At the dawn of the millennium, rapper/deejay Devy Don was in Miami recording songs he hoped would catch the ears of dancehall and hip hop fans. Those tracks were never released, but recently he and producer Neville “Prophet” Thompson got together and agreed to finally put them out.

The six songs are compiled as Real Thugs, an EP released on April 13 by Thompson’s Buffalo Music Productions.

“We’ve been sitting on these songs for a while. He’s [Thompson] remastered them so the songs have a little more pop to them,” said Devy Don, who lives in Washington, DC.

The songs include the title, Soldier Bride and Fresh Spring Water, which are written by the Montego Bay-born artiste.

Although he continued to record sporadically, Devy Don had lost interest in a music career and settled into a conventional job and lifestyle.

He admits the songs recorded with South Florida-based Thompson in 1999 periodically popped up in his mind, but when the latter contacted him and expressed interest in reviving them.

Devy Don admits a feeling of ambiguity.

“It was kinda mixed, I wasn’t overly excited about it. But after Prophet an’ I spoke more about things, I really got pumped about it,” he said.

Born Clint Robinson, Devy Don is from the Green Pond area of Montego Bay, St James. He attended Cornwall College and, during the 1990s, developed an appreciation for roots singer Garnet Silk and rappers Tupac Shakur and Eric B and Rakim.

Thompson is also from Montego Bay and attended Cornwall College. He has produced songs by a number of artistes including Frankie Paul, Terry Ganzie and Kenyatta (aka Junior Biggs).