Musical Sniper
During the late 1980s, the deejay duo of Rappa Robert and Tippa Lee fit in with their pastel outfits and ‘fade’ hairstyles. In Nuh Trouble We, they had one of the period’s biggest hit songs.
Longtime fans still refer to him as Rappa Robert, but for over a decade the lanky artiste has recorded as singer Musical Sniper.
Since 2004, he has lived in Toronto, cutting several roots-reggae songs that has given him a profile in Canada’s second largest city.
Musical Sniper’s latest singles are Tables Turning and Gone, which he co-produced with Jason Murphy who operates out of Hawaii.
“Wi jus’ stepping up right now with the real reggae music an’ a couldn’t feel more comfortable,” he said.
Musical Sniper added that even when he was deejaying with Tippa Lee, singing was what he preferred.
“Mi love harmony, that’s me. Its what I always what I wanted to do,” he said. “Wi been singing a long time but a lot of the songs were neglected.”
After Tippa Lee migrated to the United States in the 1990s, Rappa Robert’s life and music took a different course. He became a Rastafarian and began recording as a roots artiste.
His first major solo project was Rough Upbringing, an album done for UB40’s Oracabessa Records in 2001. It featured a strong cast of musicians including bassist Robbie Shakespeare and Monty Alexander on piano.
According to Sniper, the album was not properly promoted. He said that was the case with subsequent songs for Jamaican producers and he decided to settle in Canada.
“Mi jus’ get a raw deal wid the producer dem inna Jamaica.”
Rappa Robert aka Musical Sniper was born Robert Wilson in Bamboo, St Ann but grew up in the Maxfield Avenue area of Kingston, where he was exposed to the sound system culture.
His introduction to live performing came through appearances on the popular Radio Jamaica weekly programme, The Colgate Cavity Fighters Club, hosted by Marie Garth and Neville Willoughby.
He went on to record a number of songs as a singer for different producers but it was his partnership with the diminutive Tippa Lee, that gave him the breakthrough.
In 1988, they hit paydirt with Nuh Trouble We, produced by Hugh ‘Redman’ James, one of the hottest producers of the time.
Though he considers Rough Upbringing a solid effort, Musical Sniper admits his expectations for the set ‘were a bit too high’.
Settling into a more conventional routine since moving to Canada, he is satisfied songs like Tables Turning have done well on regional charts and radio in that country.
“There’s a goodness in the music so wi won’t water it down like some people. Wi compelled to put out quality,” he said.
The jovial Musical Sniper hopes to return to his homeland to perform on Jamaica’s soil and said he thinks he will be well-received by patrons because his music is in rotation there and the fact that he is getting great feedback from people on the island.
Today, Musical Sniper is actively promoting his latest EP, “Tables Turning” a five tracked compilation which displays a mature sounding “Musical Sniper” as a package of rich cultural music that reflects the times we are living in and gives hopeful solutions for the future.
With all new songs; including the chart topping single: “Gone” which charted on Jamaica’s Top 25 Reggae Chart at No. 9, the single “Gone” calls out the trend of pretenders who use other people’s suffering for one’s personal financial gain.
The title track: “Tables Turning,” is currently on the chart in Jamaica and takes into account people’s uprising against dictators and corrupt leaders all over the world; and “For the Youths” an anthem for children of poverty, features African style tenor guitar lines and reggae rooted drum and bass.
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