Norrisman

Home & Away

RELEASE DATE :  July 26, 2006

"Giving them something that anyone can relate to ..."

Sometimes it's a bit too easy to be dismissive when an artist does not to fit into an immediately recognizable category, when they do not conform to comfortable stereotypes and cannot be easily pigeonholed and labeled. It does not necessarily mean that if someone is shouting very loud that they are actually testing the system or pushing the boundaries and a low-key approach can often work even better. The more measured stance can, in the long run, deliver the message that really reaches home without leaving the listener feeling as if they have been battered into submission...


So do not look for the fire and brimstone style of preaching from Norrisman that you have come to expect from the current crop of conscious chanters. The message, as ever, remains the same but instead with Norrisman it comes with the iron fist in a velvet glove technique as perfected by legendary Jamaican artists such as Dennis Brown and Bob Marley. Growing up in Trench Town and the infamous Arnett Gardens (the real life 'Concrete Jungle' as depicted in the Bob Marley & The Wailers' song) the young Christopher Campbell always saw himself as a pupil of the Bob Marley school of singing and song writing. Born 8 March 1973 in Kingston, he endured a seriously tough upbringing that, even now, he prefers not to talk about but which gave him the sort of start in life when every day you have to think "better must come" and work hard at whatever you choose to do.

Christopher was a huge fan of karate king and film favorite Chuck Norris and as a youth everyone would call him Chuck Norris but when the time came to choose his deejay nom de plume he followed the example of Beenie Man and Ninjaman and styled himself Norrisman because "there's only one Norrisman". He began deejaying at the age of eleven at the height of the dance hall period on local sounds such as Stacks Int., Bionic Steve & 007 where he would be stood on a Guinness crate in order to reach the mic. Every aspiring deejay had to know then how to ride foundation rhythms such as 'Shank I Sheck', 'Stormy Weather' and 'It's Raining'/'Weatherman Skank'. "I came up on those rhythms practicing them as a little youth" and these proved to be a training ground for Norrisman. "Those rhythms have timing and you have to have timing." Already well schooled in the art of ghetto survival Norrisman acquired the art of Sound System deejaying. One listen will demonstrate that his singular style did not leap to life fully formed the first time he entered a recording studio but came from years of experience, the discipline of riding rhythms nightly, hard work and ceaseless practice. He embraced Rastafari in his early twenties which gave an inspired direction and meaning to both his life and his art.


His first recording was with the Arabic label and from there he moved on to veteran producer GG's. Progressing from there to Iley Dread at King Of Kings, Richard 'Bello' Bell's Star Trail and Colin McGregor's Jah Scout he also found help and support from Buju Banton initially as a writer and later as a sterling performer. His first big Jamaican hit was 'Persistence' in 1997 and "that opened the door for me". Norrisman proved to be persistent by name and also by nature and an album of the same name followed which, when released internationally, helped to cement his reputation still further.

Norrisman's lyrics, deejaying and singing styles are totally individual. No-one's followed his very personal, laid back approach which means he is a real rarity: a true individual with a truly individual approach. He is not crying out to be heard but, instead, he has to be heard crying out. The fire and the ire is there and his insidious approach hits when and where you least suspect it. One listen to 'Home And Away' should be sufficient to explain what he's all about, exactly why he is important right now and why he will continue to be important in the future.