancehall, this is how to promote a record. It's not necessarily promoting his career or for his development as an artist, but to sell records to an American market that generates maximum sales, this is a must. And this is all outside Jamaica, the source of dancehall.

Capleton, who is untouched as Jamaica's wickedest dj over the past few years, is the center of attention today, and it seems like this was always the case even back in the day...