TWO Saturdays ago, the dancehall deejay Assassin, aka Agent Sasco, put in another masterful performance at the Shaggy and Friends chartity show on the lawns of Jamaica House.

His engaging, workman-like performance with tracks such as Hand to Mouth, Something's Gotta Give and Late — a witty lament of a driver encountering peak-hour morning traffic being threatened with being terminated from his job — earned the deejay a rousing ovation and one patron to question, "How come him nuh buss bigger?"

That's the question Splash put to the artiste born Jeffrey Campbell: "The truth is I honestly don't know," he responded easing back in his chair as he continued. "All I can say is I have done my part and it is sometimes easy to blame external forces when things are not going your way. But that is not my style, so I will continue to do me."

The deejay says he is happy with the results he has had with the music thus far. Having just celebrated his 29th birthday, Assassin sees the coming decade as being his most productive. "I fully understand what people mean when they ask when am I going to make it big. But the truth is, I have been around for 10 years, had hits, and continue to be in the top crop of young deejays."

But for many, Assassin's clean-cut image — extremely articulate, married and a father of two, no piercings or tattoos, pretty-boy, non-smoking demeanour goes contrary to the image of not just the Jamaican or reggae act, but moreso in genre of dancehall.

The deejay offers that he shies away from labels, but says, "I can only be me, and I find it quite offensive that persons should think that our music should be championed by educational rejects. Why can't I spell my name and be a successful deejay at the same time. I sorry, but I'm going to be me and do me," he stresses emphatically.

He confidently posits that his talent — in penning lyrics as well as delivering in studio and on stage — is what he is relying on to take him to that next level in the coming years.

"I make sure I'm physically fit, this helps me with endurance on stage, I'm learning to play the guitar, which will help me musically, the maturity of the years has hopefully assisted in improving my lyrical content... I am improving every year and hopefully will continue to do so. So it's only a matter of time, one song away... make that one chorus away," he tells Splash, nodding with confidence.

The deejay who also utilises the moniker Agent Sasco, says that stage name has more "Googleability" which he notes is important in this age.

As for 2012, the deejay says the year started with a bang with the Shaggy show and was followed with Tuesday's release of a 63-song, 53-minute mixtape which he notes has seen more than 3,000 downloads from his website. The artiste is also extremely pleased that he has made it to the line-up for the Jamaica 50 music tribute at next weekend's Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in Trelawny. "Having done every other show series locally, this was the only one left," he says "it proves to me that I am reaching to that level."

— Richard Johnson