Back home, he’s known as the “miracle boy”. Hailing from Montego Bay, Jamaica, Nigy Boy (real name Nigel Hector) wasn’t expected to survive childbirth. He spent three months in an incubator, which caused his permanent loss of vision, but went on to enjoy a vibrant, healthy childhood. Even though his town didn’t have suitable resources for blind students, he loved school – and became fascinated by music.
Now 23 years old, Nigy Boy’s soaring vocal ability and charismatic performances turned the heads of some of Jamaica’s biggest dancehall artists, including Dexta Daps and Shenseea. But despite his newfound success, Nigy Boy refused to put music ahead of his school books.
“A few months back, I was completing the end of my undergraduate studies and working with the New York State government. On weekends I was off to Guayana, Bahamas for shows,” he chuckles over the phone from his home in New York. “Sometimes I had sleepless nights writing papers, or I had to work on songs on my lunch break. It’s been a hell of a process!”
Nigy Boy’s unexpected breakthrough came late last year, after he released a demo based on a riddim (an instrumental track) by Jamaican producer Rvssian. ‘Juggling Riddims’ is a musical Jamaican tradition where producers challenge vocalists to pen and sing lyrics over their beats, resulting in some of the biggest dancehall hits (Rihanna’s ‘Pon de Replay’, Sean Paul’s ‘Get Busy’ and Wayne Wonder’s ‘No Letting Go’ were all penned on 2002’s ‘Diwali Riddim’). Nigy Boy got wind of a challenge to sing to Rvssian’s ‘Dutty Money Riddim’ and uploaded his attempt to Instagram.
“I decided to make a short video snippet of a song, post it online and see what happens. The internet started going wild,” he recalls. “Rvssian messaged me. I recorded a song, the rest of history.”
The song was ‘Continent’, an uber-smooth dancehall track with catchy melodies and big pop hooks that’s clocked up 15million views on YouTube since its January release. Since then, he’s teamed up with Rvssian again on slick booty-shaker ‘Judgement’ and with DJ Frass on sensual banger ‘Nomad’. Now with a string of hit singles under his belt, Nigy Boy has been deservingly hyped as the future of new-generation dancehall alongside the likes of Jada Kingdom and 450.
Despite his newfound fame, he’s extremely grounded, speaking with eloquence, humility and utmost politeness. He tells NME why he’ll never give up on his passions, wherever they will take him.
In Jamaica, they refer to you as the “miracle boy” – doctors told your mother that there was a chance you wouldn’t be born alive. You have been blind from infancy, and have been hailed as an important role model in your country: your hometown, Montego Bay, recently awarded you with an Outstanding Citizen award. How does that feel?
“I’m humbled by all this. It’s a great feeling. As for being an inspiration, I’m honoured. I think if an individual has the potential to do something, they should do it. And if it inspires others, then the more reason to do it.”
Have other blind or visually impaired musicians reached out to you?
“To my knowledge, it hasn’t happened. But I do know folks in the blind community who are forever motivated by what I’m doing. Whatever career path they want to pursue, they go after it with gusto, you know?”
Is there a term you prefer? Visually impaired, for example?
“I would say that that’s politically correct, but I’m totally blind [laughs]. I have light perception, but I see nothing. When somebody tells me I’m visually impaired, that means I have vision – but I have none.”
NME recently caught you performing live at Jamaica’s Reggae Sumfest, and it was visually very impressive, complete with an extraterrestrial theme and a huge dancing robot. As a blind artist, it must be an enormous challenge to prepare – how do you plan your performances?
“I am an alien! I deliver, and then I disappear somewhere else!” [Laughs]
“The preparation for the Reggae Sumfest was a meticulously planned execution. I wasn’t the only brain – the team had ideas, management, DJ, and we came to the alien. Jamaica isn’t one of those places where bombastic performances are normally seen – customers, you know? We wanted to do something historically remembered. Reggae Sumfest is a huge festival – it was one of my biggest shows.”
Your breakthrough hit ‘Continent’ uses Rvssian’s ‘Dutty Money Riddim’. Do you prefer to work with existing riddims or start from scratch when you write songs?
“I like to start from scratch. But I’m pretty much open to working with anybody. At the end of the day, it’s music. A producer might bring a beat to you, you put a song on it and it goes platinum. You never know!”
What’s your process when composing a song from scratch?
“Sometimes I start with the melody and have a beat composed. Some songs I write a verse and chorus, put it away for months, and then a producer comes with a beat, and boom, it’s done.
“For ‘Karma’, the beat was created in minutes. The ideas were just flowing. But then you have songs like ‘Nomad’, I had written the first half of that song a year ago for a different instrumental.
“I got this beat from DJ Frass who had a completely different melody in mind, but no lyrics. Nothing was clicking with me. And I decided, let me see if I have anything in my toolbox that I can draw on. I found those lyrics. So I put the first half on the beat, took it to the studio and pieced together the whole song right there. Some songs take a while to come together, and others you spit them out at the drop of a hat!”
“I want to be that guiding light for young youths who may feel lost”
You are still committed to pursuing a law degree, but also have such outstanding musical talent. Is law as important to you as music?
“They are both passions of mine. Ever since I was young I had aspirations of working in the field of public service, and doing law was an avenue to allow me to do so. I’m a huge advocate for people who suffer injustices. I believe studying law and practising law is an avenue to be some sort of assistance. I know it’s going to be burdensome for me to do both but I have to do what I have to do.”
How was that passion instilled in you?
“I’m from a place in Jamaica where the stereotypes around the community are purely negative. Young youth – some of them don’t make it to a certain age. There’s a lot of violence and crime. They fall victim to the system, they don’t have that direction, the compass, to have a way out. They suffer unjustly because they are in the wrong place, at the wrong time and have no way out.
“So being a product of that community, I want to make it my mission to say ‘let me be that guiding light for young youths who may feel lost’.”
Jamaica has a powerful history of using music as a social tool. Are you interested in tying those passions together?
“Music can move so many. I will not be sticking to one topic in music. You have different audiences to cater to. If I can use music to shine a light on things that are going on in society, and I believe that it will be of help, then yeah, definitely!”
You’ve been quoted as saying that adversity builds character. Do you still believe that?
“I firmly believe that. Without struggle, you can’t grow. Diamonds are formed under a tremendous amount of pressure.
“I believe that in life to be extremely successful there has to be some sort of challenge that you have to go through to make you grow, to make you stronger, to develop you as a human being, as a person.”
You’re playing in the UK soon. What can we expect?
“I’m definitely planning on putting on a show! If the UK doesn’t remember me after I leave, I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m Nigy Boy anymore!”
Nigy Boy performs with Mavado on September 27 at Motorpoint Arena Nottingham