Words and Photos by Ola Mazzuca
On April 10th, Popcaan tweeted, “Watch this, Unrulys what you say???” in response to an acoustic mash-up of his songs posted to YouTube by singer Lucas DiPasquale. The clip, which begins with the soft strumming of an acoustic guitar and an agile interpretation of Poppy’s “Road Haffi Tek On,” presents an incongruous visual in DiPasquale, a young white Canadian with thick-rimmed glasses and backward cap, who looks like he’d be more at home covering John Mayer than the Unruly Boss.
Within hours of Poppy’s tweet, the video went viral across the Facebook pages and Twitter feeds of Jamaicans and dancehall fans, in no small part due to DiPasquale’s adept patois. The months that followed have brought much attention and interest for the singer — since dubbed Lucas D by his new friends in the dancehall world — but nowhere more so than Jamaica, where he has appeared on the popular interview program OnStage TV and performed alongside Popcaan at Dream Weekend. Fresh off his summer travels to Jamaica, Lucas met up with us recently for a walk around Toronto’s colorful Kensington Market neighborhood.
As we found, dancehall isn’t a gimmick for the 19-year-old singer-songwriter, though he might be new to the culture. “A lot of people say that what makes it more believable is that I actually enjoy the music,” Lucas told us. “I don’t pretend to be the encyclopedia of dancehall, but I think I know those few artists well enough to enjoy it and embrace it.”
During his visits to Jamaica this summer, Lucas cut his debut dancehall single “Make My Rounds,” on the Beach Life riddim which also spawned Popcaan’s “Unruly Party.” With an upcoming EP in the works, DiPasquale doesn’t need a mesh marina to be bad and unruly – the music is doing it for him.
LargeUp: The first time you heard Popcaan was on Pusha T’s “Blocka.” Listening to Popcaan’s lyrics and tone, what struck you first?
LD: That’s a bard, too. The very first thing he says is, “Dis type a shit happen everyday/ All dem a gwaan dem heart softer than clay…” That’s an impressive rap line in itself without the patois. It was rhythmic, lively and different. I heard people speak patois, mainstream artists like Shaggy, but I had never really been that exposed to it and his voice struck me as…different. My buddy got me into him, and he sounds exciting in all of his music. That really grabbed me.
LU: Is rap and hip-hop your background in terms of musical preference?
LD: Yeah. I also listen to a lot of indie, singer-songwriter stuff, progressive rock or acoustic music. Since I was five or six years old, I’ve been listening to rap music. I learned how to use Limewire when I was really young. I was downloading Eminem, T.I.. I got the Best of OutKast when I was nine. It’s been rap music for a very long time.
LU: It seems pretty unconventional: Canadian dude with an Italian surname covering Popcaan in stellar patois with grit. Why do you think your Popcaan medley received such an awesome response amongst all of your other covers?
LD: I think I hit a niche market. Before, I was making covers with my friend Kelly and we were content with what we were doing. But they were all songs that other people were covering. She’s not really into dancehall, and I had been listening to it and I made the cover. I think it really grabbed people’s attention because one: I don’t look like I should be singing that and two: cause I can. I don’t usually point out my strengths, but one of them is that I can speak, or mimic, patois in an authentic way.
LU: You’ve received a lot of attention from Jamaican women. Why do you think they love you so much?
LD: Maybe cause I have glasses [laughs]. I don’t know. It’s more like the songs are attractive. Especially “Only Man She Wants” – that’s a ladykiller. That’s what it was made for. Girls have always enjoyed my voice, so I guess it’s the same thing. I don’t get caught up in that.
LU: When was the first time you visited Jamaica?
LD: It was the beginning of June to film the OnStage TV interview with Winford [Williams]. That was the purpose of the trip. I did an interview with DJ Sparks, and Dennis Brooks of Nationwide 90 FM. I also got to see the Bob Marley Museum, which was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life. That was phenomenal. I didn’t understand the legacy that he left. I was not ready for it. It’s one of most memorable experiences I’ve ever had.
LU: How did your Dream Weekend appearance come together?
LD: Someone from my team contacted someone from Popcaan’s team, and we got the invite. Dream Weekend flew me out. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I met Popcaan at the Bahia [Grand Bahia Principe Resort]. I knew from being around him that he was a super genuine guy. I took a nap, cause I had to perform at two in the morning. We headed out, watched performances, and met people. It was crazy.
LU: Airhorns galore.
LD: Yeah, wasn’t expecting that. After I got off the stage, it was a surreal experience getting that kind of feedback.
LU: What was the most gratifying aspect of performing with Popcaan?
LD: It didn’t seem like he was forced to do it. He was really friendly the entire time, and fun to hang out with. I think the coolest part was when he got up on stage and started singing “Get Gyal Easy.” I knew the song too, but I was so focused that I didn’t want to join in. I wasn’t even going to groove because I was like “man, I gotta make sure I play these chords right.” Of course, no one could really hear them because everyone was screaming. Now, it’s getting me hyped to collab with everybody. That little thing on stage sparked my imagination of who would sound good on a particular verse.
Assassin was also there, and the only thing I knew him from was “I’m In It” off [Kanye West’s] Yeezus. He’s sick. I did an Instagram video with him as he was singing the verse from “I’m In It.” He saw my performance and he was like “Hey man, great job.” I’m sitting in Negril at 4:30 in the morning and Assassin is bigging me up. It was surreal. At that point I realized, “Wow, it’s really happening. We’re really doing this music thing.”
LU: Now you have “Make My Rounds,” which was produced by Mini from E5 Records in Jamaica. What did that process entail?
LD: He sent the Beach Life riddim over in June and said, “see what you can do.” There was a sentiment of me covering dancehall and now being prepared to write it. I put my own spin on it, not speaking patois the entire time. I made up a lot of it [Patois verses] on my own, with some friends assisting me. The rest was back and forth with Mini. I enjoyed making it and people like it, but I still think I have other music I’d like to make and another sound I’d like to show people.
LU: Which artists would you like to collaborate with?
LD: In the dancehall community, I’d definitely want to go back to Popcaan and see if I can make something he can vibe to. I still have to go find Ed Sheeran or Ben Howard to see if they want to collaborate. My dream collaboration would be OutKast, to meet Big Boi and Andre 3000, and do some verses. I would collaborate with anyone I respect musically.
LU: What’s next for you, whether within music or otherwise?
LD: I’m taking a year off school so I’m focusing on music as much as I can. I have an EP coming out, the Dorm Room EP, with covers and an acoustic version of “Make My Rounds,” but after that, I’m going to begin pushing my original music. I’m actually in a great place right now because it’s the first time in my life that I’m making music I like and I’m not nervous or timid to show people. This is what I’ve made and I’m excited. That’s going to be for a while. I just want to make music and push it.
Follow Lucas on Twitter: @lucasdipasquale; Like Lucas on Facebook; Listen to Lucas on Soundcloud; Watch Lucas on YouTube.
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