Pressure Buss Pipe: King of the U.S.V.I.
The sound of Reggae music is often associated with the island of Jamaica, but an artist from The U.S. Virgin Islands by the name of Pressure Buss Pipe has been making a name for himself as an established reggae musician for quite some time now. His accomplishments and notoriety in the community has elevated him to a status that he never could have dreamed of.
Pressure was born Delnyo Brown. He is from the island of St. Thomas to be exact. The U.S. Virgin Islands is comprised of three different islands. The island of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. Pressure grew up in a housing project known on the island as “The Ghettos”. As a youth, he knew that music was an outlet for him to express himself and deal with the negativity that was going on around him. Pressure has been recording music for many years now. He had a hit in Jamaica in 2007 with a remixed version of his hit single “Love and Affection”. He has been featured on numerous projects including Reggae Gold 2007. Just last year he released his fifth studio album called “Africa Redemption”. He is in the studio now recording his sixth album “Lovers Rock” which is due to be released in the early part of 2016. The forthcoming album is a compilation of all original reggae love songs.
Living on the island of St. Thomas isn’t what it may seem. Due to high poverty levels in most areas, there is a lot of street violence that occurs. Unfortunately, Pressure was a victim of some of the street violence that goes on and was shot in the leg while standing with friends in the Paul M. Pearson Gardens Housing Community “The Ghettos” on Friday February 24th 2012. He survived but one of his longtime friends that he was standing with didn’t. This was a big eye opener for Pressure. He knew that there needed to be a better sense of awareness in the community about the street violence. Because Pressure wanted to bring a heightened awareness to the violence and bring the community together, he started to organize a peace concert for the island of St. Thomas. Every August since his incident he has been throwing the peace concert annually. The day consists of live musical performances, different activities and giveaways for the children, different food vendors, and an overall sense of togetherness and unity amongst the community. Last year there were performances from reggae veteran Peetah Morgan of Morgan Heritage, Rock City, and Pressure himself serenaded the crowd with songs like “Virgin Islands Nice”, which happens to be the St. Thomas Board of Tourism theme song for the island.
With Pressure’s new album approaching, he has been shooting some new music videos for this upcoming project. This past May during the St. Thomas Carnival festivities, Pressure was joined by actor Malik Yoba, formally of Fox’s hit show Empire, and Atlanta Housewife Claudia Jordan to film the official music video for his new single “Nuh Worry Yourself.” The video made its debut on Tempo’s Cross Caribbean Countdown. The “Nuh Worry Yourself” video also premiered on Vevo.com (http://vevo.ly/avpoWf) making it possible for Pressure fans around the globe to watch and celebrate his latest work. “I’m extremely grateful to Malik Yoba, Claudia Jordan, U.S.V.I. Board of Tourism, Cardow Jewelers, Serenity Villas, Havana Blue, and video directors Dwight Winston and Birhan Tonge for their diligent efforts in executing this project. I’m very pleased and excited to share it with the world”, Pressure shared in a statement from Germany while on a two week European promo tour.
The August issue of Black Men Magazine, currently on newsstands with Claudia Jordan on the cover, includes a six page spread of both Pressure and Claudia with accompanying images highlighting Pressure’s impact on reggae music and his U.S. Virgin Islands roots. Pressure has crossed many barriers in his life and has overcome many hardships. He has given back to the community he came from, and for that he will be recognized as a community leader. When he reached a certain level of stardom, he could have left St. Thomas but chose to stay…that alone speaks volumes. You can follow Pressure Buss Pipe on Instagram at @PressureBussPipe.
by Tamoya Daum
