Popcaan’s Unruly Fest has been given the thumbs up by members of the music fraternity. It was held for the first time last Saturday at Lyssons Park in his native St Thomas and featured a performance from superstar Canadian rapper Drake.

American music producer Dre Skull said, “It’s a beautiful thing to be here in his hometown with everyone supporting him. We have done work in Jamaica over the years.”

Dre Skull (given name Andrew Hershey) worked with Popcaan on his second album Forever, released in July. He is also executive producer for the deejay’s 2014 debut set, Where We Come From.

He said fans should look for more videos from Forever in 2019. Dre Skull has also worked with Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man, Machel Montano and Drake.

Veteran singer Cocoa Tea shared Dre Skull’s sentiments.

“I like to see Popcaan giving back to the people of St Thomas,” Cocoa Tea said. “He is one of the good young artistes going up that we respect an’ love, ’cause like I said on stage, ‘Popcaan is a yute wah have respect an’ manners an’ mi love dem tings deh bout him!’ Every time him si mi him sey, ‘Uncle! Uncle!’, an’ mi love dem ting deh because some people would like to go an’ believe they on top of the world because dem name Popcaan.”

Cocoa Tea added that he could not refuse when asked to perform on Unruly Fest.

“Popcaan does not forget that he is Popcaan an’ I am Cocoa Tea. I am somebody who paved the way for him an’ I love that. When he called me an’ sey, ‘Cocoa Tea’, I couldn’t refuse ’cause it’s Popcaan an’ the people dem of St Thomas a my people fi years,” he said.

Singjay Jah Vinci also praised the event.

“It’s a good look, whole heap a celebrity, whole heap a big artiste, whole heap a big singers, whole heap a big deejays, an’ for the ‘Out Clear Boss’ to be a part of such a massive line-up, it’s a privilege,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Jah Vinci and Popcaan were part of Vybz Kartel’s Portmore Empire.

Dre Island, whose breakout hit We Pray is a collaboration with Popcaan, said Unruly Fest has the potential to be a global success.

“Unruly Fest, number one festival in di Caribbean hemisphere an’ soon to be in di world!” he gushed. “It’s a brilliant show, fi a show di first time having the calibre of artiste that are on the show yuh know that it’s a show of high standard; Unruly only deals with high standards.”

Unruly Fest: Popcaan and Friends in Concert is expected to be an annual event.

In addition to Popcaan, there were performances from Drake, Tory Lanez, Cocoa Tea, Tanya Stephens, Bugle, I Wayne, Agent Sasco, Wayne Marshall, Bush Man, Iba Mahr, Jah Vinci, Quada, Jah Frass, Nesbeth and Richie Stephens.