Jamar Rolando McNaughton popularly known as Chronixx, is a Jamaican reggae artiste born on the 10th of October 1992.
His stage name replaced the name “Little Chronicle” given to him because of his father, the singer “Chronicle”. A star amongst his peers, he had shown a love for music and songwriting from an early age, writing his first song, “Rice Grain”, at age five.
During an interview with Okay Player, he spoke of his early life and how it had always revolved around music. “My music come from early beginnings, from childhood days. I used to sing at school, in church, and then my whole family sings. My daddy, Chronicle, caused me to be very exposed to music from a very tender age. That’s where the music started for me. Professionally now, that’s when I was in high school. I started producing. Making riddims. But the music goes from then until now. When I was 15, 16 I started producing and it was a great vibe for me.” He attended St Catherine High School in Spanish Town.
Chronixx started his recording career at the age of 11, recording a gospel track with producer Danny Browne (which was not released), and went on to provide harmony vocals for artistes such as Lutan Fyah as well as beginning production work, composing rhythms used by artistes such as Konshens, Popcaan, and Munga Honorable for Mavrick Records. At the age of 14, he began producing and building riddims, including the Freezer riddim for Ice Box Records. In 2009 Chronixx’s brother died which led to him writing with Romaine ‘Teflon’ Arnett of Zincfence Records.
Chronixx popularity grew throughout 2012, with significant airplay in Jamaica, and performances at festivals such as Reggae Sumfest He was featured on the Major Lazer-curated mixtape Start a Fire. In 2013, he blessed us with hits like “Smile Jamaica” and “Here Comes Trouble.” which won awards for Best Song (“Smile Jamaica”) and Best Music Video (“Here Comes Trouble”) at the 33rd International Reggae & World Music Awards.
Chronixx and his music have been branded as the revitalization of reggae as the artiste has been labelled an ambassador for peace for his continuous positive lyrics addressing socio-economic issues that affect people globally.
Chronixx has done his fair share of tours as he expressed in his hit single Likes. Apart from his numerous local performances at Reggae Sumfest, Chronixx has performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on US network NBC. He has done multiple tours in the United Kingdom including a BBC 1Xtra concert in Leeds. His Zincfence Redemption Band has toured North America and in 2013 he travelled to Kenya, during the country’s general election, and performed at the Tuko Rada Peace Concert in Nairobi.
It is only natural that such musical talent and artistry carry its fair share of accolades. His EP, Dread & Terrible, was released on April 1, 2014, and topped the Billboard Top Reggae Albums by March 2015, the EP had spent 42 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Top Reggae Albums chart. That same year Chronixx was featured on Protoje’s single “Who Knows”, the lead single of the album Ancient Future. The single was later certified silver by BPI in 2022.
In May 2014, he won Culture Artiste of the Year, Best New Artiste, and Entertainer of the Year at the Linkage Awards in New York. In September 2014, he was nominated for a MOBO Award in the Best Reggae Act category. He founded his own ZincFence Recordz production house along with producer Romain “Teflon” Arnett and co-producer/engineer Ricardo “Shadyz” Lynch. In January 2015, Chronixx appeared on “Belly of the Beast” a song which featured on American rapper Joey Badass debut album B4.Da.$$.
His 2017 debut album, Chronology, received a Grammy Award nomination, and in the same year he received a Prime Minister’s National Youth Award for Excellence.
On March 13, 2020, Chronixx released the first single “Dela Move” from his upcoming second album, “Dela Splash”. The title of the track and album were inspired by his hometown – De La Vega City, in Spanish Town, Jamaica.
At age 29 Chronixx has already made a significant impact on modern day reggae music, and we know there are only remarkable things ahead from the artiste who describes his music as a mission!
