On Target: Assassin

JEFFERY CAMPBELL WAS born in the ghetto, but he doesn't want you to feel sorry for him. In fact, the dancehall artist who goes by the name Assassin wants you to know that, all in all, it's not always such a bad thing.

"A lot of people, including songwriters, lament on the hardships and how horrible it is growing up in the ghetto, and all the things you don't have, and how much things can be better, and this and that," he said by phone from Kingston, Jamaica. "But at the same time, I remember growing up in the ghetto and how content you are with your situation and how happy you are with it. You're not well off financially, but at the same time you're able to make do with what you have and make do with it. ... The song is about celebrating being poor as opposed to complaining about it."

The song Assassin is referring to is the title track to his forthcoming CD, "Gully Sit'n" (VP Records), which drops Aug. 28. The record is one of the most anticipated dancehall releases of the year, and Assassin was recently tipped for big things by superstar Sean Paul on BBC 1Xtra: "Assassin is the one to take dancehall music to an international level and step up on it like I have been doing it."

But you won't find the deep-voiced deejay writing crossover hits in an effort to be played on hip-hop and R&B stations in the U.S. Assassin already tried that somewhat with his first CD, 2005's "Infiltration"

"The 'Infiltration' project had more of a diluted approach, and you could argue that some of those songs could qualify as so-called 'crossover' songs — and nothing happened with it," he said.

There's nothing "diluted" about "Gully Sit'n," and only one track, "Wanna Love You, Baby," featuring vocals by a singer named Tash, sounds even remotely R&B-ish. It's a pure dancehall record, which means few pop hooks, gruff-voiced patois-heavy lyrics and the sort of incessantly heavy "riddims" that sound natural to Jamaicans but often baffle hip-hop fans.

"The truth of the matter is, we don't know what a crossover song is," Assassin said. "A lot of times we make this mistake of doing a song to cross over and it doesn't.

"We're still in [a] very delicate stage with dancehall overseas and the wider market, because we still haven't figured out what the overseas market wants from us," he continued. "If we look at Sean Paul as a case study: 'Gimme the Light' and all of those tracks are dancehall tracks. Sean Paul was just doing some dancehall songs; I would imagine that he didn't figure, 'I'm going to do this to cross over.'

"But when you look at a Beenie Man and a Janet Jackson, you'd bet your mortgage that certainly [their song 'Feel It Boy'] was going to happen: It's Beenie Man and Janet Jackson and they find a crossover beat and a crossover video. But as far as I can count, that wasn't the case: It wasn't a resounding success by any stretch."

Assassin, who also went by the name "Agent 006" and said it's now just "Agent 00" — that's pronounced "double oh," so no need to worry about bitin', Agent Zero — is often cited as one of the most talented lyricists in modern dancehall. That can be hard to divine for those not fluent in patois, but it's fair to say that he's one of the few artists whose every other song isn't about one of the Gs: girls, guns or ganja. That's not to say Assassin doesn't do gal tunes, or jams filled with bravado; they just aren't his sole focus. (In fact, Assassin has said he doesn't drink or smoke — anything.)

In 1999, a teenage Jeffery Campbell got his break in the music industry when one of his classmates at Camperdown High School handed over some lyrics to Spragga Benz. The hard-core deejay ended up using Campbell's words over Steely and Clevie's "Street Sweeper" riddim for the song "Shotta." Campbell was voicing his own lyrics before long, but it's still been something of a calculated climb for Assassin.

Unlike so many artists, he's not the sort of deejay who will lend his voice willy-nilly to just any of the hundreds of riddims that spew from Jamaican production houses each year. And rather than spend all his days couped up in recording studios, Assassin has the bigger picture in mind: He just completed his first year of Internet-based classes toward a bachelor's degree in business management from England's University of Sunderland.

Reggae singer Tanya Stephens was recently given a scholarship to work toward the same degree at Sunderland, but Assassin said, "I was the first recipient. They [give the scholarship to] working professionals who are making a mark in their field; it's not necessarily artists or people in entertainment, per se. But the truth of the matter is, they figured to get the coverage they wanted to get, it's certainly a better choice to give it to someone who is not only excelling in a field but someone that a lot of people would know or care about."

While business is his course of study today, writing was the subject that once captured Jeffrey Campbell's attention.

"In the later part of high school I started to understand the English language as a tool, not just something you have to learn at school," Assassin said. "Communication can be used as a tool — and as a weapon."

And while he said that maybe one day he'll get deeper into writing, perhaps even penning a memoir, for the moment Assassin's aim is on exporting dancehall music to the global audience.

"I want to be a part of the movement of dancehall in the world, and as such I cannot compromise the art form," he said. "When I go to Europe and all of these places, what I do is dancehall and people react to it. I look at it as a challenge to try to win people over."

Not a bad dream for a ghetto kid.

» Crossroads, 4103 Baltimore Ave., Bladensburg; Sun., 10 p.m. doors, $20 before 11 p.m., $25 after; 301-927-1056.

Photos by Martei Korley