AT 23-years-old, Andre Sutherland, more popularly known as Popcaan, is without a doubt one of the hottest dancehall deejays in Jamaica.

The TEENage team recently visited the UIM studio for a one-on-one with the man behind all the hit songs.

The artiste, who portrays a rather macho and gangster image to his audience, exposed a rather jovial side as he explained the differences between his musical persona and private life.

“Popcaan is just the business, Andre is a fun person, a party person, who is family oriented,” stated the man who was once determined to join the army from a tender age.

A past student of the St Thomas-based Happy Grove High School, Popcaan was soon to find himself in Portmore, St Catherine pursuing his musical career.

He recorded his first song titled Whine in 2007, and a year later he got his first hit single My War as a member of the Vybz Kartel-led Portmore Empire.

In 2010, Popcaan became a household name in Jamaica and in 2011 and he went global, first with Clarks, which also featured Vybz Kartel and Gaza Slim. Hits such as Dream, Gangsta City I & II, Ravin’ (which was named TEENage Best Song of 2011), Only Man She Want, and Clean soon followed.

All this he credits to staying focused and putting in hard work to maintain a standard of music that only gets better.

With a huge amount of success in 2011, Popcaan’s adoring fans and critics will have even higher expectations in 2012 and the man, who also goes by the pseudonym ‘Fry Yiy’ is already delivering.

Popcaan recently did a remix for Only Man She Want with international rapper Busta Ryhmes and also laid three tracks with American superstar Snoop Dogg, one of which could be featured on the California-based artiste’s upcoming album.

So far, songs such as Party Shot and Nah Leave have been getting heavy rotation on the airwaves and on the party scene, and it’s fair to say that the raving continues in 2012.

Find out how Andre Sutherland became Popcaan, how he met Vybz Kartel and if there is still a Gaza since the incarceration of Vybz Kartel. All that and more in our new, exclusive in-studio interview Press Record on the Jamaica Observer website or on YouTube.com/TEENageObserver.