BISHOP ESCOBAR - A master at coming up with spontaneous lyrics

He described his journey into selecting as 'buck ups', but there is nothing accidental about the talent that is Bishop Escobar, or the impact he has made in dancehall.

Perched atop a speaker box at Romeich's studio in Kingston, the charismatic personality displayed exactly why he's considered the life of any party. Highlighting that even his name has comedic origins, the selector had the team in stitches as he delivered some incredible on-the-spot-wit.

"The name Bishop was given to me from a youthful part of me life. Me mother a Christian, me father a Christian, me grow up inna church. Me nah say we did poor, but we did kinda less fortunate, so as a yute growing up inna di '80s, it's traditional fi when yuh come from school, the clothes weh yuh see pan di bed, a it yuh put on," he recounted.

"The fact that my people dem a Church people, me have whole heap a church clothes, so me come from school and see a half a church pants weh me grow out and a jacket lay out, a it me put on. Back dem time deh dem call me troublemaker because me use to mouth people and dem thing deh. Yuh have this yute weh me use to trouble ... One day him plan fi me and when me a trouble him, him say, 'All you move from yah so cuz everyday we see yuh inna church clothes like yah bishop'. And inna dem time deh when you get a nickname, the more yuh hate the name, a di more it stick, so das how me get the Bishop."

"The Escobar now ... I was watching a programme with Pablo Escobar, one of the greatest cartel gangsters in whatever he did, and the fact say me a do music now, me a say me wah be as great musically, as an Escobar. So that's how me get the name Bishop Escobar," he continued.

A master at coining spontaneous lyrics, Bishop Escobar says he's one of a kind in dancehall.

Not afraid

"Nuff a dem eyebrow a guh raise when me say dis, but me different. I say stuff that they (other selectors) are scared of saying. I'm hardcore in a 'comedianised' form, so me a go give likkle joke inna me performance. Me will deh inna di party and see one Boom bottle a grung and me say 'some gyal, unnu gwaan like unnu hot and unnu big and black like a Boom bottle'. Me use wah me see roun me and just create sayings on the spot," he said.

Pointing out that he doesn't have to revert to bashing people's lifestyle to get 'forwards' from his audience, Escobar said some selectors lack creative vision. He believes dancehall can be a space where one doesn't have to bring down another set of people just to "get likes".

"My forward dem come naturally and me nuh affi act too raucous. Some selectors, dem affi bun dem deh man deh and thing because a di only forward dat dem can get by bashing others. But dem nuh understand say yuh can mash up yourself, too, by being too extreme," he said.

To that end, Escobar encouraged his colleagues to expand their creativity by being less raunchy. He explained that gone are the days when selecting was considered a profession to look down upon. Revealing that he has now developed a brand that has gone corporate, the selector said the latter may have been considered uncharted waters for his kind in the past but not anymore.

"Me a guh tell yuh the truth, if you're doing music, do good music because corporate use dancehall. Even though the private sector and the people dem inna di bigger seat might nuh go dancehall, dem have persons on the ground who do the work and bring back news from the streets to dem," he said.

"If yah do dis, me think yuh must work fi go corporate, look pan Ding Dong how Grace draw fi him and look pan Kemar Highcon, Pizza Hut draw fi him. Being in corporate, yuh can live how yuh wah live. Yuh can drive yuh nice car, yuh live inna yuh nice house, yuh nuh rich ennu, but yah live all right. The money might slow, cuz yuh nuh get it same time, but it sure."

Now, that he's living his dream, Escobar is mentoring aspiring selectors from his community of Dunkirk, east Kingston.

"Me tell dem study the genre and know your music. Money deh deh. Always remember the man weh born to be a painter can't be a architect. What you have to do is find your purpose and live inna it."