Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

Fully Loaded 'host' Wyclef Jean gets up close and personal with the crowd at James Bond Beach. - Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

Recently, international stars, especially from the United States, have been coming to Jamaica more frequently, making special appearances on stage shows or shooting music videos for songs on which they have collaborated with Jamaican performers.

This stems from the increased popularity of Jamaican music on the international stage, along with more collaborations between Jamaican artistes and those from other countries.

Remy Ma and Akon were in Jamaica over the summer for Lady Saw's 'Celebrity Walkout' birthday show in Nain, St. Elizabeth; Wyclef Jean and Rik Ross made appearances at Fully Loaded held at the James Bond Beach; Mya and wrestler Hulk Hogan took the stage at Beenie Man's 'Summer Sizzle' show in Clarendon; and Alicia Keyes was recently in Jamaica shooting a music video with Baby Cham for the second remix of his Ghetto Story.

In addition, Boys II Men came for the Port Royal Music Festival and 50 Cent made a return visit for Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest.

Basis of friendship

It naturally costs a lot to put on a concert with such big names and cater to their needs, but for the slew of overseas entertainers coming to Jamaica, it is often a matter of friendship rather than a strictly business relationship.

Lady Saw's older sister and manager, Jasrenna Hall, says for some of the artistes, it is a matter of mutual respect.

"Yuh talk to some of them and artistes always respect artiste and they give a artiste price, although sometimes it still kinda high. Remy never give wi no big price and Akon tek off something off a his price, seeing as though it was her (Lady Saw's) birthday and dem kind a cut down dem entourage," she said.

"Remy came with her manager, bodyguard and about three more persons, and Akon came with his band, his manager and some other people. All of them stay at the house and they do a lot of partying together. We hook up with Remy a Manhattan an we guh di hip-hop clubs and party," Hall said.

In the case of Beenie Man's annual stage show, 'Summer Sizzle', his manager Patrick Roberts said "we couldn't pay any of these acts coming to Summer Sizzle and charge a gate fee of a thousand dollars, so is because of the relationship. These artistes come free of charge; we only paid for their expenses".

Still, Roberts explained that "most of these artistes have large entourages, so like air, ground and accommodations, usually comes to thousands of dollars."

Roberts said "the first year we had Timberland, Rupee, a next time we had Timberland again, Keith Sweat, last year was Bone Crusher and this year is the second time Akon has come back and like Mya and Foxy Brown were here this year".

Outside of calling on these international acts to perform, Roberts says the relationship is deeper to the point where 'The Doctor' is often invited by these international acts for social and personal events.

"More time he's (Beenie Man) on the road, these artistes have their own personal parties and album launch, they invite him," Roberts said.

Paves the way

For Elephant Man, who has done collaborations with a number of big international acts, the relationship may not be quite as close, but it paves the way for them to perform together, both locally and abroad.

The 'Energy God' has done Don't Stop with Janet Jackson; Pon Di Replay with Rihanna; Bam Bam with R. Kelly; Get Low Remix with Lil John; Switch with Will Smith, and Love You with Mariah Carey and the Da' Brat, as well as other songs with the Ying Yang Twins and Pitbull.

"Stage shows like Sumfest, Sting, Fully Loaded, Sunsplash locally bring us together to perform. Internationally you have the BET awards, MTV and more. Janet Jackson she sent for me to perform with her at the BET Awards. When the song hit people have the two artistes perform together, 'cause it can't get no better than that," Elephant Man said in a recent interview withThe Sunday Gleaner.

Sharon Burke of Solid Agency, Bounty Killer's booking company, says she agrees that relationships with international acts have softened the brunt of expenses in bringing them to perform in Jamaica.

"I would say yes and they like the Jamaican collaborations, Bounty did one with Fugees some time ago and that went well, Wayne Marshall and Vybz Kartel did a remix with Jay Z and Pharell, so they get to love the music more and it's just ongoing relationships that we've had," she said.

Burke says that her annual show, Fully Loaded, "Mainly, I have relationships with people like Wyclef Jean and other international artistes and they help me to source other acts. And like we had Rik Ross this year, my cousin who is also a part of his management team helped me to get him here."

Burke added that many of the overseas artistes love to hang out with local acts.

"Sizzla has combinations with Foxy Brown, Jah Rule sampled one of his songs and Wyclef loves to hang out with Sizzla," she said.

At the last staging of Fully Loaded in late July Wyclef, who was hosting, spoke about travelling around with Sizzla in Jamaica and encountering a police spot check.