Swiss Major tries to get big break as a rapper

Up-and-coming rapper/singer Swiss Major's first attempt at breaking into the music industry turned out to be stage practice. He says he tried his luck with the Digicel Rising Stars contest a few years ago, but never made it past the second phase of auditions.

Believing it would be better to have a regular job, Swiss Major, whose given name is Dominic Hemans, began working as a bartender at a Japanese restaurant in Kingston. However, after being fired two months ago, he returned to his first passion music, not reggae or dancehall rap music.

"Although I have not started earning from the music, I am getting good feedback from persons who have said I can make it as a recording artiste," Swiss Major told THE STAR.

The 27-year-old says the past two months have been used to reflect, and he believes now is the right time to launch his career.

"I have been serious about a career in music for about a year, and I spend a lot of my time sending emails to producers and labels, but I am yet to receive a reply," he said.

"Dancehall is more about badness, money, sex and party, and that's not the music I want to create. I am not biased, but I hardly listen to reggae and I don't listen to dancehall."

INSPIRATIONAL SONGS

He continued: "I have written and recorded songs that are more on the inspirational side. I even have a song called Plz (Please) that speaks to persons going through all forms of depression."

While awaiting the release of another single titled Dreamers, which he says was produced by a small England-based label, he has formed an alliance with another artiste in his Seaview Gardens community, Rizzy Razor. The two have released a preliminary version of their track called Romance on YouTube.

"As a duo, we go by the name DiFuze, because that's what our music will do diffuse to a wide audience. I am focused on a solo music career, but we bring a different mix together," he said.