When dancehall artiste Alkaline

started rocking hair extensions, racking up tattoos and bleaching his skin,

producer Notnice felt the wrath of Vybz Kartel supporters who accused him of

helping to create a carbon copy. The producer had parted ways with the ‘World

Boss’ in 2011 after he claimed the deejay sent men to his home to confiscate

his equipment. Two years later, he produced Alkaline’s debut song. But when

Notnice tells the story, it’s an innocent tale of a producer wanting to help a

promising artiste, just as he had done with Popcaan in 2010.

“Mi know Alkaline from him a

go school and mi did decide fi record him one time and him never did a flow

right so mi seh gwaan do yuh thing and you’ll ketch the thing little

better,” Notnice said during a recent Instagram Live.

Once the aspiring deejay had

graduated from Ardenne High School, he sought to pursue a music career and used

gimmicks to get the public’s attention. Notnice, who had fallen on hard times

since disassociating from the Portmore Empire, was living in his small studio

when Alkaline hit him up.

“Him call me one night, I

think him did deh pon Entertainment Report (ER) the night a seh him tattoo him

eye,” he said. “When it done him call me and seh him never know seh

mi have the same number… so him seh him a forward a di studio come link

mi…mi give him the directions and him come. Him seh him deh pon ER and a do

some interviews but him n’ave no song… him need material so if me woulda

interested fi produce a song wid him and mi seh alright.”

The result was Things Mi Love, a sexy dancehall number

which Notnice created to complement the tempo of Macka Diamond’s Dye Dye, which was all the rave in

2013.

“Alkaline did have a Rasta

bredren around him at the time and mi tell him, ‘if you can go inna di party

and get this fi play before or after Dye

Dye, mi sure it a go buss.”

But the execution wasn’t as easy.

According to Notnice, Alkaline was having a hard time getting selectors to play

the song so he started accompanying him to the parties.

“Dem a seh when mi out deh

wid dem di ting more a get play so mi seh, ‘mi a go start forward a road wid

unno a night time’ so is like people start associate mi and Alkaline and a ask

if a mi artiste and mi seh yeah…”

Notnice produced more songs for

Alkaline including Move Mountains, Ready, Weh We A Go Do and Bruk Out, and started playing his tracks on

tour. He also took up managerial responsibilities after Alkaline parted ways

with his manager.

“Mi basically get him out

deh to where people start voice him now… inna da time deh Alkaline career pick

up.”

But as with Kartel, things

eventually turned sour with the ‘Vendetta Boss’.

“Mi and Alkaline end up fall

out too, mainly because him motive did different,” said Notnice.

“Maybe the aim was yeah, mi fi help yuh come to the forefront and then

afterwards yuh feel like yuh reach and mi nah go really tek dat so him go left,

mi go right.”

Notnice was speaking with

producer Steven ‘Lenky’ Marsden on Diwali Broadcast, an online quarantine

series featuring various players of the music industry.