DANCEHALL music has produced its share of colourful characters. Being outrageous comes with the territory, something deejay Alkaline is well aware.

Like many Jamaican youth, Alkaline is into tatoos. He wears them on his pupils!

"I'm enigmatic, I don't want to be a normal artiste. This is dancehall, you want to make people act and react," he said, adding: "You must make a difference."

A first-year journalism student at the University of the West Indies' Caribbean Institute of Mass Communications (CARIMAC), Alkaline is also set on making it as an artiste.

He describes his sound as "dancehall meets urban pop rock culture."

He has recorded and released over 20 songs including Not a Slack Song, Ugly Truth, Fake Friend and Nutten But Badmind.

Born Earlan Bartley, Alkaline says while hitting it big on the charts is high on his list, earning a degree is a way of "appeasing his mother" who believes in a sound education and having something to "fall back on."

Alkaline's latest release is Church Folks.

— Cecelia Campbell-Livingston