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Showing posts with label Kwasi Robinson. Show all posts

Studio 53, Focused on D Business
Entertainment Macco












Entertainment Macco reached out to Kwasi Robinson of Studio 53 to get his side of the story regarding the lyrical war which sparked by Squeezy Rankin.  Kwasi was accused of being the instigator by both Jah Bami (in his interview with EM) and Khari Kill (in his lyrical response to Squeezy Rankin), in addition to that the riddim which the “diss” was recorded on was produced and recorded by Studio 53. Some say that there are two sides to a story but the truth is, the sides are determined by the number of people involved. 








Entertainment Macco: So how long has Studio 53 been around?
Kwasi Robinson: “Officially 5 years but we have been doing it for 6 years, our first year we were underground.”

Entertainment Macco: 
What role do you play in this studio?
Kwasi Robinson:“I am the owner/CEO”

Entertainment Macco: Tell me who are some of the artistes that are part of the studio 53 family?
Kwasi Robinson: “We have done a lot of work for many artistes, they are too many to name but some are Isasha, Million Voice, King David, Mr. King, Devon Matthews, Chucky, J Square, Musique and Nemisis.” 

Entertainment Macco:
 How does this whole riddim thing work so an artist comes to the studio and he wants to "ride a riddim" what happens next?

Kwasi Robinson: 
“We are still trying to find the correct model, sometimes it ends up being expensive; sometimes if I charge an artiste one price it usually ends up being much more to market their product. Sometimes an artiste comes with an idea and then we build a riddim and go from there, an example of this would be “Special to me” by Jah Melody, that riddim had four artistes and we ended up with twenty-one because people really liked it.”

Entertainment Macco:
 Ahha…that is understandable

Kwasi Robinson: 
“So sometimes we build a riddim for one artiste and others end up having interest in it and after discussions, we may decide to extend the riddim to other artistes or sometimes a riddim is built with the expectation of having multiple artistes in it. It is a work in progress and we are still looking for that model to figure out how to lock the market….”


Entertainment Macco:
 The riddim that Squeezy Ranking  and Jah Bami, sang there songs on, I was told that you guys are the producers, did you guys give them the riddim with the intention of a clash?

Kwasi Robinson:
“It was never my real intention to encourage any artiste to sing anything but they have the right to express themselves that way so it would have been wrong of me to try to suppress that.”



Entertainment Macco:
We noticed that you were the one that uploaded the first Squeezy video on FB, with this action one would think that you were pushing this clash

Kwasi Robinson:
 “I am promoting the music that is coming out of my studio so I have an obligation to my company to promote the music that comes out. It wasn’t to incite people to answer back but you know strange enough that  riddim has eight other songs on it before Squeezy but this one got the most amount of attention.”

Entertainment Macco: Did you know what Squeezy's intentions were when he came to the studio?

Kwasi Robinson: 
“Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t even hear the song until it was completed, it was just a few minutes before the video was shot.”

Entertainment Macco: 
How come?
Kwasi Robinson: 
“I don’t usually listen to every song that is being done at the studio. I have three engineers working out of Studio 53, which are Lava, Penco, Spectacular and then there is my Co-owner Jabari Charles. My role is not to supervise every single thing that they do here. I wasn’t even aware that it was being recorded but when I did hear the song I agreed that we should go with it.”
Entertainment Macco: I was told that it was Lava who was responsible for this particular recording, was he aware of Squeezy’s intentions?
Kwasi Robinson:“Lava did you know about Squeezy’s intentions? (Kwasi asks Lava during the interview) Yes he knew what was happening when Squeezy came to the studio.”








Entertainment Macco: Do you think it was ethical to allow him to attack the artistes that helped build studio 53?
Kwasi Robinson:“It would be unethical for me to not allow an artiste to express himself; I believe that things grow out of controversy. It was a nice battle for them to engage in and I saw it as a positive lyrical battle. It being unethical wasn’t even a thought because everyone gained from what was happening. The fans were loving it the artiste were showing off their skills.”

Entertainment Macco:
 Is it true that both Jah Bami and Khari Kill both play an instrumental part in building the studios' reputation?
Kwasi Robinson:“What I would say is that I have master ownership of over 300 songs in six years from many artistes and every artiste helped build Studio 53 so I cannot judge that, people have to decide for themselves. We not at an established level as yet, our reputation is still growing because we are still growing…”

Entertainment Macco:
 What does master ownership mean?
Kwasi Robinson:“I own it.”

Entertainment Macco:
 I know that but what does that mean?
Kwasi Robinson:“In the earlies Studio 53 acted as a record label instead of a recording studio, so I own over 300 songs including some from Jah Bami and Khari Kill.”
 

Entertainment Macco: 
Off course you know I am going to ask you about this lyrical war between Squeezy Rankin, Jah Bami and Khari Kill, what is you take on this battle?
Kwasi Robinson:“I am more waiting until the dust clears and the post mortem..I am seeing the results already but off course as a business owner I want to see those results turn into money. I am watching to see if this is a model that can be used in the industry…”


Entertainment Macco: 
Both Jah Bami (in his interview with EM) and Khari Kill (in his first response) suggested that you were the instigator, is there any truth to the allegation?
Kwasi Robinson:“I taking this stance it is not that I instigated it but at the end of the day most of the things in the industry involves me. Even if I am not directly involved in it I am a part of it. Regardless of what happened or how, I will still be labeled as the instigator. I not sure exactly where they are coming from.”

Entertainment Macco: What happened to the relationship that you had with both Jah Bami and Khari Kill? What went wrong?

Kwasi Robinson:
“It is not that something went wrong, people grow apart; Khari touring, Bami was doing his thing in Tempo and now he is unto his Radio station and I am fixing myself here in Trinidad; I am pursuing my studies and other business ventures. I am saying this from my stand point I not sure about others but that is how I feel.”

 Entertainment Macco: Khari expressed his disappointment in you and studio 53 (according to his video response), when he spoke about him mentioning his number of songs on the compilation when compared to Squeezy Ranking, Do you think you breached the producer/artiste privacy "code"?

Kwasi Robinson:
“That belief is false and the interaction came via the web when he posted up comments below on the artwork for the riddim. I didn’t even see it at first; people called me and told me about it because the comments were posted up. He posted derogatory comments, it wasn’t like he called me over the phone and told me over the phone and I went and destroyed the artwork to do over new ones…”

Entertainment Macco:
 Did you add more of his songs to the compilation?

Kwasi Robinson:
 “No, he asked for his song to be removed and I added Shade Mischief the compilation wasn’t to sell but it was for fans because they kept on asking.”


Entertainment Macco:
 
Do you think that the studio's involvement in this clash will affect it's success?
Kwasi Robinson: 
“I don’t believe that anything could affect our success once we have life we will have success, what we have is brand power, people only watching the clash but studio 53 have been doing a lot..television production etc…”
Entertainment Macco:
 
Do you think the effect will be positive or negative? 
Kwasi Robinson: 
“The fans are involved so I am happy..it will have an effect but not profound…we never really had anything like this happening in the local industry in recent times so I have to wait for the post mortem.”


Entertainment Macco:
 
Does studio 53 have any intention of mending the relationship that was built with Jah Bami and Khari Kill?
Kwasi Robinson: 
“It’s about doing good business and making cultural change. It’s not about feelings it’s about business once it is positive change. I have worked with people that I don’t like and vice versa but it comes with the territory and it is normal. To me there is nothing to be mended, they are very good artistes and I hope they share that sentiment because if they have good business I am willing so I will say Yes.”


Entertainment Macco: 
Is this the first time studio 53 has allowed artistes to record this style of music at the studio?
Kwasi Robinson: 
“It has been done before but I guess it is all about the right timing for this kind of stuff.”

Entertainment Macco:
 Is it something that would continue occurring?
Kwasi Robinson: 
“Again I don’t really be in the studio, I deal with the business and when I come back in the studio and I hear something that could be a hit I will run with it. There are a few projects that I work on but I don’t sit down and manifest stuff. I am trying to develop the brand. So basically it depends on the product.”


Entertainment Macco: 
So Squeezy second song, he starts of by saying everyone knows that you are Gay, is this true?

Kwasi Robinson: 
“I am not gay, I know that for sure and that is not even an issue for me and I have no issue with gay people either.”

Entertainment Macco:
Well since you are not don’t you think it is a serious disrespect that Squeezy would try to bring your sexual orientation into question? Are you and Squeezy at war?

Kwasi Robinson: 
“It is not the worst comment I have ever heard, it is nothing to me, people say all kinds of things about other people; Obama and other presidents are always being targeted.  I am not going to take time to answer people who make derogatory statements what I will keep on doing is good business”


Entertainment Macco: 
Clash in the music good thing or bad thing for an artiste career?

Kwasi Robinson: 
“Not even good but it is a great thing….there were always battles and will always be, that is what life is about, we need something to focus on. As humans we don’t have that animal instinct but the battle keeps us hungry and searching so it is really great for artistes. Biggie Tupac, Kanye, Jay Z, Nas and Eminem have all been part of it. There was and always will be controversy but we have to be a mature audience to understand what is happening. It builds the art form.”


Entertainment Macco: 
This very verbally violent type of music, History has shown us how this can spiral out of control and turn in to real life violence, Do you think this will happen in this situation?

Kwasi Robinson:
“I really can’t answer that I am really not sure but I am hoping not. Then again you never know what people are thinking and what evil thoughts are going through their minds. I am just trying to effect change in the industry but I am not giving up what I know is my true destiny; to become a leader in the industry to fear. I am not fearful but I am conscious of where it can go. If I become a target then so be it. People want to kill the pope and all he does is pray.”


Entertainment Macco: 
Did any of the artistes involved pay to "ride the riddim"?

Kwasi Robinson: 
“We have a business arrangement with them and that is all I can say on this matter”

 Entertainment Macco: We all see Studio 53 as a real life business, how do you plan to make money from this sought of situation? Do you include the clash on your riddim compilations?

Kwasi Robinson:
“Right now we are exploring all business options so only time will tell the final approach we will take.”

 Entertainment Macco: As producers what advice would you give to aspiring producer trying to get into to the Caribbean entertainment circuit?

Kwasi Robinson:
“Just work hard and that may sound so Cliché but it is the only way you could do it. The amount of things I sacrificed to get to where I am going; school, relationships and family. I took my form 5 graduation money to buy equipment so I never went to a graduation. It is all about hard work and dedication.”

Entertainment Macco: Thank you Kwasi for your time.

Kwasi Robinson:
“It was my pleasure.”
Entertainment Macco: Is there anything else you would like to say?
Kwasi Robinson:“If any one wants to get in contact with me they can do so by calling me at 1-868-356-0687. Haha. Also look out for “Hard local count down” on Gayelle the channel."


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