Words by Jesse Serwer
Remember Lucas DiPasquale, the Canadian kid who mashed up all of Jamaica with his acoustic covers of Popcaan songs? The bespectacled college student from Toronto became a Jamaican celebrity this spring, after his Youtube mashup went viral, landing him on Jamaica’s OnStage TV and at Dream Weekend, where he performed onstage with Popcaan at the Unruly Boss’ behest. While in JA he got his feet wet making some dancehall of his own, recording his debut feature on E5 Records’ Beach Life riddim, “Make My Rounds,” which we premiered here in August.
The video for “Make My Rounds’ follows Lucas’ journey from T-Dot to Negril, juxtaposing his life at home with his experience at Dream Weekend, one of Jamaica’s biggest annual parties. Sporting his RepJA Beenie/Bounty shirt, we see Dream through Lucas’ eyes, as he performs “Road Haffi Tek On” onstage with Popcaan, conducts interviews, voices a dub from Assassin on his iPhone, and generally gets the rockstar treatment. Back in Toronto (where he’s a lot less famous) we see a plainer (but no less fun-seeming) picture, as he jams in a dormroom with his boys, grabs a burger at Five Guys and hits the beach for a bonfire. Life doesn’t get much better than that now, does it?
Watch the world-premiere video below, and pree our interview with Lucas here.