The mesmeric island of Sint Maarten is revered for its charming, natural features such as span lagoons, beaches, and salt pans. The architectural development in the island’s capital of Philipsburg is colourful and vivacious, giving indications of a culture that is rich in creativity and deeply artistic. Undoubtedly, culture shapes the social and creative compass of an individual therefore it’s no surprise that a prodigious creative like Sherman De Vries hails from the island of Sint Maarten.
Extolled for his outstanding work as a producer, mixing engineer and mastering engineer for the likes of Sean Paul, Shaggy, Ne-Yo, Flo Rida, Sean Paul, Juicy J – Sherman De Vries is now teaming up with his Jamaican counterparts Luigi Society, Bay-c and Stefan Amali for a genre-bending club anthem entitled Road Code. The track fuses dancehall and house music in a uniquely compelling way, that is destined to reap tremendous international success for all the acts involved.
Acknowledging his unique socio-cultural upbringing as inspiration, De Vries stated that “Being from Sint. Maarten, a Dutch Caribbean Island I was always exposed to music from various cultures, with dancehall being my largest influence. When I moved to the Netherlands in 2009 I got into Pop/ EDM which led me to deep house music today. It is finally a pleasure to combine dancehall and deep house music in one track. To create something that is different but yet familiar in both cultures.”
The chemistry and the alignment of artistic vision that created Road Code seem organic and there is a sense of unity amongst all the acts involved with the project. Luigi Society echoed the sentiments of Sherman De Vries about the track by stating that “I am predominantly a producer of Dancehall music, however, I’ve always willingly explored new genres and the fusion of Dancehall with Deep House is a first for me. Much respect to Sherman, Bay-C and Stefan Amali as the cohesiveness was seamless & evident on this track “
Stefan Amali chimed in by stating that “Ironically, I fell in love with House music in Trinidad & Tobago. Trinbagonians have a very eclectic ear for music but they love music that they can pump to. I noticed that House music worked here because it was very similar in BMP to soca music which is anywhere between 125 – 130 BPM. Being from Jamaica, Dancehall is in my blood and I was blessed to be mentored by Bay-c over the years. We have been friends for a decade and this is our first time releasing a track together, so this is a huge moment for me.”
Bay-c is no stranger to fusion music and his distinct vocals are often requested by producers from many different genres across the world. In a paradigm of dancehall music where there is so much debate about its authenticity when fused with other genres, Bay-c was unapologetic about his pro-fusion stance by stating that “When I fuse Dancehall with other sounds, it only creates an opportunity for the genre to reach a new market and for me as a Dancehall artist to play around with new sounds. This was the formula for T.O.K.’s success, creating a niche market that is hard to duplicate by blending worlds musically.”
The song was recorded at the legendary Big Yard Studio in Kingston Jamaica by Stefan Amali & Bay-C and mixed & mastered by Sherman De Vries in the Netherlands. The song will be distributed worldwide by Evidence Music from Switzerland on November 4th, 2022 and we anticipate it will be a massive success.
