All things that are different boil down to expose that they are very much the same.
In the Caribbean, there is a celebration of the differences in language, slang, food and even music but there is a thread undeniably connecting the people of Jamaica to Trinidad and beyond.
Viral sensation Majah Hype employs comedy as his platform armed with his arsenal of characters proudly representing seven different countries to celebrate those differences through pointing out how everything is actually the same.
“Most children of a Caribbean or West Indian descendant that are born here, they might have been born here but that household is the same as what that household would be like in any Caribbean house. It ran the same exact way. If you went to school back home or here, you know if that teacher calls it is a problem. This is just the way of the Caribbean people and what we experience. I just try to keep it in a way that everybody can relate to it,” he said.
Majah Hype previously worked as a certified electrician for mass transit’s Sandhogs Local 147 making a comfortable six figure salary before being laid off. It was then that he harnessed his time and energy back into his passion of entertainment.
Though he manages to seamlessly pull off accents and mannerisms of nearly ever Caribbean country, his true origin and full birth name remains a mystery he refuses to disclose for good reason.
“My social media and platforms are a melting pot for the Caribbean — not just one nationality. I think there’s more unity in numbers than to just have one nationality behind you, you have places from anywhere. Places you don’t even know about. These smaller islands, they also have a voice now. When people feel like this is someone they can relate to I think the best thing is to unify the Caribbean as a whole,” Majah Hype said.
The Brooklyn rep has set out on his journey to unify those he identifies with, whether they are African American, Caribbean-American or West Indian. His DJ background allowed him to see that no matter what type of party he was at, there was a sense of segregation between the Caribbean countries. “If it was a Trinidadian party, it was nothing but Trinidadians in there. If you go to a Jamaican party, it was nothing but Jamaicans in there. It was just so segregated although most of the cultures are the same, but everyone has their own heritage,” he said.
The chameleon-like comedian has grown his social media followership to include 306,000 Instagram followers https://insta
“Grandpa James is a typical grandfather. He’s from Trinidad but he’s a typical grandfather. He’s a dude that will tell you anything on his mind, he don’t care how you feel about it, he’s just going to say ‘you’s a ass’ and that is it,” he said.
His rising popularity has opened doors for opportunities to more than blossom. Hosting events, performing stand-up comedy across the United States as well as abroad in the Caribbean and United Kingdom, Majah Hype continues to pile onto his mounting plate with even more projects including three featured films, an EP and mixtape all to be released sometime this year.
“I’m doing a movie for a big network. I’ll start shooting that in May. I’m also doing my documentary which is being edited now. I’m doing two films of my own, one is a short film called ‘Foreign Minds Think Alike’ and that’ll be an offspring of all my characters. I’m also doing a full feature entitled ‘All About My King’ which will be a film this year as well,” Majah Hype said.
Juggling his many hats, Majah Hype manages to schedule his time to effectively get things done. Breaking up his 24 hours to include prayer, gym, videos, administrative work then possibly film or prepare for shows, there is no second spared.
On his continued quest for unity through his projects, Majah Hype looks at current events as just another example to why coming together as a community is so important. His ability to bring people together through laughter is just one avenue he hopes to open the discussion between people in regards to recents events such as the riots in Baltimore, Maryland following he death of Freddy Gray.
“Being that we don’t have leaders and speakers like Martin Luther King in our era, those people were more unified because they actually went through it. Being hosed and having dogs let out on them and stuff like that but now that we are here and we don’t go through it we think we’re good so we don’t have to worry about marching. This dude gets killed and people are like ‘well he’s not my boy’ but at the end of the day we are all a people. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything but at times it may feel like you run out of options,” he said.
Keep up with Majah Hype and all of his projects on his social media and challenge yourself to bask in the similarities of Caribbean people for a change.
