Trinidad has more to offer than soca: Jay Nahge

“Trinidad shoots for the clouds when they should be shooting for the stars,” the 26-year-old artiste and songwriter Jay Nahge declared.
Soca dominates the Trinbagonain music industry and leaves little to no space for other genres to strive. Even though the sound is authentic to the country and the rhythms accumulate lots of love, the question is, will it always work and can the music always reach the international charts?

“Music is moving and you need to move with the music.”
– Jay Nahge

That is exactly what Jay Nahge is doing. He has equipped himself with the versatility to dabble in anything the music requires from him. He does not consider himself an artiste of just one genre as he understands that this new generation of music is not simply tied to one direct sound. Nahge wants his music to be along this line, being able to craft with any beat, in any country spanning many genres.

“Music demands what it wants, it says Nahge sing, I say alright lets go.”
– Jay Nahge

From as early as 12 years old, Nahge started rapping. He has only pictured himself in music and if he is not rapping, he’s singing, writing or even producing or editing. Music is his second nature and he makes it known by being flavorful and sharing what he had every chance he got.

He started off with an American style of rapping as that was the norm and the only way he thought rap would be accepted. But after becoming more comfortable with rapping in his own accent, he realized that his fans loved his own identity as it was rooted in the homeland of Trinidad.

The little boy from Carenage, Trinidad, is now making strides at becoming an international star. The 2018 song ‘My Lane’ was branched out the United Kingdom market getting over 2500 views on Youtube. With Mical Teja being featured on the track, the project came about as them being patriots to their home country. The song is aimed at influencing those from the UK to come and experience Trinidad and the nice life that it has to offer; with a beat that keeps things Caribbean but marketable abroad.

Jay Nahge – My Lane ft Mical Teja

Nahge still loves Trinidad despite the difficulties he faced while trying to start his career as an artiste. He said no one was impressed or playing his songs on the radio since he was not singing soca. He had to do it the new school way, which was hard because he believes sharing your music on the internet and not knowing if people worldwide will like it is one of the biggest risks you can take. It is live or die at that moment.

“What you love will get you where you want to be”.
-Jay Nahge

Nahge and his friend Jimmy October decided to collaborate on a project. They told Trinidad that “You Don’t Know Me” and started to give the people “Something to Believe In”. Their mindset did not officially change, but these artistes gained markets from overseas and made it possible for creatives just like themselves to still strive. They created a label, ‘Overdose’ that became a family for rappers, singers, spoken poets and even graphic artists. It was a fact of understanding where exactly Trinidad was and still is, not making it phase them, and allowing the people to see action for something new until they started to believe in it.
Nahge truly lived after that leap of faith. The EP ‘Something to Believe In’ with Jimmy October was a direct success with seven songs, released in 2016. The internet took on to the artiste and many other countries were all over Jay Naghe. The song ‘Blvcklist’ was produced in Italy and had Naghe as a featured artiste, not to mention ‘Motion’ that was a hit in dance studios in Germany, Poland and Argentina.

Tano, Jay Nahge, Mical Teja – Motion

Nahge never allowed anyone to stop him. He always gave more juice – the slang he starts all his songs with. It’s that extra charge, that good vibe, a feeling you get that can bring you back to life. And that’s why he was able to open up for the rap artiste J. Cole in 2016 at the Tobago Jazz Festival.
It was 2018, though, that was the artiste’s best year to date. All that perseverance, with a little extra juice left him making moves with DJ Killmiami from Manchester, England. The publicity here led to two of Nahge’s songs to be on the soundtrack for the British romance film ‘No Shade’ that came out in November.

The artiste says its time to overwork. Dropping more music, projects, and videos for 2019 than ever. He wants to give the people his music and before you know it everyone will know who Jay Nahge is. Trinidad better watch out. It’s time for the country to open their musical horizons and get on this international train that Nahge has opened for them.

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A post shared by NAHGE’S ERA (@jay_nahge) on Jul 31, 2018 at 3:20pm PDT