Mavado (right) with superstar Wyclef Jean, one of his many hip hop admirers. - Contributed
IT'S BEEN some time since a dancehall artiste made a big mark in the United States. Fans have to look back to 2006 to Junior Gong's Welcome to Jamrock to find a massive seller stateside.
Some pundits in the US believe Mavado has what it takes to break that drought with the March 3 release of his second album, Mr Brooks ... A Better Tomorrow, on VP Records.
The deejay's first album, 2007's Gangsta For Life: The Symphony of David Brooks, made some ripples in the US but was not a big seller. Urban tales like Gully Side and Weh Dem a Do made it, arguably, the grittiest dancehall album since Bounty Killer's My Xperience in 1996.
VP Records has thrown its weight behind Mr Brooks, pushing the video for its lead single, So Special, on BET and MTV.
Already, there is radio buzz around Mr Brooks' leading songs: So Special, So Blessed, On The Rock and Overcome. So Special is currently on Billboard magazine's Top 100 R&B/Hip Hop chart.
Baz Dreisinger, a writer for the edgy Spin magazine, says Mavado may be a godsend for lovers of hardcore music.
"Gangsta personas have short shelf-lives. Snoop Dogg: the only set he's believably rolling with these days is the PTA. And who's still afraid of big, bad 50 Cent? But on his stellar second album, David 'Mavado' Brooks - the Kingston-born artist hyped as having more street 'cred' than Biggie and Tupac combined - has lost none of the edge that made him dancehall's latest commercial saviour."
Pyroradio.com, an influential network for hip hop and urban music, is just as impressed with the Mavado set. "Part prophet, part superhero and part fugitive, Mavado is the voice of the streets and represents dancehall for the new generation," it said in its review.
Last year was not a good one for dancehall albums. Although Let's Get Physical by Elephant Man and Shaggy's Intoxication did well in Jamaica, neither cracked US pop charts.
With the wind at his back, Mavado has a clutch of promotional dates lined-up in the US, starting this week.