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Before Popcaan released his debut studio album Where We Come From and songs like: Only Man She Want to Love You Bad and
Ova Dweet "Don't love man, so don't love me, get gyal easy like Do Rae Me. Mi want every gyal out a Halfway Tree
Mi a Ova Dweet, oh, yeah
before collaborating with the likes of drake pusha t gorillas, Kanye West and snoop lion
Before cumulating and estimated net worth of 1.2 million and was credited by Fader magazine
for making dancehall music nice again Gonna hide his life hopes up with Ozone 10
Everything is nice
Pop Gang grew up in a rural Village in Jamaica
So small that doesn't even appear on Google Maps
From a young age he was determined to become a musician and trained himself to sing and perform
But as a teen he wasn't totally committed to music as a career and actually consider joining the military
Every word for a sudden tragedy that struck one of his friends
Popcaan may never have decided to focus on his music and eventually be taken under the wing of vybz Kartel
Fortunately Popcaan has made it as one of dance halls biggest artists and I hear that comes with a lot of perks
About 15, including you
What's going on guys been?
expected
Documenting the life and career of Popcaan prior to fame here for you on before their famous now you guys requested this video and he actually
Blew away the competition in our recent survey asking you guys who you want to see [next]
We've also documented vybz Kartel and alkaline in the past
But let me know as always in the comments down below who you want me to document next
"I come from a place, where dog eat dog
me know 'bout living weh hard
From mi born mi see people a starve
Vendor get beat by Sarge" Audrey Hugh Sutherland was born on july Nineteenth Nineteen eighty-eight [in] St.
Thomas Jamaica
Spending his earliest years in a village called hay field he was raised primarily by his
Grandparents with much of his extended family around him he had both parents around until he was about two years old when his mother separated
From his father and moved to the city he also has a sister named analicia and an older half-brother
[Demonee] although everyone as family seems to have a nickname he calls his sister squid his brother squidel and his dad is known as shaggy
But if you're thinking that Popcaan was fathered by the multi-platinum reggae fusion artist wasn't he Popcaan dad actually works the tourism industry
Taking visitors through the canoe canoe [past] hiking trails his grandmother ran a church where Andre first learned to sing as young as seven he
trained himself as performer and vocalist, voraciously listening to the music of the great Jamaican artists who came before him. At grandma's church
He sang gospel songs in the style of Dance hall [DJs]. Yeah as a kid
he liked to do his own thing. He didn't like to follow the rules and was often called
'Unruly' as he puts it "Mi nuh like when people rule me, not even mi mother. When mi start say 'unruly' now, people who
know me from a long time say 'Yaowww, weh right name that!" Sorry guys. That's
Actually the quote try my best there Andre's early musical tastes were broad he listened to Buju Banton, Super Cat,
Sizzla Kalonji and even Jay-Z
Once he arrived in Portmore at the age of 14 to live with his mom he began to listen to many local artists
He has cited Vybz Kartel, Mad Cobra, Anthony B. I-Octane
Gyptian, I-Wayne, Frisco Kid and Terror Fabulous as early influences. Well
he was already in love with Dance hall by then, he wasn't totally committed to pursuing it as a career. In fact, upon finishing high
school at the age of 18, he planned on joining the Jamaican Defense Force. Now
it's hard to believe a guy this musically gifted was considering a career in the military
especially since he's not a very big guy. Dude's only about five foot six
but that was the plan, at least at first. Many of Andre's friends were involved with drugs or crime
but he managed to stay out of serious trouble as a youth he didn't do drugs just weed
"I'm about to burn a big, fat spliff"
He was living in a public housing project called Three West but known locally as
Gangsta City. One of his close friends called 'Bama' was murdered. That's when Andre decided to put all his focus into his music.
Another friend of his, 'Scummy'. Well he gave him the nickname 'Popcaan' because of his soccer skills
Which makes very little sense to me? I think it had something to do with you know what?
Maybe in the shower. I don't know
And when Scummy also died from violence, Andre decided to keep the moniker Pocaan as a stage name
Sure, the girls love it. Popcaan performed regularly at local venues.
It was at a talent showcase in 2008 that Vybz Kartel first heard him perform. Vybz took him under his wing
becoming both his producer and mentor
Popcaan joined his Portmore Empire music group and performed with him on a major show like Sting and Reggae Sumfest. In
2010, he gave him the biggest break of his life a feature on his song 'Clarks' : "You alone
have dah style deh Daady, di Queen fi England affi love off Yardie
Real bad man nuh model ina shorts
Yeah
Straight jeans, cut off foot pants." The song was a hit so much so that it comes to spike in sales for the shoe in Jamaica
The following year, Popcaan received the excellence in music and entertainment award for best new artist and
collaboration of the year for Clarks which also won the song of the year and the Dance hall
Category at the same time there were rumors that Vybz had written Popcaan's lyrics for him
Ironically, the incarceration of his mentor ended up helping Popcaan arrives as a star in his own, right?
Kartel was locked up in
2011 and Popcaan's 'Ravin' and 'Party Shot' became two of the Year's biggest dancehall hits and Pocaan entered billboard R&B charts for the first time
with his track 'Only Man She Want'
"Only man she wah, di only man she wah, yeah!"
By now, Popcaan was beginning to receive attention and respect from some major names in the Hip-hop world in 2012 Busta rhymes
Collaborated on the official remix for Only Man She Want. Pusha T featured Popcaan on his song 'Blocka'
Then Kanye West sample Popcaan's vocals on that track For Guilt Trip on his
2013 album Yeezus and Snoop invited Pop can to appear on his songs Lighters Up
pretty good company
Around this time Popcaan and drake started up a serious bromance becoming fans of each other's music friends and collaborators
Also from what I've heard from the grapevine, Drake's got a Popcaan of his own. I'm serious,
I live in Toronto where it gets around Popcaan signed to a brooklyn-based
independent record label Mix Pak Records for a multi record deal in
2014 his debut studio album 'Where We Come From' was executive
produced by Dre Skull, the label 's founder and his lead single 'Everything Nice' was launched October first of 2013
The album was released on Jun 10 2014 and debuted at number 2 on Billboard's break a album chart the same year
He was nominated for his first mobo award a prize
he would finally take home in both 2015 and
2060 also in
2015, Popcaan and Young Thug were featured on the Jamie double X song 'I Know There's Gonna Be Good Times' and
Young Thug, he seems to be a guy who can respect a good Popcaan get I'm in
"Come have a good time, buss a bad wine, know seh yuh wah gimmi supm long time"
Popcaan's collaboration continued with features on a leaked version of Drake's controller and a guest spot on the Gorillaz Track 'Saturn's Barz'
"All my life"
mi eva have mi gun so mi affi move sharp like mi knife. All my life..."
As where is the story will have to wait and see because this is Before They Were Famous
my name's Michael Mcrudden and forgive me for all those Popcaan jokes. Like to make these videos as
interesting as possible. Sure let me know who's next in the comments down below see you guys in another video
Also, you guys who like these Jamaican dancehall artist you've been fantastic on Instagram and Twitter and all that stuff
So I really appreciate it. Thank you