soulfiya

Soulfiya is an influential veteran of the American reggae scene who's accomplishments include being featured on a Billboard Reggae Top 10 album (Champion Sound by Skillinjah) and gracing the iTunes Top 50 with his solo releases REALITY(#44) and ONE (#16). Fiya's music blends Reggae, Dancehall, Dub and Hip-Hop to create a raucous, high energy show that keeps the crowds excited. To date, he has performed in 39 states, 4 nations and with countless contemporary and legendary reggae icons. Soulfiya began his career well over a decade ago in Riverside California as DJ(mc) for The Gideon Band, a cover band playing reggae, dancehall, and soca. After quickly developing his own style of rough ragga toasting Fiya made an impromptu move to the Texas coast. There it didn't take long for him to join up with seasoned Texas reggae bands like Shark Attack and Fiel. On the small island of Galveston Soulfiya swiftly made some big waves. A relative "Jack of All Trades" Fiya emceed and played keys for various bands, hosted, Dj'ed, and ran many local reggae nights, all while booking national and international headliners to play events in town. Through tireless Texas touring and the release of several successful reggae/hip-hop mixtapes it became obvious that it was time for Soulfiya to "go solo". He formed a backing band The Black Lung Crew, made up of a hybrid of veteran and up and coming young reggae musicians. The next 2 years would see Soulfiya & The BLC catapulted to a higher degree of success, playing several large regional festivals and releasing 2 more mixtapes. In 2014 he released his debut solo effort "Reality" which reached 44 on the iTunes Reggae Charts. This album was recorded with world renowned modern dub producer McPullish and featured contributions from Haitian reggae pioneer Bigga Haitian and Puerto Rico's Gaby Veray. In the wake of this new success Soulfiya started to branch out again and began to tour more and perform in a "soundsystem style". This enabled more bookings and easier travel for the burgeoning artist, as well as exposing him to the EDM and jungle markets. In 2015 Soulfiya partnered with Youthman, Kansas City reggae producer and member of the Ganjah Records family (formerly of 77 Jefferson), to create "Inna fine Style" This feature packed EP rekindled the reggae/hip-hop crossover craze of the 90's, with a crucial blend of sweet horns, vintage licks, thick digital bass to give each track a distict old-school meets new-school feel. A litany of midwest reggae staples appear (Skillinjah, Joel Castillo of 77 Jefferson, Nowlege) as well as international dancehall singjay Bobby Hustle and Texas rap icons E.I. and Witch Dokta. January 7th of 2016 Fiya dropped the video for his single "Strictly" ft. Bobby Hustle of Reggaeville.com, the world's largest reggae website. He was the first artist hailing from Texas to ever be featured on this broad world stage. February 13th 2017 saw the release of Soulfiya's most acclaimed album yet, "ONE". This truly unique work was produced by Minneapolis' The MindSettaZ and featured collaborations with artists from Mexico (Sgt. Remo, Ras Levy), Trinidad (Mr. Blacc Sheep), Liberia(M'Press 1Love), and Belize(Nego Hights). ONE made a strong debut and climbed as high as #16 on the iTunes reggae charts, remaining in the top 50 for a week. The diversity displayed in this album shows why reggae is truly a WORLD genre, blending influences and sounds from across the globe to create an original hybrid sound. International Dub Rockaz Reggae MC, New album "ONE" now available on all digital distributors!