Elephant Man
Elephant Man (* 11. September 1975 in Seaview Garden, Kingston , Jamaica ; real name O'Neil Morgan Hughlin Bryant ) is a dancehall - Deejay .
Person, style of music
Elephant Man is nicknamed Energy God , which is derived from his dynamic stage presence. At live concerts he occasionally performs new dances and communicates them to the audience. The invention of Log On and Scooby Doo, for example, are assigned to him. His trademarks are his brightly colored, mostly blonde or fiery red hair and an unusual style of clothing. The musician has a deep voice that often turns into a characteristic fistulous voice . Its acoustic trademark is a slight lisp .
Well-known quotes or exclamations that are used again and again at concerts and publications are: Scoobay , Shot Out , Weedyweedyweedyweedy , Call me Nigga , Shizzle ma Nizzle or just Shizzle
biography
Early years
His stage name is derived from his youth nicknames Dumbo or Dubbed Dumbo . He got this at the age of 13 from his classmate, nicknamed "Crack Skull", who claimed that Bryant had bigger ears than the Disney character of the same name. He only gave up the name as an adult. At the age of 15 he was already known in school for his talents as deejay and for the rhythms he produced on the school desk. The aforementioned crack Scull later recognized Bryant's talent and made some recordings with him in his studio in Seaview , Jamaica. He encouraged him to introduce himself in other studios and to develop his talent further by working as a street musician.
Scare the crew
However, it was the Bounty Killer , who was already successful as Deejay at the time , who helped him to his career. Bounty Killer, who was and is known for promoting young musical talent, was looking for four young, male individual deejays for a dancehall formation. Besides Elephant Man there were Harry Toddler , Boom Dandimite and Nitty Kutchie . Together they formed the "Seaview Family" formation. After releasing their first single, Big Guns Scare Dem , which was a huge hit in Jamaica, they renamed themselves Scare Dem Crew , which soon became known throughout the Caribbean. The crew was best known for their staccato-like deejaying, interrupted by the singing of the singer Nitty Kutchie. Together with the Scare Dem Crew, Elephant Man released two albums and several singles and later appeared at major festivals in America and Europe.
From 1999 until today
In 1999 the members split in an argument and Bryant began his hugely successful career as a solo artist. He kept the name Elephant Man, which he adopted during his time with the Scare Dem Crew, to this day. Under this name he has released songs on various labels since 1995. His first single under the name Elephant Man is the song Heng Them together with the Jamaican Robert Lee on the English label Greensleeves Records . The first solo single is called Cry Fi We and was released on the US label Black Shadow Records in 1998. His first production as a solo artist was released on the Jamaican label Fat Eyes Records and is called Come Out A Yah (1999) . Since then, Elephant Man has released several singles on different labels each year. His first album is called Comin '4 You with 23 tracks and an intro on Greensleeves Records. In the included song One More (Start A War), he sings and toasts together with the Jamaican dancehall artists Wayne Marshall and Ward 21 . 2001 the Bad Kalic Riddim was released on the Stone Love label, on which Elephant Man released the song Shizzle Ma Nizzle . The song's title has been a well-known quote from the artist ever since. In the same year the album Log On was released , whose title of the same name caused controversy a few years later. In 2003 the single Shake Baby Shake was released , in which he worked with the German band Seeed . The song was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica. A short documentary was shot for this, which is included on the Seeed Live DVD released in 2006 by Seeed. The single was released on the German label Germaican Records . The song is also included on the 2004 Seeed album Music Monks . In 2004, Elephant Man became known outside of Jamaica and the dancehall scene when Puma used his song All Out for their commercial for the Athens Olympics . A year later he released the song Pon De Replay together with the Barbadian pop singer Rihanna on the New York hip hop label Def Jam Recordings . In the same year his first DVD was released, showing live recordings of his birthday concerts from 2003 and 2004, mixed with interviews. In 2007 he released the song Five-O on the label of US rapper P. Diddy Bad Boy Entertainment together with Wyclef Jean . In the same year he took over vocal parts on the hit single Whine Up together with the New York contemporary R&B and dancehall singer Kat DeLuna , who came to number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and also entered various other charts .
His greatest successes include the songs Replacement Killer (2000), Log On and Higher Level from 2001, Elephant message and Pon The River, Pon De Bank from 2002, Father Elephant on the famous Kopa Riddim from 2005, and Nuh Linga (2009 ).
Criticism and indexing
In 2001 he released the hit Log On based on the Liquid Riddim , which accompanied a fashion dance of the same name. This and a few other songs, which among other things contain calls for murder against gays, caused protests, especially from LGBT organizations , because of their homophobic lyrics . In dancehall such texts, which are called Battyman tunes , are widespread.
In 2006, Elephant Man declared in front of the cameras of the German-French cultural broadcaster Arte that he would no longer say anything that offends homosexuals. He also emphasized that such songs are a thing of the past. The broadcaster rated this step as an authentic and clear distancing. However, the internet magazine queer.de stated in April 2015 that in the following years he had repeatedly distanced himself from the said songs before concerts in Europe, but afterwards they "were still classics in his home country". Because of this tactic, concerts have already been canceled several times, most recently in January 2015 in Munich.
In 2009, the Elephant Man CD Log On and Monsters of Dancehall was indexed by the federal inspection agency because it was harmful to young people. With reference to his texts, attempts were made to ban him from entering Europe, all concerts in Germany and concerts in Mainz and Düsseldorf announced for 2009 were canceled.
In 2013 the artist was supposed to give several concerts in Europe, including one at the Chiemsee Reggae Summer . According to the organizer of the Chiemsee Reggae Summer, the artist, having already played a few shows in Europe, “left Europe from Brussels for Jamaica with a presumably six-figure advance payment amount from several confirmed events”.
Discography
Publications with Scare Dem Crew are not included here. Elephant Man has also sung and toasted many riddims and released many singles with unknown release dates , which were also not included here.
Albums
- 2000 - Comin '4 You - Greensleeves Records
- 2001 - Log On - Greensleeves Records (indexed due to youth risk)
- 2001 - Higher Level - Greensleeves Records
- 2003 - Good 2 Go - VP Records
- 2003 - Elephant Man & Vybz Kartel: Toe 2 Toe Vol. VI
- 2007 - Monsters of Dancehall: Elephant Man - Greensleeves Records (indexed due to youth risk)
- 2008 - Let's Get Physical - Bad Boy Entertainment
- 2010 - Dance & Sweep: Adventures of the Energy God - Bad Boy Entertainment / VP Records
Singles, dubplates
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Singles with other artists
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Chart placements
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 2003 | Good 2 Go | - | - | - | - |
US74 (2 weeks) US |
First published: December 2, 2003
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Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2003 | Let Me See U Bounce Weekend Warrior |
- | - | - |
UK77 (2 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: October 2003
(with Biz Markie ) |
| Pon De River, Pon De Bank Good 2 Go |
- | - | - |
UK29 (3 weeks) UK |
US86 (13 weeks) US |
First published: November 2003
|
|
| 2004 | Jook Gal (Wine Wine) Good 2 Go |
- | - | - |
UK41 (2 weeks) UK |
US57 (18 weeks) US |
First published: May 2004
|
| 2007 | Whine Up 9 Lives |
DE24 (11 weeks) DE |
AT65 (1 week) AT |
CH49 (21 weeks) CH |
- |
US29 (20 weeks) US |
First published: May 2007
(with Kat DeLuna ) |
Filmography
- 1999: Third World Cop
- 2004: Def Jam: Fight for NY (video game)
- 2005: Elephant Man = Direct from Jamaica
- 2007: Elephant Man Live
Web links
- Elephant Man on Myspace
- Elephant Man Interview on Reggaeinberlin.de
- Elephant Man at Discogs (English)
- Elephant Man in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Elephant Man biography on www.sing365.com ( Memento of the original from March 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Homophobic Reggae Artist Elephant Man accessed on August 24, 2008 ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Queer: Brighton prohibits hate music
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNuYyUYthaY&feature=player_embedded
- ↑ Queer: hate singer Elephant Man appears again in Germany
- ↑ Queer: Munich: Elephant Man concert canceled
- ↑ dip21.bundestag.de (PDF file; 277 kB): Drucksache 17/2348 Answer of the Federal Government to a small question on the situation of gay and lesbian youth, list of the records indexed from 2005 to 2009, indexed albums by Elephant Man: p. 16, nos. 54 and 62
- ↑ LSVD welcomes indexing of hate music from Jamaica ( memento of the original from December 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Reichert: Why not intercept gay haters at the airport and send them back? taz August 29, 2008
- ↑ New initiative against hate musicians - Elephant One should no longer be allowed to enter the Schengen area August 27, 2008 ( Memento of the original from September 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ LSVD: Elephant Man concert series planned for October 2008 canceled ( memento of the original from October 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ LSVD: The Elephant Man concerts planned for September 2009 in Mainz and Düsseldorf are canceled ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ rollingstone.de Chiemsee Reggae Summer: Elephant Man does not appear, leaves for Jamaica with a fee
- ↑ a b Chart sources: UK US
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elephant Man |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bryan, O'Neil Morgan Hughlin (real name); Bryan, O'Neil |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jamaican dancehall musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 11th September 1975 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kingston , Jamaica |