Mavado
Artist. Dancehall
- Active
- 2004-present
- Sunrise
- 1981, Kingston, Jamaica
- Also known as
- David Brooks, David Constantine Brooks
Mavado is a dancehall singjay from Cassava Piece in Kingston whose pained, almost haunted delivery, half-sung over minor-key melodies, made him, by 2009, what one magazine called reggae's most prominent international star, and the leader of the Gully side in its long feud with Vybz Kartel's Gaza.
Born David Brooks and raised by a grandmother who took him to church, he found a refuge and an early musical school in its gospel choir, and the influence stayed in his voice, which Will Welch calls "haunted, gangster-soul" and Spin "tear-soaked." Bounty Killer, his mentor, brought him into the business; he took his name from a luxury watch. By one account the deejay Buccaneer was the first to record him. His breakthrough came in the middle of the decade, and Stephen McGregor, still a teenager at Big Ship, co-wrote and produced "Weh Dem a Do." Hits such as "Touch the Road" and "Top Shotta Nah Miss" followed, and his first album, Gangsta for Life: The Symphony of David Brooks, came out on VP in 2007.
In 2006 Vybz Kartel left Bounty Killer's Alliance, and the rivalry between their camps became a war of lyrics that spilled into the streets and the schools. On December 8, 2009, the government called both deejays to the Office of the Prime Minister, where they pledged to end the feud and urged their followers to do the same. Mavado later signed with DJ Khaled's We the Best and appeared on his albums through the 2010s, and he has worked with Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Drake, whose video for "Find Your Love" cast him as a gangster.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Stephen "Di Genius" McGregor (producer)
- Buccaneer (discovered by)
- Bounty Killer (mentor)
- Vybz Kartel (rival)
Notes
- Eric K. Arnold, "Mavado: So Special," XLR8R, June 2, 2009, https://xlr8r.com/?p=100936. Gladstone Taylor, "The Great Divide in Dancehall: The Lasting Effects of the Gully vs Gaza Feud," DancehallMag, September 4, 2020, https://dancehallmag.com/?p=18605.
- Will Welch, "Cover Story: Mavado," Fader, December 1, 2009, https://www.thefader.com/2009/12/01/fader-42-mavado-cover-story. Review of Mavado, Mr. Brooks ... A Better Tomorrow, Spin, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.spin.com/2009/02/mavado-mr-brooks-better-tomorrow-vp/.
- Arnold, "Mavado: So Special." "Mavado (singer)," Wikipedia, accessed October 22, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavado_(singer) gives his full name and his birth date as November 30, 1981; Arnold gives Christmas Day, 1981.
- "Buccaneer (musician)," Wikipedia, accessed October 22, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buccaneer_(musician); thinly sourced. See the entry on Stephen McGregor. Arnold, "Mavado: So Special," on the hits. "Mavado (singer)," Wikipedia, on the album.
- Taylor, "The Great Divide in Dancehall." "DJs Mavado, Vybz Kartel Pledge to End Lyrical Feud," Jamaica Gleaner, December 9, 2009, https://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20091209/ent/ent5.html, which dates the conflict between the two camps' supporters to 2006.
- "Mavado (singer)," Wikipedia. Arnold, "Mavado: So Special," on Jay-Z ("On the Rock").
