“I’m all about singing positive music and always encouraging the youths to do the right thing,” says Albouystown dancehall singer Matthew Nelson.
Nelson, 20, who is known as ‘MK Money King’ and ‘Lacoste Boss’ on social media, is hoping to encourage fellow youths to rise to their full potential and be better than the stereotypes attached to persons hailing from his community.
In an interview, he told this newspaper that he currently has over a dozen songs on music and video streaming platforms, with the latest being “Lacoste,” which is named after the clothing brand. His message, as he explains it, is to encourage youths to always “stay on the grind”.
According to Nelson, , it was tough growing up in Albouystown and seeing persons being killed in the streets and also seeing youths engaging in self-destructive behaviour, such as dropping out of school. He is hoping to change such ills.
“I trying fuh change that in the ghetto, to let the youths them stay on a positive page,” he says, while noting that he wants youths to educate themselves, look after their families while turning their backs to bad influences.
“I said as you seeing all these things put it into pen and paper,” he adds. “You done know that your parents struggled to get you where you are, one day you must make it out the struggle, one day you must make mommy proud.”
In furtherance of his goal, he has been using the dancehall genre, which he readily admits sometimes gets a bad rap as some artistes in the genre write and perform with only shock value in mind. “Dancehall in these modern times—most artistes, whatever topic comes to mind they just sing and put it out there,” he points out, while also admitting that some of the common subjects are relatable to some persons.
That being said, Nelson believes the genre can be a tool of encouragement and motivation, as it has shown persons from the same background as much of its audience becoming successful.
Nelson’s love for music started at an early age and he eventually started writing his own music in 2016 while still in high school. “Music is like a spiritual something… I saw some of my family members were calypso singers and so on. That pushed me to want to become an international recording artiste,” he says.
So far he says that he has received positive feedback on his music from members of his home community and others. “The community supports the music one hundred percent,” he happily notes while also pointing out that he plans to continue to push and better his craft and release more music.
