Located in Cockburn Gardens, a gritty Kingston enclave that has produced many dancehall legends, Rawyard Records is looking for spectacular things in 2026. Neziah Nesbeth, principal of that company, has several projects in the pipeline.
Heading their push is Hot Frass, a deejay who had a big hit with ‘POLO’ in 2019.
“Our plans for 2026 is to push him back on the market, we want him to get back out there with a bigger and better buzz. We’re also working on a reggae rhythm called Revolution, with artists such as Jah Be, Nature Ellis, Ras Bogle, Ras Oneilly and Sobah,” Nesbeth disclosed.
Nesbeth, who spent most of his formative years in Cockburn Gardens, started Rawyard Records there in 2008. After taking a break from music production, he revived the label in 2025 with ‘Bad Party’ by Hot Frass among its comeback songs.
Jah Be, Sleepy Don and KQ6 are the artists from Cockburn Gardens Nesbeth is banking on to push their hometown back into the limelight. They each have songs lined up for release by May.
Known as ‘Coolie Town’ because of its large East Indian population, Cockburn Gardens was once home to many sound systems, the most famous being Stur Gav, operated by pioneer deejay U Roy.
During the 1980s, the biggest artists in dancehall toured Jamaica and the United States tri-state area with Stur Gav. They included Josey Wales, Early B, Charlie Chaplin, Super Cat, Tenor Saw and Yami Bolo.
Their popularity made Cockburn Gardens a dancehall hot spot. Nesbeth is determined to expand that success.
“This is the year we at Rawyard are going to leave a mark in every community we enter. Every person we come in contact with, our team is driven and ready to work,” he said.