1 month ago
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At 9:53 p.m. on Saturday, the energetic flagman for Rastafarian reggae-dancehall artiste Fantan Mojah cleared a path for him to enter centre-stage on Night Two of Reggae Sumfest in Catherine Hall, Montego Bay.
With the experienced Warrior Love band setting the tone musically, fans wondered which version of the controversial artiste would be present at Sumfest– the more uplifting, Rasta Mojah or the controversy-fuelled "tight pants Mojah". It certainly wasn't the latter.
Fantan, dressed in a Nike track suit, with his ever-present backpack, was far removed from the "freaky dread" drama that had engulfed him in 2021 following the release of his Fire King song and its salacious video. He came to Sumfest without any drama. Still, fans wondered online if he was extremely hot in his track suit and even suggested that the heat might have been the reason he took off his backpack shortly after he started performing.
Quickly recognising that the audience was too laid back, he asked them to stand up and give a wave, and thanks to the Almighty before he started his set in earnest.
Fantan was given 20 minutes which he did not use well. He called up Emma, a 12-year-old who perhaps shouldn't even been in the venue, given her age and the fact that alcohol was on sale.
Emma, however, captured hearts, and Fantan compared his decision to call her on stage to Cocoa Tea calling on Koffee some years ago. He also invited a second artiste, who took another two minutes out of his time.
Fantan spoke to his people and made reference to his hospital stay a year ago. In July last year, the Rasta Got Soul artiste was hospitalised in Martinique and missed the Reggae Therapy Festival staged in the French-speaking Caribbean island. He publicly thanked Sizzla for calling him while he was in hospital and giving him "a strength".
His performance of Hail the King was very well received, and fans wanted more of his big songs. He himself declared that he was going to “bun a fire now... no kids in here,” clearly forgetting that he had just brought a 12-year-old on stage. But his time had run out, and it was ironic that after mismanaging his set, Fantan thought it was okay to complain when he was told he had to leave the stage.
"How mi fi fit in so much hit song inna 20 minutes?" Fantan asked of no one in particular, reminding whoever was listening that it was "Downsound [Entertainment] camp (Joe Bogdanovich, the Sumfest organiser) that bussed mi", and that he should have been given the one and two hours that he gets when on tour overseas.
Fantan Mojah’s bio states that he was born in White Hill, St Elizabeth. To gain experience, he took a job with a travelling sound system and performed songs during sound checks. He adopted the name Mad Killer as an homage to one of his favourite artistes, Bounty Killer. After being exposed to the Rastafarian movement, his music began to take on a more positive tone, and he was encouraged by Capleton to adopt the name Fantan Mojah.
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