Joseph Smith, who goes by the stage name, ‘Hot Ras’ finished as a finalist in the Soca Monarch Competition, where debuted with his hot, new piece “Forest Provide”, which has since become a hit in his Linden hometown.
Hot Ras came to The Scene’s attention when he performed “Forest Provide” at the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Mash Band launch last week at the Sophia Exhibition Centre. The singer, after experiencing some technical difficulties with the sound system provided by the ministry, was encouraged by those present to sing the song acapella and performed with a smoothness that proved sweet entertainment for his audience.
A forest ranger and employee of Guyana Forestry Commission, Joseph took up singing professionally two years ago, but it was three years prior to that, that he realised he had the talent. “Five years ago, I was working at the Skeldon Branch,” he recalled, “and rain was falling, and the office started to flood. I was mopping out and I start singing ‘True we flood out without a doubt. Cyan’ work cah me affi mop it out’ and the officers them like it and I just continue down the road making songs off of situations. That’s how everything start.”
Before that he was never keen on singing but did find himself on stage in comedy shows as an actor, while he was just getting out of secondary school. He grew up in Amelia’s Ward and attended Wisroc Nursery, Amelia’s Ward Primary and Linden Foundation Secondary before moving on to pursue studies at the Guyana School of Agriculture.
“Forest Provide” is the last of 12 songs he has composed in the last two years. The first, “Wood, Wood, Wood,” is a Soca song. Though he is known as a Soca singer, Joseph has also dabbled in Dancehall and Reggae genres. However, another crowd pleaser, “Stick Inna Yuh Waist”, is also of Soca genre. He is currently working on two new songs, one called “Anything She Wants” and another still being constructed, which just means him coming up with the lyrics in his head and retaining them. Joseph has a photographic memory so for all the songs he has released he has only put one on paper, “Forest Provide” and only because he was required to send a physical copy of the lyrics to the coordinators of the Soca Monarchy Competition.
Speaking of his experience, Joseph said, “This was real competition. This was far different from Mr Berbice. It was seriously challenging. I had to bring my A-game and it was kind of shocking bringing my A-game and seeing people crushing your game too,” he laughed. Despite not placing in the competition, Joseph said that as a newbie, he was proud to make it to the final. The artiste said he was honoured also that though being a newcomer, he was able to make fans out of top guns in the Soca field like Jumo Primo and Brandon Harding. Part of his song has the hook “Bang, bang, bang”, which is so catchy that fans latched on to it, renaming him ‘Mr Bang, Bang, Bang’.
The Mr Berbice Competition he spoke of was the Mr Berbice Male Empowerment Showcase held for the first time last year in the ancient county. Joseph finished as champion. The contest was created for men to be promoted in a positive light in the eyes of the public and gave contenders the opportunity to highlight matters important to them.
The Forestry Department in Berbice was expected to send a representative and Joseph was voted to go. Skeptical, since he never saw competitions of that as important, Joseph soon changed his mind after he was able to highlight the issue of deforestation. Given such an opportunity, the forest ranger wasted no time in visiting schools to talk about deforestation. He was even more delighted when he turned up at one school and found many of the pupils wearing forest ranger uniforms. It was pure joy, Joseph said, to find that his job, which he felt no one paid attention to, was considered of such status by the children. He wrote “Forest Provide” for the talent category of the competition and won the Best Talent Award.
Having only been in the music industry for a couple of years, Joseph said the benefits were not bountiful, but what has been significant for him was meeting new and interesting people. It was only recently that he began making any sort of money for his music.
Though he has always considered himself to be disciplined, music has made him a humbler individual and somewhat more focused, he noted. When he first began singing, he could only rap but has since honed his vocal skills.
A father of four, Joseph shared that as much as he is passionate about music, it has to take second place to his family as they are top priority in his life. When he got home after the Soca competition, his children were excited to tell him that they saw him singing on the television. Their excitement, he said, makes him feel like a star.
Speaking of stars, he has looked up to a few in his life including Vybz Kartel, Machel Montano and Bob Marley. If he could collaborate with a singer Joseph said, he would want to do so with Jamaican artiste Romain Virgo as he considers him to be passionate about his music. Kartel is certainly on this wish list but as the ‘Gaza’ leader is serving a life sentence there is not much hope for this. Nevertheless, he dreams of one day performing in Jamaica.
One of his most intense experiences, Joseph said, was losing his mother at 11 years old. Being the oldest of his siblings he is one who can remember moments with her and recalled sharing them with his other siblings. “Growing up without a mother was real hard. My father raised me and for the latter part, my grandmother,” he said. “My mother was someone who was always persistent in getting important things done. Whatever she wanted done, she got it done with or without help. I know that I would have taken after her in this way.” If she was here and could have seen his own persistence and the life that he has created for himself, he said, he knows she would have been proud.
As regards challenges, the support of local artistes by promoters is possibly his biggest one. The performer questioned if local promoters do not make a big deal about local artistes, who else would.
Asked how his stage name came about, the singer said it was women who gave him the name because of his dreadlocks and because they considered him to be hot. Later, when he was trying to come up with a stage name, he remembered this and decided to make it his.
When he is not caught up with his job as a forest ranger, Joseph spends time working on his music and socializing with his family. Sometimes he indulges in playing basketball or video games.
His favourite dishes are fish curry, cook-up, and fried rice.
His favourite shade to wear is black.
Joseph can be followed on Facebook at Hot Ras Entertainment or Joseph Smith. Meanwhile his music can be found on High Rollas Production YouTube page. His songs, including “Forest Provide” were recorded by AJ Records while the videos were produced by High Rollas Entertainment.
