Kēvens performing at Zen Fest from 1998
By Luke W. Archer
1998 Zen Fest, Zephyrhills, Fl.
Sweat and steam spread a foggy haze above a sea of anticipation on Ravers. It had rained that day, it was actually raining now, a suitable stage for the dreamy haze that filled his mind. He hid every hint of nervousness behind thick glasses and followed his consequence of backbeat dancers and musical alchemists on the DJ podium filled by smoke. The crowd broke out like a living heartbeat, waiting for the drop. His voice waited in silence, rocked in the warmth of green tea, the melody that pushed in his chest. One, two, three, four. Something old was awakened in the fourth breath of the bass line. Reggae met the pulse of the future, and from the vision of Kēvens, ReggaeedM took its first breath.
Kēvens never claimed to have invented reggaeedm, only that he was the first to give it a name. But his role as the earliest ambassador cannot be denied. A tireless pioneer, he wore this live fusion of reggae and electronic dance music to stages around the world. From the roots of Reggae Sunsplash in Jamaica to the enormous pulse of Ultra Music Festival, from Tokyo to the frozen lights of the Russian Ice Palace, Kēvens was the beating heart of the genre, long before the world knew what to name.
Critics say that reggaeedm is nothing new, that his roots withdraw to the jungle movement of the nineties. And they would not be wrong. The echoes of DUB, Drum and Bass and UK Sound System Culture are all there. But reggaeedm is not a jungle. It’s not Dub. It is not a drum and bass. It is something completely different, a new branch from the same pedigree, grown in fresh soil and reaching to another heaven.
Reggaeedm combines the uplifting messages and rhythmic schedules of Dancehall and Roots Reggae with the Hooggeenergy 4/4 beats of contemporary EDM. This genre retains the tradition of Reggae of Social Consciousness and embraces the pulsating rhythms that resonate with today’s youth. While EDM festivals such as the Electric Daisy Carnival continues to attract huge crowds, with more than 525,000 attendees in 2024, Reggaeedm cuts out its own space, cultural and musical dividing lines bridges.
“It is a genre that is in the early stages,” says Matt Phillips, co-founder and president of Silverback Music. “A few artists have crossed the barriers … Both genres work well together; it’s about the beat and the rhythm.” His recording reflects the growing consciousness of the industry that reggaeedm, although rooted in history, does its own path of rhythm and reinvention.
Phillips, who manages many of the modern tanglers of Reggae, sees clear signs of his rise. “The artist I identify the most as the push of regaeedm on the highest global phases is great lazer,” he says. “Much of the rhythms draw from island, reggae and world music, and they have done many great collaborations with Jamaican reggae stars.”
While dozens of artists have formed the rise of this sound, from Thiebery Corporation from Washington DC, to Hi Fi from Mungo in Glasgow, to Adrian Sherwood in London, many of them did without ever knowing that the genre had a name. This merger of course happened, born of shared rhythms, a universal message and an underlying love for both Reggae and EDM.
Silverback Artist Management left his mark for the first time in the 1990s by shaping the legacy of the cross-genre-definating band Sublime. That moment confirmed their role as architects of the modern reggae-rock movement. Since then they have continued to send the sound of a generation, promoting historical events, including the closer to the Sun Festival in Riviera Maya, Mexico, Calivibes in Long Beach, CA and Point Break in Virginia Beach. Now, with the rise of a new Gulf of Genre-Blending Acts, they are pushing boundaries again.
“We try to include EDM more in our reggae festivals. People go to music festivals to have fun and dance,” says Matt Phillips. “Now more artists cross between reggae and electronically, I see a huge place for it in our shows.”
Reggaeedm, as soon as a fringe experiment, quickly becomes the next wave. Silverback is ready and helps determine the stage in the international reggae scene.
If there is one person who can speak at the birthplace of Reggaeedm, with a chair in the front row, it is Damian Pinto. All over the world known as The Voice of Dance Music, Pinto is the MC for Ultra Music Festival since before it even had a name. Pinto’s voice has become synonymous with the global electronic music culture, woven in the sets of the biggest acts to worship an EDM podium. Pinto is for EDM what Howard Cossel was for football, which is Bruce Buffer for the MMA. Long before the massive crowds and international tours, Pinto forged Miami’s underground and helped to shape a scene that would eventually take over the world.
Here he met a young band leader named Kēvens.
The two crossed paths in Fort Lauderdale, years before Ultra. At the time, Pinto had a club of 20,000 square feet in Florida named The Theater Nightclub and Concert Hall, and promoted shows with early pioneers of dance music, including The Orbital, The Chemical Brothers and Meat Beat Manifesto. He and his partners launched the club after a run with Don King Productions, with the help of his unforgettable voice to announce boxing matches in the world. Then Kēvens got up with his band Le Coup! His reggaevocals weave in the electronic pulse, and immediately Pinto recognized the magic.
“His regaeedm mixes were the first I had ever heard,” says Pinto. “That was even before the first UltrasHow. Reggaeedm has nestled a special place in those early days.”
Hearing Van Pinto is not small. He was with the founders of Ultra from Day Zero. He has been the voice behind the Ultra Music Festival every year. His voice has opened sets for almost every major EDM act on Earth in the past twenty-five years. And because of all this he has never forgotten what he heard in Florida in those early days.
“What could you possibly say about Kēvens?” he asks. “In addition to being an original OG in the Florida Drum & Bass scene, he is an icon, a legend, and there is really no word for his love, authenticity, dedication to push boundaries, and are not -repellent dedication to the distribution of love, peace and positivity, which are the foundations of this whole thing.”
Pinto and Kēvens both came up through the same Florida scene, each of whom found their own passions and formed the sound of EDM. More than three decades later, that recognition is still weight. Because Pinto has not only seen every phase of dance music. He helped to define it. And when he broadcasts Kēvens as the one who wore the soul of Reggae in the world of electronic music, he means it.
“In the dance scene, when it comes to reggae, nobody even comes close to the enormous influence of Kēvens,” says Pinto. “To summarize it all, there are only one kēvens.”
That is the truth in the heart of all this. Reggaeedm is not a new genre that just fell out of the sky. It grew from sweat-driven night clubs in South Florida, in London, in San Francisco and in the abandoned warehouses of Los Angeles. It came from the rave culture of sound systems that meet rave culture, and from friendships like this.
“Reggaeedm is real. It’s not a nostalgia. It is a modern sound with history, heart and goal.”
“If someone can bring this forward,” says Pinto, “it’s Kēvens.”
And maybe it’s the moment now. EDM fans reach back to his jungle roots, reggae fans are leaning in the future, and in the middle reggaeedm finally has his day. The beats have changed, but the message is still important. Both crowds are ready, ready for the merger, ready for the now, ready for reggaeedm. And because Kēvens has reminded us for more than 30 years, “positivity is a necessity.”
Bridgeway artist MGMT / Byron Malcolm
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Bridge Geway Artist Management is a company based in Lauderhill, FL that specializes in providing extensive management services for artists in various creative industries.
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This release is published on OpenPR.