MONTEGO BAY, St James

MONTEGO Bay-based musical outfit StarzPlus has been steadily gaining recognition and respect in the highly competitive dancehall arena, churning out heavily requested songs on the local dance circuit.

The outfit, which credits Teejay and Ryme Minista as two of its stars, has seemingly broken through to the mainstream with fans taking full notice of their presence.

This respect now being enjoyed is evidenced by the group’s inclusion on the recently staged Reggae Sumfest Dancehall Night roster, and the warm fan reception.

According to Manager Gregory ‘Fox’ Lindo, the artistes are currently “fully booked” for shows all over Jamaica and in North America.

“Right now as we speak Ryme Minista is currently on tour in Atlanta, where he will also shoot a video for his latest single Fast Life, while on the same day in Jamaica Teejay will shoot a video for his song True Friend, while a video for They Don’t Know, a collaboration with both artistes, is slated for release within a few days,” Lindo told the Jamaica Observer West.

“We have been contacted by number of companies and promoters interested in booking both Teejay and Ryme Minista, especially after their showing at Reggae Sumfest and Teejay’s performance at MoBay Jerk Festival and Red Stripe Beer ‘Wednezdays’ on Gloucester Ave,” he said. “I’m extremely happy for them as we have been putting in a lot over the years.”

Both artistes hail from the sometimes volatile inner-city community of Glendevon in St James, and have credited music as the avenue they have chosen to gain success.

“I have been doing music for the last ten years, and right now I’m just focused on putting in the work and building my career. I have some hot, new singles coming out soon and I just want the fans to watch out for that,” Ryme Minista explained.

For his part, Teejay said the year so far has been “unbelievable”.

“It’s an awesome feeling right now; the level of recognition this year compared to last year is unbelievable. After the Sumfest performance things have really picked up. I’m slated for a tour of the Caribbean soon and we are looking to the US also,” he explained.