Near-death experience inspires Benzly Hype’s album

An out-of-body experience is the inspiration behind Benzly Hype's latest album Star Its The 7th Year.

Released on November 7, the entertainer said the project was done to bring back joy in music and will leave its listeners in an upbeat mood. Benzly Hype shared that in 2010, his lungs collapsed twice due to smoke inhalation.

"The doctors said a virus went in and ate out a little part of my lung. One day I was in the gym and my lungs just collapsed and I was told that I needed to do an operation that attached my lungs to my ribcage permanently," he said.

The singjay said that for days, he laid in a Corporate Area hospital in pain, both physical and mental.

"I was in [National] Chest Hospital and I was there for a little while and couldn't get a date for the surgery because the theatre wasn't working. One night I was there and about three persons died that was on the ward with me. That time I had two bottles attached to me and I remember just laying down and looking at the sky, and if yuh know the hospital, you can see outside and I was just looking at a particular star and I felt my life being pulled out my body. Death was walking through the place," he said.

He stated that he was wide awake when the angel of death approached him and began pulling his life from his body.

"I started chanting Psalm 91 and was staring at a star and was chanting Psalm and praying for help. I literally saw myself being levitated and next thing I know I was up in the star and I was staring at my body down on the bed," he said. "Mi say 'Rahtid mi inna di star and mi see a lot of stuff'. Mi say a dead mi dead and mi don't have a yute yet. I was in the star all the time and I was in a lot of pain."

But he dropped back on the bed with a noise and a nurse walked in and asked if everything was okay.

"It real. Next morning I was relocated to UHWI and I did the surgery a week later and I remember it was on a seventh so that is why the album is called Star Its The 7th Year.

The singjay said while he is excited about all the tracks, he feels closer to the title track as it talks about his life journey and his crew.

"It [also] has elements of my friend Joel Chin who was murdered. It spoke about my high school days and so on. My hope is that the album brings love and light inna di ting. Yuh can talk badness if yuh want, but yuh can write it ina fun way. The frequency of the music is very important, so this album shift the frequency a little bit. The album is to bring joy," Benzly Hype said. He told THE STAR that the album also showcased his vocals, adding that he is a trained singer and musician.

"I produced and a play two instruments and did a lot of things behind the scene, so I just bring a lot of my talent to the forefront with this album. I recorded over 50 tracks for the album and I had to narrow it down to 10," he said.