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Windell Beneto Edwards became the singer known as Gyptian when he left his rural home in St. Andrew, Jamaica, and traveled to Portmore, the town where the promoter known as Mr. Wong ran his studio. Gyptian had grown up singing in his mother's Adventist church and listening to his Rastafarian father's music. His father had been a promoter himself for a time, so he understood the grooming and networking that would be involved in turning Gyptian's passion into his profession. His parents trusted Ravin Wong, having seen the promoter turn many an unpolished talent into reggae stars, I Wayne being a recent example. Under Wong's direction, Windell became "Egyptian," then "I-Gyptian," and finally just Gyptian. The smooth singer was eventually presented with a song that would suit his conscious upbringing, "Serious Times," and after adding his own verse to it, he cut the track in Wong's studio. Combining hypnotic nyahbinghi drums with lyrics that plead for an end to violence and crime, "Serio...
