Slaughter in the dance
By Sheldon J Yearwood

At Carnival fetes, the pulsating rhythm of his smash hit Mr Slaughter—from
the debut album by the same name—had patrons singing word for word. To his
family and friends he is Derek Pereira; to the rest of T&T he is Dawg E
Slaughter.

The 28-year-old DJ is also a founding member of the Excaliber Entourage
sound system. The Entourage is presently on board with a new radio station,
96.7FM.

Though his first love is dancehall, he has fused it with soca,
incorporating what was intrinsic to his culture. He is working on his
second album, for C2K6, Living Legend.

“Basically it is a step up from the first album. It has the same patriotic
and life-altering messages, along with the wining songs, but this one is
more personal. The public will definitely see growth on all levels
including the depth of my voice,” he said.

The album is set to be released in November.

Though he has attained success off his debut album, funding for it was no
bed of roses.

“I was shopping around for a deal at VP Records and they loved what I had
to offer. They in turn said they would call me back in a few weeks with a
budget. I waited for six months. I told myself if I have to wait on these
people nothing would get done.”

Slaughter took every cent he had and spent over $45,000 on the project.

“I made back the money doing live shows last year and my CD was the second
best-selling soca album behind Machel Montano.”

Sitting in his black Honda Civic a couple weeks ago he relates his about
his life, from hustling on the streets of San Juan to his rise as a
respected sound system specialist and success as a soca artiste. He now
resides in Petit Valley.

Originally from Santa Cruz, he has been on this musical journey since the
age of 11, when he started by getting involved in the church choir as well
as the school parang band.

Behind the smiles life was tough.

“My mom made me when she was 16 and my father was a seaman. Both being very
young, problems arose and they separated when I was barely a teenager. It
was extremely painful.”

With his house feeling like a strange domain, the streets became his second
home as well as his classroom. He learnt and developed his craft as a DJ
and his versatile chanting abilities on the streets. Slaughter used his
talent to earn money.

The recognition came through a competition at the Base nightclub by party
promoter Barry Lewis. Slaughter was then 18.

Stunned by the slurs of the crowd to other contestants, he hesitated at
first. Nonetheless, he found the courage, singing a song from dancehall
artiste Super Cat.

The crowd was ecstatic after his performance and he won the competition. He
continued competing at the Base, victorious on almost every occasion.

In 1998 Slaughter and some friends formed the Excaliber Entourage.

“Back then there were eight members. We had no intention at first of going
on radio because we wanted to separate ourselves from the norm. We
preferred to do live shows for we did not want our sound to be dictated.”

In 1999 they received a call from Anthony Chow Lin On of 96.1 FM.

“With an agreement to keep the originality of our music, we went on board.
The vibe from the entourage must not sound like every other sound system.”

The Excaliber Entourage became a household name with their energetic flair
on the radio. In 2003 they parted ways with the radio station, opting to
focus on other avenues.

“That experience was a very good one and we are all grateful to Chow but we
needed to grow as a separate entity from 96.1.” Presently there are four
members of the Entourage.

With all the doors soca artistes have opened for T&T culture, he believes
Trinidadians need a wake-up call.

“We would rant and rave for Carnival and afterwards we do not even respect
our own artistes.

“Rupee is my very good friend but Coca Cola in Trinidad bypass all the
local artistes down here and sign him to an ad—which to me was the biggest
disrespect to local artistes. Therefore, if we do not respect our own, what
does that say for us as a nation? Reflect on that.”