mad cobra bio

Born Ewart Everton Brown in Kingston, Mad Cobra was only 24 when, in 1992, his track "Flex" made him the first reggae artist to score a No 1 hit on the US Billboard rap charts. He had started deejaying as a teenager in 1987 on local sound-systems like Mighty Ruler, Climax and Inner City. His uncle, Delroy Spiderman Thompson was at Tuff Gong and, in 1989, produced his first recording "Respect Woman". This was followed by "Na Go Work", a duet with Tricia McKay which became a local hit. He then moved to producers Carl Banton Nelson and Captain Sinbad and made titles like "Ze Taurus", "Shoot To Kill" and "Merciless Bad Boy". His lyrics were unrepentantly brutal, his style was hard and dark and aggressive.By 1990/91, he had teamed up with Dave Kelly, resident engineer at the Donovan Germaine Penthouse studios to produce the hits "Yush" (a big reputation-builder), "Gundelero" and "Gun Confused", as well as the duet with Beres Hanmmond; "Feeling Lonely".1991 saw his first album "Bad Boy Talk" released, confirming him as one of the number one deejays in Jamaica. The same year saw albums released by Spiderman ("Mad Cobra"), Captain Sinbad ("Merciless Bad Boy"). In the same year, Penthouse released theirs and Jetstar compiled "Cobra Gold" from a variety of producers including King Jammy, Bobby Digital and Sly & Robbie. The UK was now catching on to his hard-core gun-talk reputation and, in this same 1991-1992 period, the deejay had no fewer than five Number 1 hits on the UK Reggae charts and, in one particular week, had nine tunes on the Top 20!By the beginning of 1992, he versioned the Temptation hit "Just My Imagination" to produce the US hit track "Flex". He was promptly signed to Sony/Columbia and released his first major label album "Hard To Wet, Easy To Dry". But the follow-up single "Legacy" failed to score and he was just as promptly dropped from the labelBy 1993, he had returned to the dancehalls, making tracks like "Mek Noise" and "Mattie Haffi Move" before moving to the King Jammy label for "Big It Up", "Length And Bend" and "Fat And Buff", produced both by Jammy himself and by hs son John John. Father and son then collaborated to produce tracks for the King Jammy album "Venom". Mad Cobra continued to record steadily over 1995, and in 1996 signed with Capitol for his second major-label album "Milkman" whose single "Big Long John" was a minor crossover hit in America, though not on the level of "Flex." The album also featured "Sting Night", a good-natured clash cut with Ninjaman.In the years that followed, Cobra spent less time in the studio,though he did have a significant international hit in 1998 with "Guns High," a duet with Mr. Vegas. Several compilations of his Jamaican recordings appeared over the years on VP Records ("Mr. Pleasure"(1994), "Beenie Man Meets Mad Cobra" (1995) and "Exclusive Decision" (1996)), and he returned in 2001 with "Cobra", an album of new material for Artists Only Records and, in 2004. "Words Of Warning" on Heartbeat.In 2006, it was confirmed that he had landed a leading role as a villain in the independent film "Shottas 2" the sequel to the cult hardcore Jamaican gangster movie.The music of Mad Cobra is defnitely hardcore, often violent and explicit but, as he say it, this is the language of the hard streets. As he said of one of his early albums: ""It is not meant to be an airplay album. Something for the gutter."