Q&A: Who is the Great Zeee? (Happy B-day!)

 When I realized that the Great Zeee's birthday was coming up, I had an idea.  About 18 months ago, I had to interview him for a magazine article that never got printed for reasons beyond my control.  In my line of work, that happens from time to time.  Editors simply say sorry, and sadly I'm left feeling the wrath of an unhappy artist who was looking forward to some good publicity.  So...I had an audio recording of the raw phone interview that I conducted with The Great Zeee in 2008 just before Vincy Mas.

We spoke about his roles as an artiste, producer, and as the originator of Power Soca (the genre, not just fast tempo soca, as some tend to believe).

My apologies for not being able to pump this out on time for his 33rd birthday yesterday.  None-the-less, I'm sure you will enjoy listening to the best clips of our in depth interview about his production style, "Power Soca", and his ambitions as an artist. All backed by a soundtrack of his own excellent music featuring; Skinny Fabulous, Problem Child and Bud Ramesy: Enjoy!



Happy (Belated) Birthday Great Zeee!

Love and Soca,


Nurse Karen

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The Rounds: Buju Banton dreaming of a White Christmas

riginally aired on Flow 93.5 FM's Soca Therapy on Sunday, December 13, 2009.

In this edition:
- CP to perform at Miss Caribbean Teen Pageant (Antigua /St. Kitts)
- All-Rounder changes his name for 2010 (Trinidad)
- DJ Jester releases Soca Certified Smash Mixtape (Canada)
- Dr Jay collects canned food for charity (Canada)
- International premiere of "Fetting" by Skinny Fabulous ft. Machel Montano (Canada)
- Birthdays: The Great Zeee (St. Vincent) Teddyson John (St. Lucia)
- Drug rumour about Bunji Garlin (Trinidad)
- Buju Banton jailed on drug charges (USA/Jamaica

Good Evening Soca Lovers, I’m Nurse Karen and these are Dr. Jay’s Rounds. It’s a busy week. So...lewwe go!

The St. Kitts and Nevis Miss Caribbean Teen Pageant will be celebrating 30 years this season, and to celebrate, Antigua’s multiple-time Party Monarch Queen Claudette Peters has just been confirmed as the headline artist. That’ll teach those beauty queens a little something about style!

In Trinidad, one of the country’s most creative musical minds in the Calypso genre has decided to change his name. The artist formerly known as All-Rounder will from now on be called, “Dive”. You didn’t ask me, but that doesn’t sound like a man who plans to win any titles...but he’s back for another season of Humorous Calypso with the Klassic Russo Calypso Tent on January 15th.

This past week, Flow’s own mix show DJ Jester released the Soca Certified Smash Mixtape hosted by Mr. Vybe. You can download it for yourself on the Nurse Karen Etc blog, at Nurse dash Karen dot com.

The holiday season is all about peace on Earth and goodwill toward all. So what are you doing to help others? Next Saturday, join Dr. Jay for his annual appreciation fete, featuring visiting acts Fadda Fox and Skinny Fabulous! All you have to do is walk with 5 or more non-perishable food items for the less fortunate, and you will get in for only ten dollars!

Before then, Skinny Fabulous has a big bomb to drop for Trinidad Carnival this week. Dunno if you’ve heard about it. But the two-time Vincy Soca Monarch, has a brand new collaboration with Soca King Machel Montano ready to hit the airways everywhere this Wednesday.

But because you are a loyal Soca Therapy fans, you may as well start counting your blessings now. Tonight. Right here on Soca Therapy. Dr. Jay de Soca Prince will bring you the world premiere of “Fetting On” in the 8 o’clock hour. So stay tuned!!

This week Soca Therapy would like to extend warm and fuzzy birthday love to Vincentian artiste and producer, The Great Zeee on Monday the 14th, and to St. Lucian blues man and groovy artist, Teddyson John on Thursday the 17th.

Teddyson John and Superman HD aka Mr. Pringles in St. Lucia (July 2009)

The rumour mill in Trinidad and Tobago has been working overtime this weekend. Talk on the street was that Soca artist, Bunji Garlin is locked up in Miami for drugs. But hold your tongues people until you get the real story! Bunji Garlin isn’t even in Miami today....but you know who is? BUJU! Yep...Buju Banton is the one facing drug charges, related to...get this... “Conspiracy of possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kilos of cocaine!” Looks like somebody was trying to have a white Christmas. Ho Ho Ho....

I’m Nurse Karen, and those were Dr. Jay’s Rounds. For more information on anything you heard here, please check me online at Nurse dash Karen dot com or follow me “nursekaren” on Twitter. Now back to de docta!

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Nurse's Lounge: A visit with THE GREAT ZEEE at Hysyanz Studio

August 31, 2009

Just got back from Boston this morning...and I feel wiped out. There's no good reason for my sudden lack of stamina, considering the fact that Boston will go down in history for me as one of the most restful carnival celebrations I've even taking part in. My weekend was all about chilling out and liming with friends. The rain didn't really put a damper on things...but it did cool down the temperature a tad.

This afternoon, I decided to drop in on one of the first contacts I ever made in this ya Caribbean music scene. He's a producer, artist, photographer, graphic artist, model cat by the name of The Great Zeee. Sure, that's a lot of titles to wear, but it's not me who baptized the man all those things. Zeee (Zowi Stapleton) is pretty darn good at anything artistic he puts his hand to.

We originally met in St. Vincent and the Grenadines more than 5 years ago when I was working temporarily with a newspaper down there called The Vincentian. At the time, he operated Hysyanz Recordings on a picturesque hill in Arnos Vale, overlooking the airport and the Caribbean Sea. He was working with artists like Skinny Fabulous, Icon, Skarpyon, Lanlord (then Sgt Bread) and others. He was also making a name for himself on the island as he farmed local talent at a series of talent competitions called "Shine". From that location, he and then producing partner Kubiyashi would begin to turn heads locally and internationally.

This afternoon, I caught the A train to Brownsville, Brooklyn to see what new recipes the Great Zeee might be cooking up for the 2K10 carnival seasons and beyond. I got a chance to hear a brand new production entitled "The Retro Riddim". One thing about Zeee's signature sound is that it doesn't shy away from a particular disco influenced soca rhythm that was popularized by St. Vincent's top party bands of the late 1970's to early 1990's, For those in the know, I'm talking about bands like X-A-Dus, Asteriks, and Touch.

Even though Zowi spent the first 5 years of his life living in England, and only one of his parents comes from St. Vincent (the other hails from Barbados), he holds a deep respect for the island's musical heritage, and specifically pays tribute to that vintage style in his brand new Retro Riddim.

His other claim to fame is the producers own contribution to St. Vincent's musical heritage. Zeee coined the phrase "Power Soca", a sound he carefully conceived circa 2004. Nowadays, most people who use the term just mean a soca chune above a certain bpm. However, Zeee's Original Power Soca refers to a particular blend of sounds first made public on the Flood Storm Riddim.

Flood Storm Riddim Mix - DJ Chrisis

As for the Retro Riddim (The new one!) it will feature the likes of Mista Vybe, Jamesy P, and Problem Child. So far, I've only had the fortune of listening to raw vocals by Skinny Fabulous...and he's definitely on to something. Even with just two of us in studio, there were enough vibes for Monday Evening Mas!

For more info on The Great Zeee, check him out at http://thegreatzeee.com or follow him on Twitter

Love and Soca,

Nurse Karen

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Eye Unit: Problem Child - When I See You (Bang) [video]

Straight off The Great Zeee's 'Soft Tune Riddim', here's Problem Child with "When I See You" (Bang). The girl in the video is real cute, but let's be real. The good girl thing is a total put on! Once you're giving a man 4 minutes to describe his intention to beat it up, you're not fooling anybody with that coy lil smile! I'm just saying....

Title: When I See You (Bang)
Artist: Problem Child
Riddim: Soft Tune
Producer: The Great Zeee
Director: Dion McKenzie
Year: 2009

Love and Soca!! Bang, Bang!

Nurse Karen

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Free Download: Great Zeee's Soft Tune Riddim

Alright music fiends, I can see you salivating from here. Nasty! The Great Zee is back in 2009 with some seeeeeeeeeerious music. The Vincy posse would know him as the producer behind Hysyanz Productions, and the artist who gave you singles like "Fill You With My Love" and "The Ring".   For the rest of ya, you'd know him best from that really left-field riddim from 2008 'Juk Up Juk Up, with tunes from Slaughter, Problem, Mr. Evil, Bud Ramsey, Skinny, etc.

The Great Zeee is what you would call a renaissance man. (BTW, He will be releasing his power soca "Renaissance Riddim" later this season) He produces, sings, models, draws, and he's a pretty dope photographer too! He studied Graphical Design in London several years ago, and spends much of his time designing websites and flyers. Oh yeah, did I mention he's part of a team called "Prep Camp" that throws some jiggy club events in Brooklyn, NY? Can you say HUSTLER? Right....

No doubt, Zowi "The Great Zeee" Stapleton knows a thing or two about being creative. So today, it's all about the "Soft Chune Riddim". In Vincentian parlance (maybe other places too) a 'soft tune' refers to what others might call a 'slow jam' or 'baby-making music'. I think you get my drift. So, this one is groovy/ragga tempo. You have some more explicit tracks from

 Problem Child and Skinny Fabulous, with the real lovely dovey tings coming from Jamaican newcomer Tara and the Great Zeee himself. There is also a final track, still to come, from Trinidad's Mista Vybe.

I'm into this.  Loving the humor in Skinny's track, Problem's 'Bang Bang' hook is infectious, Tara's vocals, clean and nice, and The Great Zeee, definitely full of surprises.  

Download it for yourself!

AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM THESE LINKS

Song: WHEN I SEE YOU (BANG)
Written By: Shertz James (Problem Child)
Produced By: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
HYSYANZ Publishing Co. BMI
Copyright 2009
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered BY: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
PROBLEM CHILD  - WHEN I SEE YOU (BANG)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/59698282dfc72388/

Song: LIKE JELO
Written By: G Doyle (Skinny Fabulous)
Produced By: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
HYSYANZ Publishing Co. BMI
Copyright 2009 COTT
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered BY: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
SKINNY FABULOUS - LIKE JELO
http://www.zshare.net/audio/59698380f66e55f8/

Song: ONE NIGHT
Written By: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
Recorded and Mixed by: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
Produced By: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
HYSYANZ Publishing Co. BMI
Copyright 2009
Recorded Fryktion
Recorded Mixed and Mastered BY: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
 THE GREAT ZEEE - ONE NIGHT
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5969851582975ab8/

Song: TARA
Written By: TARA
Produced By: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
HYSYANZ Publishing Co. BMI
Copyright 2009 
Recorded by Fryktion
Mixed and Mastered BY: Z Stapleton (Great Zeee)
TARA - THE WAY YOU
http://www.zshare.net/audio/596984461193b35b/

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