Ackeino uses his struggles as motivation

Rising reggae/dancehall sensation Ackeino said his "struggles" and drive to stay grounded to his authentic Jamaican musical roots, fused with a modern sound and message, will give him the edge as a musical standout.

"I'm a person who stands on morals and I'm a lover of life and humanity, so I believe the best genre/foundation music would be reggae. And given that talent that I have, I decided I want to try something new - that is also within me - which is dancehall. I've tried pop [and] rap music before, but dancehall is the one that stands out and I decided to stick with that. But the root of this all is reggae," he said.

When asked about the key players who were instrumental in kick-starting his musical career, he sternly replied:

"Struggles. There are no friends, there's no one, trust me; like real struggles, not even parents, like struggles."

He continued, "But who know, know that it has been a really rough road - from church to streets, probly church again and streets again. Suh who really know me [can attest] that it's been a struggle. Suh dat has been my key motivation fi life, for music, and for where I'm heading," he expressed.

Ackeino, who describes himself as a very "innovative, jovial and fun-loving" person, shared that his passion for music stretches way beyond just creating lyrical content, as he also plays the guitar and drums. He said he was an avid churchgoer, crediting the Church for his discipline, mental strength and stable mindset.

"It was a mental fight fi discipline yuhself because, based on yuh struggles, it creates a lot of anger and bitterness. But over time, I learnt to work on myself, and that's why mi even give thanks fi Church because it teach mi a lot," he said, while praising some of his friends - especially his close 'brother' Winston and his twin sister - for always keeping him in check.

As a proud product of Lime Hall in St Ann, Ackeino, whose full name is Ackeino Grant, said his decision to just use his first name as his stage moniker was intentional, as it represents what his music embodies and his persona; 'Ackeino' means "sunshine".

Dropping his official debut single in 2018, titled Gift, Ackeino revealed that though the powerful reggae song was conceptualised from a "dare moment" with friends, it paved the way for him.

"We used to freestyle against mi friends dem and do friendly clash, and dem discover that I have a talent, even before me discover it. It was further down [when] I got that epiphany that I really do have a talent, and they decided that they are gonna dare me to do a song on track. I did it and put it out on Instagram the Friday and by the Monday, I heard it on the radio," he reminisced. The song, which was penned from a place of deep life struggles, provided an avenue for the artiste to express a great deal of pain.

"As a youth weh grow wid half a wi life inna Church, and those horrible experiences I've faced inside a Church, I just put it in a song. But the [details] were more on the surface; the more in-depth experience was [exposed] in another one of my singles called Mek Mi talk," he said.

Though he was still searching for his sound at the time, he was confident that "reggae was my direction to go". Now that he's found his niche and true sound as a "soothing and invigorating" blend of dancehall and reggae, the artiste vowed to "take [his sound] internationally as well, because I know my talent and I know what I'm capable of and what I can tap into, so I'm just gonna feed the people wid dat".

Ackeino, who used to wear a full face mask, said along with finding his infused sound, he's recently decided on revealing his face with the full aim to take on the world with music.

"We're now in a different era of music, different timing, where the kids dem bring a different level of music in which the adults dem a try fi keep up and we cyaah keep up. Suh what I do is harness all of those series of things I've been through and create it into something different weh people can be receptive to. I [also] infuse the nowadays and old-time music and knowledge about that [era] of music and bring something real different," he shared.

While he continues to push to garner more connections within the industry to achieve that big break, he said one of his greatest musical goals is "to see all a mi friends dem a travel wid me pon tour, singing in front of thousands of people".

"If mi tap dat, mi feel like mi accomplish everything. It bigga dan di Grammy, to hear all who believed in me say, 'We mek it.'"