The London-born, Jamaica-raised deejay Mr. Williamz is one of the ascendant microphone talents on the world reggae dancehall scene. Exposed to yard sound system culture from a tiny age he began toasting as Kool Kat in honour of his stylistic resemblance to Supercat and other dons of the 80s. His old-meets-new approach is perfect for the man who discovered him, Curtis Lynch Junior at Necessary Mayhem, where has become all but synonymous with the label, riding every rhythm they press. Just a year after his UK debut the newly named Mr Williamz had his first hit for Curtis, Babylon in Helicopter, and was chosen as BBC UK Artiste of 2008. Recently he has been flexing his lyrical creativity and laidback hypnotic delivery further afield, being one of the few artists to have two tunes on Scotland’s Mungo’s HiFi’s latest album Forward Ever and recording a free mixtape with Gambia’s Mandinka Warrior, Dancehall Nice Again. Softly-spoken and stylishly attired, Mr. Williamz met Reggaeville for a coffee in West London to talk about his Christmas tour of India, his forthcoming album and how he helped Curtis discover the artist Franz Job.
You’ve been out in India with Mungo’s HiFi and India’s first sound, Reggae Rajahs. Tell us what you got up to there.
We did a tour of five cities throughout India over ten days doing seven shows. The first city was Bombay then Bangalore then Poona, Goa and New Delhi. A lot of the time I was travelling so I didn’t really get to see a lot of places but I did get to stay in Goa for three days and that was amazing. Chilling on the beach. The vibes in Goa were nice and relaxed.