Dreams do come true and that’s exactly what happened for 18-year-old Denzil Williams and 22-year-old Jevonne Green, who both entered the Pepsi Winnin Riddim Competition which was launched earlier in the year. The two young producers successfully walked away as winners at the final which was held at the University of Technology jamaica (UTech) Auditorium in March.

Williams, who attends Belmont Academy in Westmoreland, learned about the competition from a friend. With the encouragement of family and friends, he decided to take a shot at it. Being self-taught, he looks up to other industry players such as Anju Blaxx, DJ Frass, DJ Sunshine, Chimney Records, Don Corleone and Robert Livingston. In the future, he would love to record some top names on his Toxious Music label, such as Popcaan, Busy Signal, Vybz Kartel, Wiz Khalifa and Chris Brown, just to name a few. In the next five years, Denzil has every intension of being more experienced in music and also in the field of information technology. He will be attending UTech this coming December, specialising in Computer Science.

Hailing from Seaview Gardens, Green also heard about the competition from a friend and was determined to enter. He has been lucky enough to voice on his label, A Jus Di Vybz Music, along with his business partner Fresh Rymes some top names in the business such as Dexta Daps, Khago, Voicemail, Delus, Blackman, and Gully Bop. Jevonne, who also goes by the name Gahlexi has had a lot of support from friends and family and hopes to be collecting a Grammy and rubbing shoulders with other musical legends. He looks up to producers Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor from the young generation and Sly & Robbie from the older generation.

The competition conceptualised by media content creator O’Neil Walters, chief executive officer of Sretlaw Media Company and was fully endorsed by Pepsi Jamaica. According to Walters, this was a way to unearth new talent within Jamaica’s rich musical culture and to give producers an equal opportunity to showcase their talent.

At the official handover of the two Mac Books loaded with Pro Tools, there was nothing short of excitement beaming from the faces of the youngsters. Denzil expressed “What I am currently working with now is just a regular Dell laptop and some JBC speakers. Having the opportunity to win this Mac Book will improve my work flow tremendously.”

According to Jevonne, “I am also currently using a Dell laptop to make my beats. This is such a major improvement for me, performance and production wise.”