Dancehall artiste Agent Sasco said his mentor, producer Donovan Germain’s recent success in the Jamaica Festival Song Competition came as no surprise.

Germain, a renowned producer with decades of experience under his belt, worked on not only the winning entry, Best in the World by Slashe, but also the second- and third-placed winners Dancing Same Way by Shuga and Feel Like Home by Exco Levi.

“Germain is one of the legendary producers in the game with a lot of experience and know-how in production. So it’s no surprise. A few songs in the Festival Song competition is one thing, but to have hits spanning decades, come on,” Agent Sasco disclosed in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday at the Funfest event held at Hope Gardens.

Germain once managed Agent Sasco when he used the moniker Assassin.

According to Agent Sasco, he learnt a lot working with the veteran producer.

“I learnt many, many things. Just being authentic and not necessarily worrying about trends. Big up Germain, big up Penthouse Records,” said Agent Sasco.

The veteran producer started out in the industry in the early 1970s. In the 1980s his Penthouse Records took off scoring successive hits with artistes such as Freddie McGregor, Audrey Hall, and Beres Hammond.

In the 1990s Penthouse rode high with a string of hits from Marcia Griffiths, Cutty Ranks, Tony Rebel, Twiggi, Wayne Wonder, and Buju Banton among others.

Agent Sasco has commenced work on his fifth studio album, which is still untitled. The project, he said, is earmarked for a 2024 release.

“We’ve already decided on the concepts, so we have a few ideas, [and we are] working through them to get into the studio. We want to do mostly live music for this project,” said Agent Sasco.

Asked why he has decided to feature live music on the album, Agent Sasco said: “We’ve done digital and half-live, and to make it more interesting for myself, and just bringing back that vibe of musicians in the studio and playing live.”

He continued: “I can only go with what my inspiration gives me and be authentic to my experiences and just my creativity. As it relates to music changing, I think that’s a constant part, you know, music has always been dynamic and evolving. The sound of 40 years ago when I was born was different from the music 20 years before that. It’s not new for music to change and to evolve. Authenticity has to be a main ingredient in whatever I do.”

The artiste released his début album Infiltration for VP Records in 2005. In 2007 Gully Sit’n was released, with Theory of Reggaetivity arriving nine years later. That album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart on March 12, 2016.

Hope River, released by Diamond Studios, peaked at #4 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart on September 15, 2018.