RECORDING artiste Specialist has captured the imagination of the masses with the infectious “banana chips and phone card” hook on his breakout Street Hustle single. And this confident 21-year-old deejay says there’s no turning back.

“The success feels good, it is a great feeling to hear your song on the radio and on mixtapes, everywhere mi go, people ah show mi love,” he said.

Specialist explained how he got the idea for Street Hustle. “Mi get the idea in May when I was still on the campaign to raise money for votes in the Magnum contest. So I was in Half-Way-Tree a campaign when mi look around and mi see the banana chips man, the phone card man and the cash for gold man dem ah do dem ting, and ah just de so mi build the lyrics and now the world have it,” he said.

There is also a decent underground buzz around his follow-up single, Juggle, which has been popping up on mixtapes this fall.

“This one shows the serious side of juggling and it kinda back up the first one,” he explained.

He has been recording steadily, amassing over 15 new songs, including a collaboration with veteran artiste John Holt.

Since finishing as a runner-up to eventual winner Hurricane in the recent Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall competition, Specialist has hit the ground running, already scoring a bonafide hit with Street Hustle which went to number four on the ER charts in early September.

“Mi feel great about how everything is working out. Scatta a do him ting, Joe (Bogdanovich) a do him ting. We just a work as a team. A nuff ting fi come a road,” he said.

He recently performed at a Digicel concert in downtown Kingston where Street Hustle went over well, and also gave a creditable showing at a LIME promotional concert in Half -Way-Tree alongside notable artistes such as Beenie Man, Spice and Chino.

Born Orane Wilson to parents Michael Wilson and Merle Thyme, he grew up in the Central Village area in St Catherine with four brothers and one sister. He attended McAuley Primary and Eltham High School where music became his main focus, and helped to keep him out of trouble.

“Mi grow up in a rough area, and mi just avoid violence by staying by myself, listening to riddims and writing three songs a day. Music save me from trouble and mix-up, even at school, every day, as lunch time come, mi round a the block ah deejay, the teachers even come listen, because the way mi versatile, mi can clash without using expletives.”

He first entered the Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall competition in 2010 but failed to make the cut, but he never gave up and the second time, he had an impressive run that has made him a household name.

Specialist says he is currently locked in the studio, recording tracks he is confident will be club bangers, ‘conscious’ tunes and hardcore dancehall songs. He has recorded over 16 songs, enough to put out his debut album.

“Mi just glad fi everything that ah happen and mi just a press on same way,” he said.