Tactikal finds his sound in ‘shatta dancehall’

Jamaica-born, Canada-based artiste Tactikal has now upgraded his dancehall career to a more uptempo, heavy bassline and electronic style of music known as 'basshall' or 'shatta dancehall'.

"Mi love it. Mi feel nice, mi feel great because my Spotify used to deh pon zero listening and now, mi a get up to 10,000 streams a day and like over 100,000 monthly listeners. Suh mi feel good, mi feel elated," he told THE STAR.

Basshall is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Jamaica in the early 2000s. It is a fusion of dancehall, reggae, and dubstep, characterised by heavy basslines, syncopated rhythms, and melodic vocal samples.

"A years mi a duh dancehall music and mi really see a change inna mi career right now, suh a fans pon di shatta dancehall side mek mi really decide seh mi ago sing fi ova dehso and it a work fi mi. Suh mi nuh really duh no more trap, weed, or slack song because mi journey just different and if mi ago duh dem song deh, mi ago dweet pon a shatta beat because a dehso accept me," he said, noting that he has been dabbling in this genre for the past year.

The Drink and Rave artiste revealed that his interest in the genre first piqued when he heard a 'different' dancehall-infused song from Surinamese artiste, Latoya Linga.

"Mi show mi fren and him a seh yea a dancehall but tru wi a duh trap [-dancehall] it sound different to we. A nuh loop riddim. Suh mi reach out to a specific producer she (Linga) a work with name Limitlezz and just seh 'Yow bro, I'm Tactikal, I wanna work. Just send me some beats,' and inna two weeks time, him send mi dem and that's how mi shatta dancehall journey start, and di rest a history," he revealed.

"It (the genre) have a more energetic vibe to it, nuh sadness, none a dem likkle ... darkness deh or trap music. It just heavy-hitting bass sound weh match my energy yuh zeet," an enthused Tactikal said.

With basshall being dominant in Latin America and different parts of Europe, other producers and dancehall heavyweights such as Sean Paul and Busy Signal have been creating their own unique takes on the sound, making a huge impact on the European market.

But Tactikal, who hails from Stony Hill, St Andrew, said he is more focused on "doing it big" and getting his music on the commercial market and doing more production work through his own record label, 1 Tr3mma Recordz.

"Mi a look pon di bigger picture, not just a one show over America and Canada but mi a look far beyond. Mi a talk bout songs weh ago come inna some football commercials, movies, advertisement, sync money, bigger picture," he said.

"Mi wudda encourage adda artiste fi tap inna dah market yah right now because dem accept good music. Wi do good music a Jamaica yes, but it tek longer to be accepted as good music, dem more run wid di negative ting. But over on the European side now, from yuh give dem a good nice girl or party song pon di beat, dem love it. And [also] ova dehso, yuh numbers rise quick," Tactikal added.

His shatta dancehall breakout single Tick It is a self-produced track that has racked up more than 1.6 million streams on Spotify. The artiste is set to drop a new single on Friday titled, Shatta Time and is rearing to release his debut, shatta dancehall EP Dancehall Euphoria, featuring dancehall artistes Leftside and Richie Loop.