Spragga Benz at the Village Blues Bar. - Mel Cooke

At the second instalment in the Village Blues Bar's last Sunday single artiste concert series, Spragga Benz went through the stages of his long career.

He started performing before the relatively small audience on Monday morning at 12:30.

He started at the beginning of his music forays, saying "We a start from day one", hitting Good Day. Then he said "dis a de second song whe me do", deejaying "woman fe real, yu magnet haffi sample de long steel".

Spragga declared his intention to give thorough exposure of his catalogue from early. "I see a ting inna de newspaper that Spragga going to sing conscious songs. I never write that. I will sing conscious song, but I will sing every kind of song because I am every kind of artiste," he said.

So he duly addressed the ladies, observing "tings a gwaan yu a gol'" and also did Dem Flop. "Oonu neva know a me fus sing da song ya an gi it weh," he said, doing a snatch of Ol Dawg, recorded by Beenie Man.

"Some history for you. Some trivia. Oonu nah go know dat," he said.

He also gave some history on Backshot, done in tandem with Lady Saw. "Yu see when we do this song ya me say Rookie me need some Lady Saw. We go through the protocol. We call John John first."

When Lady Saw came to the studio "we neva have no idea whe we ago do. When we done we say it look like de song whe we do ago play till we ol' an' gray. An see it a play like new tune. Big up Rookie Production, a very influential yute inna we career".

new focus

However, Spragga said there came a point where he realised he could not focus on the girls alone as "too much a me bredren a lose dem life. Me haffi open up dem eyes to what a gwaan a street". The first song he did in that vein was No Fun Ting, which advises "take me advice me bredren/rude bwoy living a no fun ting/yu nah no time fe a laugh an a grin".

He went through cuts from his latest Shotta Culture album, and also did a song for his son Carlyle. "No matter whe me dey in de worl', from August 2008 me haffi big up Carlyle," he said.

He was staunch in his support of Buju Banton, who Spragga said was facing pressure because of his stance against homosexuality. "Big up Buju Banton. You a still me general. Me no business whe dem a say," he said.