On the complexity of life in a year full of conflict, of the total confinement, stress, isolation caused by social distancing, street fighting, are part of the motives that inspired Maialem's new single, “Hard Time”, A production of Reggae Chalice which features the participation of dancers Lady Stephy and Blass in another of his artistic facets, the singing.
It is 2020 has been one marked by what the Coronavirus pandemic has affected in all aspects of life, including music, to the musicians, to the music industry and the Reggae Dancehall scene. In this unprecedented context for many generations, musical creation has been fruitful for some., while for others it has presented various difficulties.
"Hard Time" talks a bit about this, about what it has meant to live almost a whole year in a way that we are not used to socially, a "new normal" -as they have called it- that has forced to change social behavior and adapt habits to restricted behaviors managed by the system or a new form of physical and mental slavery.
In that direction Lady Stephy bursts in, with a rhyme directed at oppression and the so-called "daddy heart" throwing a fire at rapists, all issues that have hit the world's societies in this 21st century, without neglecting dancehall culture in its lyrics. The outstanding dancehall dancer had previously dabbled in singing alongside Maialem on her single “Chilean Wine”.
Already in the middle of the rhythm Blass appears, with a rhyme in the purest style of rap raising his voice about the reality of the day to day, corruption and police violence. Blass has positioned himself as one of the most outstanding dancers of the recent dancehall generation in Chile, being the most recent winner of the contest that chooses the king of dancehall.
Reggae Chalice spoke with Maialem about his new production, on how the work has been carried out under the pandemic, who said that this work began to be forged last year after the social outbreak in Chile.
“The creation process began last year with the idea of making a dancehall darker in sound and with social content., undoubtedly difficult moments are inspiration for all artists and since the social outbreak I had the need to write about these topics that appear in Hard Time . I spoke to Polo Isses, he got the idea perfect and the music came out. Some time passed and we already entered our quarantine moment in which I needed to express myself and release that energy. I started writing and when the moment came when the permissions and quarantine thing was relaxed a bit, I went to record. It was necessary to vent and make music that generates vital energy for me ", story.
Para Maialem, who is a music teacher by profession, the pandemic has brought him a high workload. He has been kept in confinement with his son, and also with the stress that comes from teleworking and life in quarantine.
"I have lived this time with a lot of stress and also anguish from everything that happens worldwide with the pandemic and the inequalities that have become more extreme in this situation", express, in addition to being grateful to have a job in these times when unemployment has increased significantly in Chile.
In the middle of a process of deconfinition but with restrictions, the video clip for “Hard Time” was recorded in Cerrillos, with a cast of dancers who supported the staging with their talent such as Girlpolet, Rayundaisy, Aguskinny DH, Ale DH Kong, Revoll, Ninja, Diegroove, Rickz Bwoy, and Johan.
“Hard Time”, Maialem's new single, It is now available on Spotify and from today you can see the video clip on the YouTube channel of Reggae Chalice and what you can see here:
