J Capri remembered: eight years since her passing, dancehall star’s impact endures
The date, December 14 marks the eighth anniversary of the funeral date of the late dancehall artiste J Capri.
“It hard, you can imagine, ah eight years now, you have to be skilled to navigate da month ya,” Glamour Murphy, the father of J Capri said told Observer Online.
J Capri, real name Jordan Phillips, is the daughter of Murphy and Oradell Carwin. December is a tough month for J Capri’s surviving relatives. Born on December 24, the Wine and Kotch singer passed away on December 4, 2015, and was buried on December 14 that year.
Murphy takes comfort from the fact that J Capri and her avante-garde rock star fashion sense and crystal clear vocals are not forgotten.
“She is still remembered by Dancehall fans. Sometimes mi wonder if she did still de ya, can you imagine in the impact? She paved the way for the Jada Kingdom dem and the Stalk Ashley,” he said.
Capri currently has an impressive 780,000 monthly listeners on Spotify despite passing away eight years ago. Singles such as Wine and Kotch (90 million streams), Pull Up to Mi Bumper (49 million), and Boom and Bend Over (13 million) continue to resonate with fans, showing off her singular ability to seamlessly blend dancehall, hip hop, and R&B.
She racked up over 52 million views for the video for Pull Up to My Bumper with Konshens and also collaborated with Vybz Kartel on Mamacita.
“That is not a regular occurrence for straight dancehall to cross over that way, just straight dancehall. She was going to be huge,” Murphy said.
During her teenage years, J Capri often accompanied her father to studio sessions after school, sparking her love for dancehall. She eventually signed on to producer Rvssian’s Head Concussion Records, where she would soon find stardom. But then tragedy struck.
Reports are that the Wine and Kotch singer was travelling on November 23, in the Barbican area of St Andrew, at about 3:00 am when she reportedly lost control of the car she was driving, which slammed into a wall.
The 23-year-old was rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies and reportedly underwent surgery after suffering from what is said to be a fractured skull as well as brain damage.
— Claude Mills
