Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Cobra

Mad Cobra's Flex was an aberration in dancehall when it came out in 1992. The ultra-smooth R&B track was an exception for not only Cobra, who had made his name with hardcore tracks like Gundelero and the 'mix up' of Matie a Rebel, but also the genre itself.

The serpentine one was part of the new charge of deejays, including Capleton and Buju Banton, who were taking dancehall from the steady, rolling basslines of the 1980s into the broken up patterns on more uptempo rhythms that captured a new generation of dancehall fans. Flex issued the invitation "time to have sex, look how long yu have the rude bway a sweat".

It hit the top of the Billboard charts for two weeks and has remained a favourite long after it took the inevitable dip from the charts, selling a few thousand units short of the platinum mark. Cobra points out that he was the first deejay to hit the top of the Billboards as a solo performer, Shabba making it to the top with Maxi Priest before. And it all came about because of a spit bag on a plane, an in-flight exercise video and an accident in the studio.

Trial song

"Flex was like a trial song. It was not like a planned song," Cobra told The Sunday Gleaner. The lyrics were written on a spit bag on a plane, because I was on a flight coming back from New York. I was watching the television on the plane and there was this woman doing this Soloflex exercise, she was on this Soloflex machine. So me say "how this lady a flex like she want to have sex? And me just jot it down. Me go so bam bam, have the idea on the bag, write "I rather wait ..." and rey. So me have the lyrics on the spit bag.

"When we went to the studio, that was at Penthouse (The Sunday Gleaner asks if the spit bag made that trip too and a laughing Cobra says it did), me go so boom bom, write out the song on paper, put it into reality now. I was trying to do it on a quick rhythm. One of the 'Gigi' sound rhythms. And the tape slow down, you know sometimes the tape too tight or something and it start give this rrrrrrrr. So, I was there (he starts to deejay slowly) 'Fleeeeeexxx, tiimmmee tooo haaaveee seeeex". Slow. And Sly (Dunbar) sey 'hol' on, hol' on'. And Sly start to play Just My Imagination backwards," Cobra said.

Production team

And it was the beginning of a mega dancehall hit, although it did not get prime billing on Cobra's Colombia album. Sly and Robbie played the music, Dave Kelly was the engineer, Chevelle Franklyn and Brian and Tony Gold delivered the harmonies. Chevelle did the "crying, moaning ..." introduction.

"The album that it came out on was Hard To Wet, Easy To Dry. Flex was a late entry. When Colombia heard the track, they were blown away. It was too late to be the title track anyway, because the artwork was already completed," Cobra said. Otherwise the set would have been named 'Flex' but, as it was, Flex was the single that hit the streets.

"Right away, Flex release," Cobra said. It's runaway success hit Cobra literally by surprise. "Flex became number one when I was in Japan. So coming back to Jamaica now, I connected in New York. Some people deh pon 'Flex', 'Mr Flex'! So me sey eh-heh? Bam now, me reach Norman Manley and everybody a sey 'Flex' dis an dat, When me reach now me know the song hit, hit, really hit, and start the regular rotation on the mainstream stations."

Underestimates the power of the song

And, being a hit, did not mean that it was only popular in the immigrant communities, in the usual places, as Cobra says, it was global. "Anywhere I go in the world to perform now, I have to do Flex. I can remember a couple concerts well, for the last 10 years. Sometimes, I underestimate the power of the song. So, most times, I do the song and then 'rey rey, people me love oonu, me gone!' And come off. And the crowd deh pon, 'No! No!' Sometimes a de front of the stage females deh pon a beat beat," Cobra said.

"Me always use it as a teaser more time, like 'can I leave now?' Or 'Is there any particular song that you would like to hear?' Them little way deh," Cobra said. "Most of the time, the encore is when the beat start play (he imitates the keyboard sound) and me start walk off and them say 'no!' So that is the power of that particular song that was a buck up."