DilinJah Promises Consciousness At Catch A Fire
[Written by Patrick Bean]
He may not yet be a household name however, local recording artist DilinJah — real name Dekembe Dill-Outerbridge — possesses an aura of greatness.
Much like his late uncle, Haile Outerbridge, DilinJah is versatile in his ability to seamlessly move between styles, whether it be singing, rapping or toasting DilinJah’s lyrics are designed encourage profound reflections and insights that challenge people’s understanding of life and existence.
“My uncle was Starchild,’ noted the singer. “My cousin and I often write songs together, and there is one that we will perform together at Catch A Fire
“Even though I was writing music before I knew about my uncle being into music, we were both influenced by him.
“When I found out who he was, I felt proud and started to take my music even more seriously.”
DillinJah explained how he wrote his first song while he was in the seventh grade at Bermuda Institute and continued writing and exploring various genres as he matured, even dabbling in formulating Sea Shanties while a crew member on the tall ship Spirit.
“I went to BI, where I sang in the choir, and my mom and grandpa used to carry me to church, where I would also sing,” said the now 30-year-old. “I first started to learn how to play the piano as a youth, which was my introduction into music, and I came to love it.
“My mother was Rastafarian growing up, and I was influenced by artists like Capleton and Sizzla, Bob Marley, Luciano and other conscious reggae artists.
“I like to be versatile. The main music I write is more of a conscious style where there is a conscious message and vibe, but I also write other types of music.
“I write girl tunes and sea shanties. In fact, I won a shanty competition down in Antigua.
“I got into rap when, at 13, I switched to the public school system and got around different groups of people than those I had encountered.
“I was into Lil Wayne and started rapping a bit and did that for a couple of years before getting back to doing dancehall reggae.”
At present, DilinJah has only a short catalogue of released material, but has several tunes that he has shared with friends.
One modern genre DilinJah steers clear of is drill music, a subgenre of hip-hop known for its gritty lyrics, aggressive beats and raw storytelling in its portrayal of street life, violence and social issues.
“I don’t write music about killing and all that because I don’t promote that and I don’t do it,” said DilinJah, who believes much of today’s anti-social behaviour and violence is due to people having lost touch with God. “The gun play needs to stop.
“We really need to stop it, and I believe the problem is that we’ve lost our way as a nation.
“We’ve lost touch with the Most High, and I believe that’s been the beginning of our downfall.
“What I always tell people is to look to God. To go and look to the Father first and read your Bible.
“Even if you don’t believe everything that’s in it, it still carries wisdom that will help you, guide you in the way to move forward and soften the heart.
“It seems today that the youth’s hearts are so hard, and even though that’s something that was prophesied, you don’t have to be that.
“You don’t have to be that at all. You’ve got to have a soft heart. You can’t live with all this hate; it’s just too much, and it’s not good for anybody.
“I just believe that we need more love on the Island and in the world as a whole.”
As for what to expect from him at Catch A Fire, DilinJah promised an explosion of positivity.
“I aim to display my versatility,” he said. “I’ll start off slow and end it with a bang.”
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