-
music
Charly Black | Bridging The Gap Between Jamaican Dancehall, Reggaeton & Latin Trap

Written by

No items found.
Press Photo - Charly BlackFLAUNT.jpg ![Press Photo - Charly BlackFLAUNT.jpg](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472d348018408f6f7cb1f8a_Press%2BPhoto%2B-%2BCharly%2BBlackFLAUNT.jpeg) [Charly Black](https://www.instagram.com/charlytrelawnyblack/?hl=en) is here to spread the love of dancehall from Jamaica to the rest of the world. The Diamond-selling recording artist exploded onto the scene with his breakout hit, “[Gyal You A Party Animal](https://youtu.be/xPeIm20TYjI),” boasting over 199 million views on Youtube alone. The record exudes good vibes and positive energy, on brand with Charly’s entire persona and artistry—even receiving a standout remix with Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi. While there’s undeniable history and synergy between Jamaican dancehall and Latin American music (specifically reggaeton), it seems unprecedented for a Jamican artist to sell Diamond in Central America… but Charly is here to prove the sky's the limit. His goal is to bridge the gap between Jamaican dancehall, reggaeton, and Latin trap, and he does so effortlessly. Fast forward to 2021, Black unleashes his new EP titled _So Many Reasons_, working with the likes of fellow Jamiacan artist Sean Paul and the legendary Scott Storch. _Flaunt_ caught up with Charly via Instagram Live, who was cooling in his home country of Jamaica, smoking a blunt and drinking a beer. Read below as we discuss his roots in Jamaica, love for weed, new EP _So Many Reasons_, a session with Sean Paul and Scott Storch, working with Ne-Yo, dream collab, and more! * * * **How are you doing over there in Jamaica?** I’m fine, relaxing and enjoying my country. **Do you ever come to LA or no?** Yeah I come there a lot, mostly to shoot music videos. I like that everything is in close proximity where you can get work done. If I need to go to this set or this studio, everything is just in close proximity. **What kind of weed do you like?** Most of the weed I smoke does one thing: gets me high or gets me calm. It doesn’t matter what name, where it came from, I just be smoking. **Does it help you musically?** Yeah like right now after this interview, I’m going to listen to some beats because I have some songs to write. So of course it does.  **What are the songs you’re writing about?** Well I have 2 songs for the females to be written tonight. Not sure if I’ll be able to finish the others, but I have 5 more to write. **Bring us back to when you made** “[**Gyal You A Party Animal**](https://youtu.be/xPeIm20TYjI)**,” what were you like then?** Same person I’m here now, it’s just that “Party animal” made me into a bigger name to the world. A household name, that song brought me onto a bigger platform. **What are your fondest memories from those days?** Each time I perform it on stage, everyone goes wild everywhere in the world. You’re at the hotspot location, everybody’s connected to that wifi so the energy expands. Everybody loves that record. **_So Many Reasons_ EP out now. How are you feeling?** I’m feeling great, we’re here in Jamaica promoting it. Letting people know about it while we’re doing some promotion. I like all the songs, but “So Many Reasons,” “Ravin’,” and “Anniversary” are my favorites. Oh yeah, and “Diggy Dee.” I can’t forget “Diggy Dee” because it’s literally doing great over the world right now. **Talk about linking with Sean Paul on “Ravin’.” How did that collab come about?** Sean Paul and I have been friends over the years so it’s nothing like we’re not friends. It’s a vibe, we’re on a different sound together. I’ve known Sean Paul for quite a while, while I was in the music business. We became friends after I got my first hit song, bigger friends on a bigger level. I used to be a DJ on sound systems. The song was very easy because Sean Paul is mellow just like me. This song was recorded at Scott Storch’s studio in LA. **At his house?** Yeah, I was actually high when I was recording that song. When you’re around Scott Storch, you have to smoke a lot. He keeps giving you different types of weed and telling you what made this one different from the other one. I smoked 3 joints before I recorded 2 songs for him. **How did you guys tap in initially?** My manager \[**Julian** Jones-Griffith\] made the connection. We did what you have to do because we’re there, we knew we definitely had to go see Scott because we’re working on the album. Much respect to my management, he’s the one who made everything possible. By the way, I’m signed to Universal. The link was good.  **What was it like working with him? What was the vibe, what was the energy?** Scott is a down-to-earth person. He’s very cool, he’s very talented. His management is talented too \[Steve Lobel\]. **What do you want fans to get from the project?** I want them to enjoy a different side of Charly Black. I’ve always wanted to do songs like this many, many years ago. When you’re a dancehall artist, you have to really make a decision. I’m making a decision with my career saying “listen, I’m from Jamaica. That doesn’t stop me from putting out good projects, good records.” People will appreciate good music all over the world. I know they’ll enjoy the project to the point where I’ll even accumulate some new fans as well.  **Do you think most of your fans are in your home country?** No, all over the world. All the locations I’ve been to so far, to be honest. The vibe that I get from my fans, they appreciate me. I love everybody because they show me love.  **What brand are your glasses?**  These are Louis Vuitton.  **You like to wear sunglasses?** Always, even when I’m sleeping.  **Do you have a love for fashion as well?** I’m Jamaican. Anything we want to do, we make it work and we turn it into fashion. I don’t really have a specific brand because we Jamaicans will be rocking Gucci for 6 months, then move onto Louis Vuitton for 6 months. Move on to the next brand, Fendi or whatever. Even sometimes we wear brands that aren’t as big as the brands I mentioned, and we turn it into fashion.  **Talk about linking with Maluma, you guys made “Love” and you’ve been friends for a long time.** Me and Maluma have been friends since 2015. He’s the first big Latin artist who ever reached out to me and tried to work with me when “Party Animal” was one of the biggest songs in the world at the time. Ever since then, me and him always kept in contact. I’m with Universal Records and he’s with Sony, but we keep the link with all of us. When he came to Jamaica the other day, he told me exactly he wanted to do an album. Each day he wanted to record a new song so each of his experience should be recorded, audio and visuals as well. We did just that. He told me the entire idea and we worked with it.  **It’s almost at 5 million views, you just released the video.** I’m not paying attention to the views, I’m just working.  **Best memory from the video shoot?** When I was on the ship when the Rastafarians were beating the drums. The lead girl, Miss Bennet, she came on set. It was something different because I’d never really done that type of a shoot before. Normally if I’m shooting a music video on a boat, we’ll be in the water very far outside. This was very much different, this was in Jamaica as well too.  **What does Jamaica mean to you?** Everything. Life. Everything.  **Talk about linking with Ne-yo on “Over Again,” that’s a legend right there.**  Over Again was produced by Troyton Records, we have that video coming out soon. The visuals for that is going to lift the record to a bigger platform. We haven’t released any visuals yet, we’re promoting _So Many Reasons_ EP right now.  **Who is your dream collab?** Mariah Carey. **Goals for yourself at this point of your career?** I want to work more harder so I can take home a GRAMMY to my community in Jamaica. **What are you most excited for this year?** That they press the reset button for life so we can resume life, that this COVID-19 pandemic can go away. I wish that for everybody, not just myself. My album is coming out this summer.