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Ce'Cile
... (has gone through Changez)!!

DaintyCrew.com first interviewed Ce'Cile when she was the Studio Manager at Celestial Sounds and prior to her being catapulted into the limelight as one of the few current female Dancehall artists to be reckoned with.

DaintyCrew.com managed to catch up with Ce'Cile for the second time while she was on the UK Log On Tour in November 2001 alongside Elephant Man and TOK.

When Ce'Cile dropped 'Changez' it started a buzz about the then little known artist. Ce'Cile was supposed to be voicing for the selector Fire Links and the plan was to call other selectors names. She mentioned Fire Links, Matterhorn, Rolex, Sky Juice then she ran out of selectors. "I wanted to say something that people could look at the selectors and seh you know". She then turned her attention to the DJs, with Bounty being one of the first names she came up with. She co-wrote and co-produced 'Changez' with the producer Cordel "Scatta" Burrell and the chorus is taken from Mary J Blige's track 'Changes I've Been Going Through' off her first album, 'What's The 411?'

Ce'Cile asked on 'Changez' "Which DJ can run me program because I'm in the mood and me vibe it strong so who's going to be the lucky one"? but she ruled out Bounty with the line, "Bounty Killer too stiff so him can't position". Once Bounty heard the track he made it his duty to publicly cuss Ce'Cile.

Bounty Killer is well known for his fiery temper and Ce'Cile said "Well as you know the only person who vocally like said dah dah dah was Bounty and you know that's Bounty persona already. We don't expect, you know... It wasn't anything serious still, got a little publicity from it too, so me never really mind". Other artists that got a mention were Elephant Man, Sean Paul, Baby Cham, Spragga and Shaggy and they all saw the funny side of 'Changez'.

For a couple of years Lady Saw has practically had to defend the ladies single-handedly in the Dancehall with a little assistance from Tanya Stephens  and more recently Ce'Cile. Ce'Cile was the only female artist to be played on dub at World Clash 2000 by Killamanjaro. "When they come back and told me that and that time Changez had just come out and they were like lawd it just mash up the place". Ce'Cile thinks that sound systems believe "we timid and we don't do any dubplate. I don't like to go to dubplate studio and so I can't handle the crassness and stuff of it no definitely not but if people want dubplate from me they can either go through my site or come to Jamaica and I do it at my studio. Me nah go a dubplate studio, it too crass. I can't deal with dat".

'Changez' showcased Ce'Cile's versatility in terms of being able to comfortably juggle both her Djing and singing skills. Therefore DaintyCrew.com thought it only right to ask Ce'Cile if she classed herself as a singer or a DJ. "I'm a singer, I'm just Djing now". Ce'Cile's plan was to go via what she considered to be the easiest and quickest route to draw attention to herself by Djing and appealing to people of her own age (25). "Straight singing was kinda like boring and they never really accepted singers especially if you look a way because they don't rate, so called uptown people in Dancehall. So I just wanted to get with the people and the style. It's not really my thing but I can conform to what I think will work".

Ce'Cile's time is divided up between being on the road and preparing for her first album at her friend John's studio based at X/Claim! Constant Spring Road, Princeville Plaza. X/Claim! was going unused until Ce'Cile took up residence but while she has been on the road other people have started to take advantage of the studio facilities. At the time of the interview she had around 9 songs completed for the album, which is going, to be entitled 'Bad Gal'. The 9 include previously released hits 'Can You Do The Wuk', (dependent on the record company granting their consent) 'Bad Man, Bad Gal' and 'Changez'. They are the only 3 previously released tracks that she intends to put on the album. She would have probably finished her album already if she had not been on the road.

She has produced some of the tracks herself and she has been working with Mikey Bennett from Grafton who produced such tracks as Shabba Ranks' 'Mr Loverman'. Ricky "Bad Man" Myrie out of New York and some other local producers are also working on some of the tracks.

Ce'Cile had expressed a wish to work with fellow female Jamaican Dancehall artists Crissy D and Italee. "I've tried one and two time to get to Crissy D and don't seem that easy". Ce'Cile is under the impression that Italee is now working with Dave Kelly "the genius" on an album, therefore " she nuh really need no help right now". This hasn't deterred Ce'Cile from writing songs and she has been working with some fresh male and female artists for a new rhythm, which is yet to be named.

When DaintyCrew.com first contacted Ce'Cile she had been working on a demo tape featuring a fusion of Pop music, Reggae and Dancehall. "I was actually supposed to let some people in Sweden hear it but then I did this Dancehall t'ing and it took up most of my time. I'm going to redo it for my album. I was actually listening to them the other day and them sound really nice".

DaintyCrew.com wanted to know if it was Ce'Cile's intention for her combinations with both Sean Paul and Elephant Man to be of a sexually explicit nature. Ce'Cile said the sexual content of the combination with Elephant Man on 'Bad Man, Bad Gal' was intended and she took inspiration from "watching the local cable in Jamaica and the girls were going on bad in the dance. I seh a Dancehall we a do still so you have to write for the kind of people that appreciate Dancehall, so I just came up with that particular song".

When the combination came about with Sean Paul with 'Can You Do Di Wuk' she was aware that Jeremy Harding of 2 Hard Records was producing the track. Due to his past hits including the smash hit 'Who Am I' by Beenie Man she approached the track with an international audience in mind. Therefore "I didn't have to be as raw and I could sing more in English. I could go anywhere and sing that song so".

When you witness Ce'Cile's stage persona and hear some of the sexually explicit lyrics that she uses you would never believe how softly-spoken she is. In fact she says it herself, "I'm not really a typical Dancehall person. You know you can just look at somebody and seh you'd think or assume that they'd go on stage and run it up I'm not that kind of person I'm coming from this demure sorta state". Ce'Cile wants to use less patois in her music in an effort to appeal to a wider audience, because "I think there are many, many people who can't too understand Dancehall but will grab onto something that is cross between that, that they can understand". "You know less kinda like Dancehall" and she states, "Dancehall topics limited you can sing about gun, you can sing about battyman and t'ing. You can sing about sexual content". She has no intention of singing about guns, people's religious or sexual beliefs therefore she sees that as leaving her with only one topic, one of a sexual nature, "so I want to move from deh so".

Although Ce'Cile has this view on Dancehall she still admires Elephant Man and she names him as one of her favourite DJs. "Energy wise I could never go deh so but you know when you go 'pon stage and people hype it up". Ce'Cile doesn't consider herself as "a great Dancehall artist that's still not ultimately what I'm going to stay doing. I'd rather be a Reggae singer". From that comment it is obvious that Ce'Cile's heart is not in the upfront Dancehall style. Instead, "singing is really what I want to do and have a nice act not necessarily running up and down the stage, not that there is anything wrong with it but I kinda like the slower side. You can still be sexy and still be nice and still have fun but the Dancehall more time it tired star".

Ce'Cile still feels that she is looking to find her style and space and once she is happy with this then she wants a manager to market the finished product. "It'll be a typical Jamaican because that's what makes us Jamaican's unique, so I want to find my identity, you know. Find a nice little t'ing cross between Reggae and Dancehall and find somebody that knows that is what I want to do and push me in that way and has to have the marketing qualities".

She's a smart lady and knows that a management role doesn't just mean dealing with bookings. In fact she has learnt this the hard way, from bitter experience. Ce'Cile performed at Sting 2000 and as she put it, "Oh lawd! I was coerced into doing Sting by Leng but I'm glad I did it". She was given the 1am slot and although she reached in good time she never actually hit the stage until coming up to 4am, right after Hip Hop artist, DMX. "For a young artist like myself I should have gone on in my slot". Sting is the stage where many an artist has been verbally slain both by fellow entertainers and the "rowdy crowd" so by the time Ce'Cile hit the stage, "nobody never want to hear nuh 'Changez' at that time, them wan' see clash. I'm glad I did it still you learn from your mistake. If I didn't get to go on my time I'm not going on". Maybe in this situation a manager would have more than likely advised Ce'Cile not to perform due to the extenuating circumstances.

Ce'Cile plans to hopefully get herself a house "with the little bit a money that I'm making" and complete her album and "do it my way. If it flop, a nuh nutten, if it does good that's all good but working on it is fun too as well as reaping rewards from it, if it's successful". Once Ce'Cile's album drops she wants to tour Europe "I really want to go and I'm not talking the typical Jamaican Dancehall scene. I know that they keep a lot of festivals were people like Kymani Marley and Toots & The Maytals and all those people. I never really hear of them asking the Dancehall artist to go on". Ce'Cile has had an interest in that type of show from a young age. "Those are the types of stuff I want to do so my album woulda have to reflect that kinda tune deh to be hired for those kinda shows. That me want do".

DaintyCrew.com are in no doubt that with her talent and motivation that Ce'Cile will achieve her goals.

To keep informed of what Ce'Cile is up to, for bookings, dubplates and fan club information check out www.cecileflava.com.

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