My brothers and I started out deejaying and producing as Chalice Palace Music in the late 90s, still Teenagers. Most of our productions were with local upcoming talents from our hood. At that time, we never had a distribution deal, so most of the work was unreleased until 2004 we released a few 45s. But we still had a long, long way to go until to receive recognition.
Listen to the album while reading the text.
My brother Kirk and I founded the label Chalice Palace Music. It started out of our home in Bamboo/St Ann-Jamaica. The original studio is still active and managed by my eldest brother Marlon.
In that time, I was able to buy my first car (a Honda) using a royalty check I got from Ascap. But for my break-through, I had to travel to Europe.
A local coffee shop in Vienna
Fed up with a bunch of good music after not getting a record deal in Jamaica and the United States, I took my hard drive, bought a ticket and flew out to Europe to shop the tracks. While in Vienna at a local coffee shop, I met owner and executive producer Stefan of DHF Records. He was impressed by the material, and the following morning I was invited to their main office to look over, agree and sign my first ever official record deal.
The resulting self-titled album has first been released in Europe only, and later in 2006 in a US version.
Back in Jamaica
But even before the release of my debut-album, the single Handcart Bwoy has been released on Rebel Music in 2005 and I would say it was my breakthrough. This and the following Amerimaka on Chalice Palace Music have both been number one hits.
From there on, I got really busy on the road, so the label wasn’t working as much. However, during that time I was still active in producing and co-producing songs on my albums (Born Dead With Life, French Connection, Journey Of 1000 Miles).
A new Label
In 2012, Chalice Palace Music was upgraded from label to publishing company. Therefore, I had to come up with a new name for the label: Giddimani Records was born! The first release on the new label was the Barriers Riddim in 2013. Since that, we have released a ton of work, including number one reggae billboard albums by Perfect Giddimani & Young Shanty (Steven Dajure Album) plus various artist riddim projects (Burnhard Spliffington Riddim, Nugs&Kisses Riddim, Civil Rights Riddim and many more).
The label is based between San Fransisco and Miami. We work from both cities since we have major connections and business there! They are also great hubs for traveling in and out of the country, which I do very often, especially when I’m on tour! It’s a bit difficult to calculate my miles (zig-zag miles), lol. One week I am traveling between the east and west coast (USA). The next week I’m doing east and west Europe, then shoot off to somewhere in South America in between.
With the hood
We work with talents from popular to unpopular. We aim to produce, push and promote quality music! Our roster includes Perfect Giddimani, Lutan Fyah, Chezidek, Anthony B, I.Wayne, Randy Valentine, Takana Zion, Teacha Dee, Young Shanty, Da Real Storm, Cookie The Herbalist, Menny More and a bunch of other great talents.
Currently, the “Anti Racism” is no2 on the Global Reggae Charts (June), and the Civil Rights riddim was also no2 last month (May). We are also working on new projects for the label, which includes two separate new albums for Teach Dee and Young Shanty plus new riddim projects which we release every month!