Toppa Top 10: Ten Artists You Might Not Know Are Guyanese

Words by LargeUp Crew—

With Mashramani coming up and the mash bands in Georgetown getting ready fi de road, we’ve got Guyana on the brain right now. And we we were thinking: while there aren’t many Guyana-based artists who are known internationally, artists of Guyanese origin and extraction living abroad have made huge impacts on a variety of musical fronts, from reggae and dub to rock, rap and R&B. You could even call it a phenomenon in Canada, where many top acts have Guyanese roots. Here’s a look at some of the most notable names.

10. Red Café

Raised in the West Indian cultural mecca of Flatbush, Brooklyn, Red Café has been a staple on NY’s rap scene for years. Now living in Miami and signed to Bad Boy Records, his latest single is “Fly Together” featuring Ryan Leslie and Rick Ross.

9. Jahdan Blakkamoore

A 20-year veteran of Brooklyn’s music scene, Jahdan has worked with everyone from Smif N Wessun (he’s on the remix and the video for their “Sound Bwoy Bureill”) to Branford Marsalis and DJ Premier (back when he was going by Blackheart Scavenger) and Major Lazer, not to mention his own long-running group Noble Society, and solo releases like “The General” (see below). Most recently, he has turned up as one of the principal songwriters for Snoop Lion’s Reincarnated project, lending his voice to the project’s latest single, “Lighters Up.”

8. Maestro Fresh Wes

Before Drake and even Kardinal Offishall, Maesto Fresh Wes was the first MC to put on for Toronto. Wes (who apparently just goes by Maestro now) gave Canada its first homegrown rap hit, with 1989’s “Let Your Backbone Slide.” His Symphony in Effect was best-selling Canadian rap LP of all-time prior to Drake’s Take Care. For another Guyanese contributor to Canadian rap, see Saukrates, perhaps best known south of the border for his many collaborations with Redman.

7. Mad Professor

The king of UK dub isn’t Jamaican, as many seem to think, but a native of GT—Georgetown, Guyana—who emigrated to London at 13. Check out a dub lesson from the Professor below, and a wicked throwback video from ’91 for his “Kunta Kinte Dub”:

6. Deborah Cox

Toronto native Deborah Cox is Canada’s Quiet Storm queen, known for massive ballads like “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” the first song by a Canadian artist to top the US R&B charts. Both of her parents hail from Guyana.

5. Leona Lewis

With her four-octave vocal range and soaring ballads, Leona Lewis has been called England’s answer to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, Leona. Her father, Joe Lewis, is Guyanese.

4. Melanie Fiona

OK if you know about Melanie, you probably already do know that she is Guyanese. Yet another Canadian crossover artist with West Indian roots, she has always repped her parents’ homeland of Guyana and island culture in general. But did you know she got her start voicing reggae tunes for Black Chiney Sound? (Check her out singing Wayne Wonder’s “The Saddest Day” at a Beres Hammond show back when she was called Syren Hall).

3. Phil Lynott

Imma let you finish, Bono, but Thin Lizzy is the greatest Irish rock band of all-time. (In our opinion, at least). It’s recently come to light that the father of Phil Lynott, the late frontman for the group, known for hard rock classics “The Boys Are Back In Town” and “Jailbreak” was a native of Guyana.

2. Eddy Grant

Eddy Grant might be living in Barbados these days (where in recent years he’s led a movement to fuse the Caribbean’s various music styles into a single aesthetic and philosophy, which he refers to as “ringbang”) but he’s a product of Plaisance, Guyana. Grant migrated to London as a lad, where he formed the mixed-race rock/pop/reggae fusion band The Equals (check them out on Top of the Pops back in ’68) before launching his solo career in the ’70s. If you only know him as the “Electric Avenue” guy, check out the early house of “Time Warp,” and the punky synth reggae of “Living on the Frontline” for a quick sample of Eddy’s diversity.

1. Rihanna

We’re not calling Rihanna’s Bajan-ness into question, but we thought we’d be remiss if we didn’t use this list to point out the fact that her mother, Monica Brathwaite, originally comes from Guyana. If one were to apply the Jewish principle of “you are if your mom is” to this equation, that could, theoretically, make her Guyanese. Jus’ sayin.