Dancehall music producer Skatta Burrell rated Norris Man’s 2000 hit persistenceon which he worked as an audio engineer as his best production of all time.
Skatta bestowed his awards on Norris Man on Monday in one of his regular throwback Instagram posts, in which he shared the song’s accompanying music video and saluted the Rastafarian artist.
“How could I ever fail in life when Norris Man & Iley Dread gave me the opportunity to produce this smash hit. My first #1 song, it topped 60+ charts worldwide and is my best work to date because it shaped my entire spirituality and passion for music,” proclaimed Skatta.
Skatta continued his admiration for Norris Man, saying he would use his powers to ensure the singer performed at Reggae Sumfest this year.
“I would love to see you at Reggae Sumfest in 2023 and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen, my brother. Bigupp @badgyalcecile with the beautiful harmonies and @benzlyhype on keyboards,” he added.
In an interview with YouTuber Teach Dem, Norris Man had described it a few years ago persistence as a poetic bit of songwriting he wrote during a time of struggle as an aspiring artist in reggae/dancehall with his Kings of Kings stablemates Skatta, Cecile and singer Crisinti, who were struggling with the same issues.
“It was me, Skatta Burrell, who is with Downsound Records today. We started out as Bredrin; that’s how it all started. He was an engineer; i was an artist We met at Kings of Kings… back then Ce’cile was the secretary who worked for the guy Stephen Ventura,” Norris Man had explained.
“It was a wonderful opportunity because it’s like we started a camp. Because back then there was Xterminator, Star Trail Records; all moved in camps. And Skatta was the sound engineer who recorded me on a lot of the songs. All songs on the album named persistence, Skatta picks them up. He also mixed the album. It was his first major credibility,” said Norris Man of Skatta’s role on the debut 16-track album.
Norris Man had also hailed Skatta as his best engineer of all time.
“He was a good engineer and what happened back then, I think Kings of Kings – he never really wanted Skatta to mix all the songs 100 percent…but he (Skatta) is an engineer who’s grown used to my sound, my voice. Suh yuh, haffi, just be the best, when it comes to ne, he gets it right. Because we are friends and we started together. We were in the studio day and night…” he added.
Norris Man known for other hits like Bad road, stay real woman has patienceAnd home and awaysaid, that persistence marked a turning point in his life as when the song was released it became an instant hit, partly due to its melodies and intonations making the song memorable and a hugely impressed Irie FM disc jockey who gave it constant rotation.
“Everything changed there. Thank the disc jockey named Mighty Mike who spotted the song and give me a call personally. Because he thought the person singing the song was a bigger person, an older person. When he met me I was just a teenager; He looks like a big man,” he said.
“I just wrote what was on my mind. I didn’t know if I made a great ting or what. I only know meck good music. All that. An from mi a yute mi always has this idea. I don’t just want to make music like that. I listen to other artists and I see ‘listen, I want to be different from everyone else’. Suh, I’m always experimenting with my melodies, so that gives you grip on the song,” he added.
“It (Persistence) opened real doors because VP decided they wanted an album… we have a distribution deal with them. And this album has a lot of great hits. All the great Jamaican songs like ‘dem nuh wanna si wi strive’ [Bad Road] And bright days…,” he said.
said Norris Man persistence also allowed him to travel to Canada outside of Jamaica for the first time alongside Spanner Banner and Ce’cile, and propelled him into the limelight among the likes of then-dominant Sizzla Kalonji and Anthony B.
“I don’t make many songs like them, but the few that I do make big marks…” he said.
