‘Wess Pahm’ aiming to become first major Vincy rap artiste

St Vincent and the Grenadines has yet to produce a successful and accomplished Rap artiste. However, 19-year-old Jonathan “Wess Pahm” Perry is determined to become the first.{{more}}

Born in California, Perry came to St Vincent and the Grenadines at the age of five with his Vincentian mother Lorna Edwards.

Perry presently resides with his mom in the Arnos Vale area called West Palm, the inspiration for his stage name.

The young man graduated from the St Vincent Grammar School (SVGS) in 2001 and decided to skip college to embark on his musical journey.

Perry, in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, said he has always been a lover of music. He said the sound of beats would always attract him.

He, however, explained that becoming a rap artiste was not his first choice of profession, but after free styling for his fourth form colleagues, he knew he was destined to rap.

“I was in school one day, fourth form, and we had a free period and my friend Areb had his Ipod and he is really into music. His Ipod had a section that was filled with instrumentals and randomly he was like, ‘gee me somthing.’ And I was like, what you talking bout?

“And he was like ‘man, just spit something nuh’. So, I listened to the beat and started feeling it and I started spitting (free style rapping).”

Perry said the instrumental was finished playing, but he had more to rap about. He said he did free style raps for over 30 minutes and during the time attracted a large gathering.

“By the time I stopped it was break time. We went to break and were outside and he (Areb) was like ‘Yo! You have to do this.’

“I was like ‘what you mean I have to do this?’ He said I have to rap.

“I asked him, who rapper he ever heard of from St Vincent that was successful? There is Kevin Lyttle who did his thing, but that’s because of the genre of music he does.”

Perry took his classmate’s advice and through the remainder of his time at the SVGS, he explored the rap genre.

After graduating in June, 2011, Perry said he travelled to the United States in October.

While there he worked on his first mixtape entitled Tape of Mixtures 1.

“By December, I was approached by a major record label in Miami called Slip N Slide records from which artistes such as Rick Ross, Trick Daddy and Trina have recorded.

“In the middle of me completing the mixtape which had 22 tracks, the record company was to fly me down to Atlanta to meet the president of the company. However, circumstances kind of changed and it never materialized.

“So, after that, I spent four months in Atlanta and recorded a track with one of Young Jeezy’s producers by the name of DJ Foreign Height,” he said.

Perry returned to St Vincent in February 2012 and did his first local performance at an event organized by Creative Entertainment.

His second major local performance came in November last year when he opened the show for Jamaican act Tommy Lee.

“Shortly after that, I started working on my second mixtape: Tape of Mixtures 2.

The Tape of Mixtures 2 was released in March this year.

“The first mixtape did well, because people were surprised that I was rapping at that magnitude. But for me personally, I knew that I had more in store because at the time, that was me trying to find what I wanted to rap about, how I want to say and stuff I wanted to address.

“This new mixtape is a little more specific, where I’m addressing stuff that’s going on in my life. So, through that other people can relate,” the young lad said.

Tape of Mixtures 2 was locally recorded and produced by Ranks of Tuff Records.

The mixtape also featured Perry’s first official single, entitled Champagne Pain.

The song has been in rotation on Hot 97 and Hitz FM since its release in March.

Champagne Pain was also premiered this week in North Carolina.

“The song is doing pretty good. So far, it has received over 500 views on Youtube and a lot of radio play. So, a lot of people are connected with it and have told me they liked it, but didn’t know it was me.”

Influenced by international recording artistes such as Drake, Lil Wayne Eminem and Alicia Keys; Perry says even with the obstacles that will come his way, he is determined to continue his pursuit to become an internationally acclaimed rap artiste.

“As an artiste, everyone’s dream is to be signed to a major record label. Be successful in creating hits, making it to the Grammys, topping charts, billboards and all of that stuff…”

He also disclosed that his mother has been fully supportive of his decision since in secondary school and continues to encourage him daily to pursue his dream.

“Back then, while driving to school, my mom would be telling me, ‘you know you have to do this rap thing, right? It’s part of the plan..’

“My family supports my decision, even my grandmother dances to my music and I’m going to continue doing my best,” Perry added.

Perry leaves for the California at the end of August, where he will work along with music producers there and from other states, including Atlanta and Miami.