Bermuda Sun Article

“Stealth Ninjas launch second hip hop compilation album”

via: http://bermudasun.bm/PrintArticle.aspx?aid=62890&uid=9ea54acd-cd79-4a05-b4d4-926a9c712fe5

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 23: Just one year after Imari Wade started rapping, she was named Best Female Rapper at Tha Underground Music Awards.

The following year she won Best Song of the Year at the same event.

It is testament to the raw talent of this young artist who is the main feature on a new compilation album produced by Derek G Simmons.

De Stealth Ninja Chronicles II is the second in a series of albums that aim to promote Bermudian artists both locally and internationally.

Well-known local rapper KASE was the main artist on the first album while Wade takes centre stage for this, her first performance on an album.

Featuring 15 of the island’s top rappers, singers and spoken word artists, the album features a dynamic mix of genres ranging from dubstep fusion, hip-hop, soul and ‘experimental adventure’ (a variation of hip hop).

Wade told the Bermuda Sun how she got in to writing and rapping: “From a young age I was always a good creative writer but I was bad at English. I write the way I talk and that’s how I write my lyrics.

“Often they are just random thoughts. Other times there will be a topic — Derek might come to me and say he is writing a song about ambition so I will go home and think about ambition.

“Most of the time I will take a beat and work with that.

“It randomly flows and you get I start to get gist of where I am going to.

“That puts other ideas in my head to flow on with that. Everything I rap, I have either been through or going through.”

Stealth Ninja II features a range of artists including spoken word artists Stephan Johnson and Yesha Townsend, rappers by KASE and Bento, and singers Canjelae Taylor and Jase Antony. 

The subject matter features everything from the gun violence plaguing our island in Paradise Gunfights, to a love song to the island with in Bermuda Day, or the feel-good party anthem Free Night by Wade.

Wade said she hopes to become a professional rapper and is working on her own album which will also feature Simmons’ beats.

 “It is what I want to do due to the amount of encouragement I am getting from Bermuda. People ask me what I am still doing here so I am focusing all my energy on just completing a product to have it ready. I’d like to go straight to the UK or straight to the US — somewhere where my talent is appreciated and it is meaningful and it can actually do something for me.”

As well as producing the album, Simmons, a member of the Chewstick band Devil’s Isles Audio (DIA), also plays bass guitar on some of the tracks. Simmons is following in the footsteps of his father, Derek Simmons senior, a respected sound engineer and guitarist.

He said: “Through the Ninja Chronicles, we wanted to tell the story of talented young Bermudians rising above the criticism of the modern youth globally, not just in Bermuda. It is about talented youth trying to make a profession in a place where it is not really supported. It is like the hero against the villains. “The response we got last time was great — it was different and gave us inspirations to do the next one and build on different ideas and keep expanding it. There is a set of artists I know who I have opened my ears to and I really enjoy the content that they put out. I want to share that with the world on a bigger scale — not just in Bermuda.”

De Stealth Ninja Chronicles is released under the Bermuda record label Devils Isles Entertainment. Chewstick and Rock Island are selling copies for $10. Free download of De Stealth Ninja Chronicles II is available via: http://www.datpiff.com/Derek-G-De-Stealth-Ninja-Chronicles-Vol-2-mixtape.434377.html.