Fantan Mojah
Artist. Roots, dancehall
- Active
- 1990s-2026
- Sunrise
- August 5, 1976, White Hill, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica
- Sunset
- July 14, 2026, Kingston, Jamaica
- Also known as
- Owen Moncrieffe, Mad Killer
Fantan Mojah was a Rasta singjay whose 2005 debut, Hail the King, and songs such as "Hungry," "Corruption" and "Rasta Got Soul" made him one of the leading conscious voices of the 2000s, with a strong following in Europe.
Born Owen Moncrieffe in White Hill, St. Elizabeth, he began on sound systems as Mad Killer, a nod to Bounty Killer, and took the name Fantan Mojah when he embraced Rastafari, after which his writing turned to faith and conscience: "Anything weh me a do is always fi equal rights and justice." He signed to Joe Bogdanovich's Downsound Entertainment.
Hail the King did well in Europe, and his singles included "Nuh Build Great Man," with Jah Cure, "Thanks & Praise" and "Most High Jah." Later albums included Stronger, the dub set Rebel I Am, Soul Rasta and Defending the Roots, shared with Lutan Fyah; "Fire King" (2021) drew criticism, which he answered as a widening of his range. He departed at the University Hospital of the West Indies in July 2026, at forty-nine, after heart complications, weeks before his fiftieth birthday; in the days after, three of his albums appeared on the American iTunes reggae chart.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Jah Cure (collaborator)
- Lutan Fyah (collaborator)
Notes
- Yasmine Peru, "Thanksgiving Service for Fantan Mojah Today; Funeral Saturday," Jamaica Gleaner, August 13, 2026, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260813/thanksgiving-service-fantan-mojah-today-funeral-saturday. Kwame Dadzie, "Jamaican Reggae Star Fantan Mojah Dies at 49," MyJoyOnline, July 15, 2026, https://www.myjoyonline.com/jamaican-reggae-star-fantan-mojah-dies-at-49/.
- Peru, "Thanksgiving Service for Fantan Mojah." J. T. Davy, "Fantan Mojah Was 'a Powerful Voice for Conscious Reggae Music,'" Sunday Gleaner, July 19, 2026, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260719/fantan-mojah-was-powerful-voice-conscious-reggae-music.
- Peru, "Thanksgiving Service for Fantan Mojah," which dates Stronger to 2008 in its text and 2010 in its chart listing. Dadzie, "Jamaican Reggae Star Fantan Mojah Dies at 49."
- Peru, "Thanksgiving Service for Fantan Mojah." Dadzie, "Jamaican Reggae Star Fantan Mojah Dies at 49," which says he died on the evening of Tuesday, July 14.
