BORN in Brooklyn to a Jamaican musical family, selector-cum-dancehall deejay Zekedon said he had no doubts about his career path.

“Artistes used to come to mi house regularly, so it kinda rub off pon mi,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Zekedon, 29, is currently promoting his singles Struggle and A1 Class (Bad Like Yaws). The latter, released in May, is from a 16-track mixtape entitled South Florida Dancehall Hero, while Struggle came out last month. Both tracks are produced by himself and Junior Taxi on the Reggae Pop Records imprint and are available on iTunes.

“Bad Like Yaws is really a bruk out tune fi de girls dem… It really gets them to bruk out. When it play, the girl dem go pon top a di speaker boxes an’ a dance… just like Dutty Wine.”

A video is slated to be shot in mid-October.

Zekedon said he is encouraged by the track’s reception, especially in Jamaica.

“Di end a July into August, mi perform at Club Amnesia and Blue Diamond inna Ochi (Ocho Rios) and at a session inna Grants Pen (Kingston) and the crowd a sing mi song dem,” he said.

Struggle, according to him, is a “positive tune” which showcases his vocals.

“That one deh is about di daily struggles people face, and encourage them that God naah give you more than you can bear. So just keep di faith and continue working hard… Better will come,” he said.

Zekedon (given name Ezekiel Edwards) was raised by his mother, Maxine Edwards, and aunt Annette Brissett in New York.

“My aunt wrote I Shall Sing for Marcia Griffiths and had a big song, There For You, with Beres Hammond, while my mother sang back-up.”

The family subsequently relocated to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. The deejay started the sound system Onkore while in high school in 2000.

“I was a well-known DJ in Miami and became Mr Vegas’s DJ from 2005 to 2010. Mi tour the whole world wid Mr Vegas and done a whole passport,” he said.

“However, due to some immigration issues I couldn’t fly for a while, so I had to make a decision to leave the DJ thing and explore deejaying,” he said.

He said the transition from DJ to deejay was not a smooth one.

“It wasn’t easy. Other selectors told me fi ‘stay inna mi lane’. Mi used to haffi stand up beside a sound to get dem play mi music. I put in a lot of ground work. But now God a shine di light and it a pay off now,” he said.

He got his break in 2014 with Go Away. His other releases include Piranha, Paid in Full (Never Broke), Blahdaff, Best Seller and Everyday to Everyday.

“Mi waan music to reach people…dem caan listen mi songs and feel better. Mi waan leave a legacy.”

— Brian Bonitto