Mr. Vegas

Mr. Vegas

Clifford R. Smith, Clifford Ray Smith

3 songs 2 albums

Clifford Smith (born December 29, 1974), better known as Mr. Vegas, is a Jamaican dancehall musician.

The moniker “Mr. Vegas” was given to Smith by his schoolyard football-mates, who thought that he kicked the ball like a Las Vegas dancer. In his early years as a singjay, Vegas sang covers of Jamaican hits at local parties and shows, and acquired a reputation as a troublemaker for his lyrics. During a scuffle over stolen master tapes, Vegas was hit in the face with a crowbar and had his jaw wired shut for six weeks. Vegas claims that, after hearing Beenie Man’s hit “Who Am I”, he immediately demanded that his still-healing jaw be unwired, changing his speech pattern but allowing him to practice toasting.

He found fame in 1998 with hits such as “Yu Sure”, “Jack It Up”, and “Latest News”. For his first major hit, Vegas versioned the wildly popular “Playground” Riddim (Sean Paul’s “Infiltrate” among others) to create “Nike Air”, which became a huge hit in Jamaica. The next single, “Heads High”, with an anti-oral sex lyric, followed its success in Jamaica with a chart run in the UK and a No. 69 peak on the US R&B chart, and Vegas became increasingly in demand as a guest artist by acts such as Sean Paul.