ETNT Hot Seat With Kerwin Dubois

Rated as one of the "underdogs" of soca; prolific song writer, producer and artiste, Kerwin Dubois, took time out from his hectic Soca Monarch finals preparations last week to chat with us.  Not at all fazed about being in the Hot Seat, Kerwin shared some his experiences with brutal honesty (while bussin ah joke here and there) in this exclusive interview.

 

 

ETNT: So that song you did with Denise a few years ago, what was the water you were referring to hmmm?

KD: Actually wasn’t talking about water, she was talking about the water. I dunno, maybe it was the water to help the rose grow or bloom.

ETNT: Yeah but the song was written by you. So what’s the rose and the stem then?

KD:  It needed water. Every rose needs water to grow, like plants need water. What kinda water you think it was? *smirk*

ETNT: No, no, no. You are the interviewee.

KD: (Laughs Out)

ETNT: You ever wrote a song for someone who you felt didn’t carry it well on stage?

KD: Yeah, and you know who it is. It’s been three years in a row

ETNT: So then why continue to write for that person?

KD: Ummm, I dunno. That’s a good question you know. I thought before it was a brotherhood, but I realize was blinded. I was under tint.

ETNT: so, 2011, last year for those kinds of collaborations?

KD: Yeah!

ETNT: With that particular person?

KD: …and many others.  We in de hot seat right?

ETNT: Yeah! Care to call names?

KD: NO

ETNT: scared?

KD: No. Not scared, just doh want the controversy......now

ETNT: Most embarrassing moment on stage?

KH: Ohhhhh Gooood. Toronto… Caribana 2009, when we sang “Gal Farm.”  They introduce me in a show and I was drinking before. I ran on the stage and tripped and fell twice. 

ETNT: Personal opinion, where do you think the money really is? Writing, producing or performing?

KD: Writing, as long as you have full ownership of the song. That’s where all the money is.

ETNT: What are you usually up to outside of Carnival season?

KD: Travelling, resorting and just chilling. Being a father, or trying to be a good father. That’s it really.

ETNT: I didn’t know you were a parent.

KD:  Yeah. I have 2 children. I have one son 14...no 13 (Gosh ah pushing mih son age) and one daughter who is 3.

ETNT: Are they showing any interest in music?

KD: Oh my daughter...yeah! Big Time! She doh like nutten but soca.

ETNT: Looking at some of those promo videos that people would have posted up on YouTube, a lot of the comments describe you as under-rated.  How do feel about that? Yay, nay, or that’s just people’s opinions?

KD: I don’t give them wrong, and I think that’s my fault too. Before, I never really put myself out there. A lot of the times, people can always cling on the name, but never a face. I never used to market myself because I was never sure if I wanted to do production and writing, or if I wanted to be an artiste alone, or a combination of the three.  But now I’m glad it’s that way so it would make me work towards not being underrated anymore, but highly rated. So it gives me room to grow.

ETNT: With all the songs you would have recorded and released over the year, are there any songs that you look back and make you think “way boy, what made me decide to release this song?” In other words, if you fine de song was to-to

KD: LOL!! Just one song boy. That was a song me and farmer did this year yes. Believe it or not, it was a fast song, a song named “Shut Down.” Well boy, hmmm, did that get shut down.

ETNT: Do you feel bad when your songs don’t pick up?

KD: Nah not at all. I learn to accept it the same way I learn to accept it when people hold on to it. It’s a learning process. I’ll know not to go back that avenue next time, or this could have been done better, so I doh take it as a diss or anything. As a matter of fact, ah man walked up to me… Kernel walked up to me and said “that song with you and Farmer is s**t” he does just keep it real like that. 

ETNT: Since people are brave enough to tell you that your song is mess, would you do the same?

KD: Nah I can’t do that. I would just say I don’t like it, because it might just kill ah man whole vibe. You don’t know how long he took to do the song, or all the effort he put behind it.

ETNT: People who know Kerwin or knows Kerwin’s music would know that you used to do your thing in calypso as well. You had so much success in calypso, wining Young Kings and making it to calypso finals, you give up on calypso?  

KD: I never gave up on it. I just moved on. I was just doing what was me and I had to be wise about things too. I didn’t have any big set of passes with O’levels and A’levels, so I needed to secure my future and i couldn’t secure a future in calypso. I had to go where there was a wider audience where there a bigger opportunity for me to earn, where you could survive. It’s about survival. I don’t want to be a broken hungry Calypsonian. I don’t want them to say “oh he so talented...but he broke” So I needed to find my place. Everybody might say I jumped ship, but I didn’t. I took the knowledge and experience and I branched over. It’s the same culture yuh know...it’s just a faster tempo.

ETNT: So you think you would ever go back?

KD: NEVER! I wouldn’t go back and sing it the way it is done every year, and it just keeps sounding traditional from how much years ago. I’ll come back in it and write for younger ones, for junior calypso monarch and young kings. That’s how I’ll be present. In writing! I ain’t turn mih back on it either.

ETNT: So...jump and wave or j’ouvert songs?

KD: Amm...I go take de j’ouvert yes!

ETNT: Why?

KD: Sometimes, the jump and wave right now these days too limited. They don’t have longevity in them. You might get one, two or three standing out in a year now. The levels just drop. They drop big time.