By: Kenrick Josephs
The ‘Large and Authentic' L.A. Lewis
Anyone who has been around the block a few times has a high chance of seeing graffiti adorning walls throughout Jamaica bearing ‘We love you L.A. Lewis' or something close to that. Who is this L.A. Lewis?
He was born Horace Lewis and grew up in the Trench Town area of Kingston where he claims he is referred to as the ‘King' and is loved by everyone. As a Grammy aspiring DJ, Lewis has been working hard at putting out hit songs for almost 10 years. How did he get the name L.A.? It means Large and Authentic.
At a young age, Lewis was always on the road with his mother, Doreen Gordon, helping her out with her sale of clothes and shoes. Their main sale areas were ‘Back Market' and Princess Street in down town Kingston and Falmouth in Trelawny.
Lewis said he was accustomed to hanging out at Bob Marley's house in the Trench Town area where he would sing with the reggae legend's son, Ziggy Marley.
“Mi naturally love music but mi start out dancing with a group called Home Boys Crew,” Lewis claimed. According to him, the group consisted of about 20 dancers who would go to parties and perform break-dance moves. The members of the group came from all over Kingston and St. Andrew. They would all meet down town after school where they would hang out and practice new dance moves. In 1995, the crew broke up as some of the members left the island or took up other activities.
The self-dubbed, number one underground artiste tells that deejaying was his calling so he had to put away the higglering (selling goods) and take it up full-time. His mother would often tell him that DJs are not making money but soon supported his desire to go on.
“Ah mi friend name Bravo tell mi fi start DJ,” Lewis confessed, “Mi inspirations are Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, and my uncle Winston Matthew,” he continued.
He also said he idolized popular dancehall DJ, Ninja man, whom he says is not only just a DJ, but overall a born entertainer.
In 1995, Lewis recorded his first song, ‘How Long Dem Think Dem Ah Go Last', for Jamaican reggae producer, King Jammys. This song he says, catapulted him into popularity, earning him the right to perform at shows including Borderline, Teen Splash and Ghetto Splash. The artiste has also done stints overseas including New York, Miami and almost every island in the Caribbean.
The most recent move according to Lewis was a CD with a revamping of Pop King, Michael Jackson's hit song 2000 Watts. “Two thousand copies of the CDs and vinyl's were sold in the first week both locally and overseas,” Lewis said. The idea of doing this single sparked when he bought Jackson's album ‘Invincible' and heard the original song.
Digital Chris of Irie FM was the first Disc Jockey to give the song airplay and since then. According to Lewis, it has been getting a lot of requests and Aquarius Records and In De Street Records distribute the CDs and vinyls.
Lewis' present list of collaborations includes a 20 year-old sensation Rashida, whose skill he is presently honing. He operates from his own label, Success Records, which he plans to take internationally.
