There is no shortage of Jamaican music in singjay Kruziano’s homeland, St Croix, which has produced several reggae acts in the past 10 years. Strongly influenced by dancehall culture, he makes his genre debut with the recently released One by One.

The song is done on the enduring Answer rhythm which has driven hit songs for over 45 years. He was introduced to the beat by Jamaican Yvette Marshall, who co-produced One by One.

“I first heard the Answer rhythm as a reggae version by Marcia Griffiths (I Shall Sing). It was reintroduced to my attention by the lovely Empress Yvette and then I dug in some more and the Super Cat (Vineyard Style) and Bounty Killer (Spy fi Die) versions really amazed me,” he said.

Given his love for dancehall music and artistes like Bounty Killer and Vybz Kartel, 19-year-old Kruziano stated that he was comfortable recording One by One which was released in October.

“The music and culture has helped me in my most difficult times and they feel right. I feel as if I must give back to dancehall in the little ways I can, whether it is paying homage or fusing it to create a new sound,” he said.

One by One is different in feel from Kruziano’s recent songs. Want You, which he did with fellow United States Virgin Island (USVI) artiste Pressure Buss Pipe, is lovers rock; while Negacion is a Latin track which hears him singing in Spanish, a nod to his Puerto Rican heritage.

Those songs, also released last year, marked his entry into recording.

Kruziano is among the new wave of artistes from St Croix, which is also home to acts like Danny I and Midnite (aka Akae Beka) and independent company, I Grade Records. Along with neighbouring St Thomas, it has yielded the bulk of reggae artistes from the USVI.

“I came from the melting pot of the Virgin Islands where positivity is accepted whether it come from the moon or the ocean. We love great vibes. Rastafari and Jamaican culture has made its way into our infrastructure and the music is only a piece of what we have been impacted by,” he explained.

— Howard Campbell