In Summary
- Singer Kranium credits Usher for his major contribution in his career.
- His response surprised a co-host who expected him to name a Jamaican artist, but Kranium doubled down on Usher’s impact on his career.
- There were other notable names of artists who have helped Kranium along the journey among them award-winning Jamaican rapper Shaggy and fellow star Serani.
Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer Kranium has only one person he credits for really showing him the reality of the music business.
This is none other than American R&B star Usher.
Speaking in an interview, the “Nobody Has To Know” hitmaker named Usher as the artist he looked up to while growing up, and the two would ultimately meet and develop a friendship after he blew up with Nobody Has to Know.
“Usher was the first person weh mi really look up to that me become very close with,” Kranium revealed. “Him give me some of the best advice weh mi can ever ask for, the first big artist weh ever bring me out on stage, the first artist mi ever have dinner with weh mek mi know the game…”
His response surprised a co-host who expected him to name a Jamaican artist, but Kranium doubled down on Usher’s impact on his career.
“Honestly, the insight of a man who was so successful as a Usher, I felt like mi always seh Usher because certain information weh him give me to this day, I would have never had until mi really sit down with the man and the man really break it down to me, like, ‘bredda this is how it work and this is how it go’, and I feel like that kinda give me the confidence, like, alright, cool. Mi just a go buil’ and do it dah way yah, so, definitely Usher.”
In 2016, Kranium tweeted a photo of a studio session with the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime show act. However, a collaboration between the two artists is yet to be released.
Formally known as Kemar Donaldson, Kranium migrated from Montego Bay, St. James, to the United States when he was a teenager.
His first musical mentor was his uncle and dancehall singer Screw Driver, one of several family members with musical talent. He later moved to New York, where he’d grow close to rapper Prodigy, one-half of the iconic hip-hop duo Mobb Deep.
There were other notable names of artists who have helped Kranium along the journey among them award-winning Jamaican rapper Shaggy and fellow star Serani.
