Kabaka Pyramid fuses dancehall music and hip hop

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

"It's about time for that Rebel Music," chants Kabaka Pyramid, who has a hip-hop/dancehall flavour to his music. Having released his Rebel Music Project EP online in July, Kabaka is looking to stamp his mark on the Jamaican music scene.

Born Keron Salmon and hailing from St Andrew, Kabaka Pyramid has shown many sides to his music and message since starting in the music industry. Utilising a rap style that he has developed from his love for acts such as Nas and Dead Prez, Kabaka also combines the deejaying and rebellious side of local acts such as Sizzla, Capleton and more.

Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner recently, the artiste said, "I started out bout 2002, I was actually in the States doing school and came back and my brother and his friends had a studio at home. From there, we formed the Bebble Rock team doing hip hop fused with dancehall music."

Own label

From there, Kabaka and his Bebble Rock team soon formed their own label and released two mixed tapes online - The Transition - Volume 1 and 2, which got the sound of Kabaka out to the world. He also released more mixed tapes such as Sea Full of Madness and went through a name change from Ronny Pyramid - his Jamaican alter ego. An avid Pan Africanist, he said he wanted an African name and chose the name Kabaka, who was a Ugandan king, fusing it with 'pyramid'.

Kabaka's work hasn't gone unnoticed as one of his singles, Dear Hip-Hop, was chosen by US celebrity deejay Green Lantern and included on his MySpace Invasion mixed tape in 2007. The mixed tape, which was a part of a competition, also saw Kabaka's single placing second. In July of this year, Kabaka compiled his Rebel Music Project EP on the Bebble Rock Independent label, free online for fans. "It was released mainly on the Internet. I did 11 songs and chose 10 songs for the EP. The response thus far has been going good. The feedback has come from as far as California and Florida and especially in Europe, places like Germany," he said.

Aside from being in studio, the artiste has hit the smaller venues around Kingston, such as the JARIA reggae month show, Jamnesia, Wickie Wackie Live, Manifesto Jamaica shows and more. Outside of music, Kabaka is involved with Manifesto Jamaica as their spiritual and martial arts umbrella head, teaching yoga and more. He is currently promoting three singles out now off his EP, Free From Change, Ready Fi Di Road and I Alone.

"I'm taking time to release those songs from the EP and also collaborating with producers in Germany, so you can look out for that material soon," he added.

In the future, Kabaka says he hopes to be touring the world and spreading music and one day hopes to be based in Africa.