Five Questions with Taller Dan

Matching his six-foot-five-inch frame, soca artiste Taller Dan’s music has been steadily soaring to new heights in fêtes across the Caribbean and the United States. Through the years, releasing songs such as Problem, Natural Whiner, and Sucka Bag has paved the way for his recent anthem Hole to "mash up the streets" as it has been doing this 2024 carnival season. Taller Dan, Brooklyn-born and Trinidadian-raised, uses this mix of cultures to his advantage, blending them to create a sound unique to him and not easily replicated. The year 2018 saw the artiste emerge on the scene, and seven years later in 2024, Taller Dan carries with him the same hunger for success he did back then. He spoke with The Gleaner for this week's Five Questions With.

As a Brooklyn-born Trinidadian soca artiste, how does the mix of Caribbean and American cultures influence your sound?

The mix of Caribbean and American cultures is a big part of Taller Dan, the artiste you see today. Growing up in two different surroundings it allows you to have more to speak about. [I have] a little different slang and a little different swag to [me], so when [I] go to different places [I] might always stand out. That's the thing that I like. Not to mention people like Vybz Kartel have always been big in Brooklyn, so it gives [me] a sense of pride when [I’m] coming from Brooklyn, you know? It's a melting pot of cultures. It have plenty Grenadian, Jamaican, Guyanese, African, and Spanish. It have a lot of everything. It's really a melting pot, and that’s a big influence [for me].

Your music, namely your recent song 'Hole', is filled with witty lyrics over an infectious beat that has been sure to get a crowd on their feet. What is the process behind a Taller Dan hit?

The process itself can vary at times, but what never changes when I'm producing in the studio is good vibes around me. First and foremost I need to be comfortable. That is one. Two, I might have a melody in my head for months or years. Sometimes I will hear a beat, and my mind would go straight to that melody, and I say, “Way, boy! I find it!” Sometimes I might just hear a track or beat that I like so much that I just catch the vibe, and I start spitting out so many different things. I do freestyle a lot in my sessions as well. Plenty of times I just come up with music by starting off freestyling different [lyrics] and seeing what kind of flows I could pick up, and once I find a catchy flow, I put some words to it and start to fill it out and make it [sound] nice, start to touch it up, you know? I also record myself a lot of times, so that allows me to be able to express a little more.

You have named Jamaican deejay Vybz Kartel among your list of musical influences. What other Jamaican artistes would you say influence your sound?

Vybz Kartel, Aidonia, and Mavado. [Those] are the three artistes I grew up listening to religiously. Kartel probably influenced the lyricism side and the writing. To me he was the greatest ever. I never see anybody could do two, three songs on the same ‘riddim’. It's amazing. Aidonia as far as the lyricism and the expression when he’s delivering. Aidonia has the best deliveries line after line. You could just hear the expression when he's singing. Movado’s songs just used to connect. He was very melodic and used his voice a lot, which is something I came to do later in my musical journey. I used to spit plenty lyrics, but now I break it down to melodies.

Many accolades within soca music lay up for grabs - Calypso Monarch, Soca Monarch, and Road March to name a few. Do you see yourself winning any of these titles in the next few years?

Definitely Soca Monarch. Soca Monarch was a thing [for me] from the first time I was able to identify what soca is. I remember watching Soca Monarch every year. It was like a ritual to watch it and see these artistes going at it. Who had the best stage performance, song, fans, etc. Soca Monarch is definitely a thing that was on my list and is still on my list to this day [to win]. I really hope they bring it back.

Your Jamaican fans long to see you perform here. Are there any appearances on the horizon for Jamaica Carnival 2024?

Well, hopefully! No one has reached out as yet. I've never been to Jamaica for Carnival, so I would love to. So if they’re gonna try to reach out, yeah! I would try to make it happen in some kind of way. Talk to your local promoters and let we make something happen!

BRAWTA

Choosing from any genre, tell us your favourite three songs right now.

Okay, my three favourite songs right now I'm gonna give you one from each [of my favourite] genres: soca, hip hop, and dancehall. Hip hop: 21 Savage’s Redrum. I really like that song right now. That song is very bad. Dancehall: Alien Brain [by] 10tik. Next very bad song, very bad artiste. Big up 10tik. Soca: we gon’ do Hole by Taller Dan!

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