‘Uncle Demon’: It’s just a name

What really going on...Gaza me run bout yuh.” “Uncle Demon,” is another sobriquet by which Tommy Lee Sparta is also known.

Last weekend, the Jamaican artiste performed at several venues across the country including Valencia, Chaguanas and Morvant.

During an exclusive interview with the dancehall singer possibly the only one since the murder conviction of his former colleague Adidja Azim Palmer aka Vybz Kartel, Russell’s face became sad when asked about Kartel. Have you ever visited Vybz Kartel in prison since his incarceration? With a lowered voice and head he said, “We link, yuh see me? Me don’t want to even go there. Man doh go look for man in jail; dem things for parents to do. Because if me go ah jail, nobody ah go come look for me same way.”

While Tommy Lee Sparta may not be a household name, he has a significant following among teenagers and young adults. His Uncle Demon sobriquet is the subject of debate on the street corners where young men talk. What does “Uncle Demon” mean and why did you choose that name?

“Because I want to be different, that’s why. ‘Uncle Demon’ means ‘Tommy Lee.’ He is a character, my character, it’s just a phase and nothing personal. Uncle Demon can be a star in a show or the opposite of a star, yuh see me. My kids can use Uncle Demon, they can come use it in a show. Uncle Demon can fit with Freddie Krueger, Jason (both fictional horror movie characters) the whole of them mad, yuh see me.”

When asked how he handles critieism about his music, the controversial singer, who still limps due to injuries sustained in an accident in November 2013 in Jamaica said, “We need criticism to survive. They don’t really mean anything, they are just talk. That’s just life; you can’t stop that. Not everybody gonna like you. We just pray for them same way. God bless them same way.”

The artiste has been criticised as being demonic and a bad influence on children. He proudly sports a gold pendaent that takes the form of a square and a set of compasses joined together around the letter ‘G’ which is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry.

He often flashes hand signs that to some may be considered questionable which the artiste says are a representation of his Gaza Sparta people. No longer under the Adidjahiem/Notnice Records Label, the father of five has formed his own label, Guzu Musiq. Working under the label are Jimbo Sparta, Stylish Sparta and Tabeta Cshae. Tommy Lee said that a collaboration with Grammy Award winner Wyclef Jean called “Ring of Fire’ would soon be released on his album Rise of the Fall.

Leroy “Tommy Lee Sparta” Russell came to Trinidad with his new manager, Junior “Heavy-D” Fraser. All his performances can be contributed to Blupitts Promotion that hails from Sangre Grande.