New management directing Lybran’s career

The saying 'Tom drunk but Tom nuh fool' may very well apply to entertainer Lybran Di Rum Boss.

Widely acknowledged as the 'Drunkest artiste in dancehall', Lybran, however, does have his moments of sobriety, including when he spoke with THE WEEKEND STAR recently.

He made it clear that "I control the rum, it doesn't control me.

"I am not the rum boss who gets drunk every day; I work the rum , it doesn't work me," he declared, adding that his message to other 'rum-heads' is "drink responsibly".

Lybran, whose given name Lamon Cousins, reflected on his career as a dancehall artiste, which he says has taken off in ways he could never imagine, and pointed out that his latest song, Push Start, amassed more than 300,000 views in one week.

Now managed by Shocking Vibes CEO Patrick Roberts, Lybran revealed that his career is now at a stage where he needed to get certain crucial things in place.

"I need to focus on me as the artiste and that wasn't happening. Anybody who wanted a show just used to come straight to me and offer me the money, but now I can redirect them to the manager, because he deals with all of that. Now, for example, when I have three and four shows in one night, then management will give me a driver and that kind of thing," he explained.

Lybran said that his drunken man persona was born out of the need to separate himself from the other artistes.

He also had some advice for young artistes who, he says, have a "bag of songs but cannot perform them live on stage.

"Do the research. When you are on stage you have to grab the listener, you have to be different from when the song is playing on radio. That's why people pay their money to come and see you. They want a performance," he said.