Dangerous Boy

NAILAH BLACKMAN, fresh from appearing at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas recently released Dangerous Boy and is preparing to release a seven-track EP with a bonus track.

Blackman’s fans can look forward to the EP’s release in about two weeks, Anson Soverall, her manager, told Newsday. Dangerous Boy was unofficially released on March 14 and the video on March 22 via the VEVO video hosting service. Blackman’s VEVO channel was also launched with this video’s release.

She left for the US on March 22 and will then head to Canada, Jamaica, then to Europe for the rest of her Nailah Blackman Sokah tour. The tour began on February 17 in Guyana.

Soverall said, “That song (Dangerous Boy) is on her long-awaited EP, Sokah. The reason for putting a reggae song on is to show the connection reggae has with calypso.”

Blackman recently returned after performing at SXSW’s Sounds from Africa and the Caribbean stage on March 17.

“She has one other song to drop on the EP, a song called Make It Stop, and that would be the last song on this first EP. That will also be released with a music video for Dame Lorraine.”

The song is expected to be released within the next two to three weeks along with the EP.

Make it stop, Soverall added, “won’t be pushed as a radio song. It is a song to showcase Nailah where she started, with what she likes to call Caribbean Folk, or more alternative style/pop. That is where she started and we thought it would be cool for her original fan base to have something that brings it back to her roots.”

As for her appearance at SXSW, Soverall said, “It was an amazing experience. It was a bit of a culture shock. It was not your typical Caribbean Diaspora crowd. They were in the minority. It was mainly Africans who came out in their numbers.”

Blackman was the only Caribbean artist on the stage, along with some of Africa’s top performers, including Patoranking.

“She represented the Caribbean really well, not just the Caribbean islands that have soca music. She sang Dangerous Boy out there and represented for the reggae lovers,” Soverall added.

He said Blackman’s performance at SXSW had opened some big markets on the African continent and she was approached by many African-based artists.

“So many projects are going to come out of that trip, and it is going to be opening up the floodgates for the region and TT,” he added.

Blackman is also being scouted by overseas record labels.