by Kimberly Geronimo

It was a tiny, neglected room: a tarnished mirror stuck on one wall, forgotten duck-tape hanging off the  door frame, and one lonely, naked light bulb in the middle of the ceiling were all the decor it could muster.

The musicians and their singer had somehow managed to maneuver themselves and their equipment into the space, although to say it was cramped might be an understatement. The keyboard took up a third of the room, the drum set another third, and three big stereos were stuffed into a corner, which left the two guitarists and the singer squeezed into whatever space was left.

But then they started to play.

The room’s run down appearance, the cramped lack of space, the unflattering cafeteria light of the solitary bulb all faded away as the four musicians made the walls literally vibrate with the reggae beat. And in the middle of it all, the lead singer Mighty Mystic, in a Jamaican flag-printed sweatshirt and shoulder-length dreads, sang the place to life.

Mighty Mystic, who embarked on his musical career in the late 90s, has been hailed as a reggae artist set to fly high. Both his producer Mike Cip and his DJ, DJ Master Millions, agree Mystic could be “legendary.”

Already Mystic, whose given name is Kevin Holness, has released a number of popular local hits such as “Riding on the Clouds” and “Black People Anthem.” He has won several awards such as the Joe Higgs Cool Operator Rising Star Award and the Best New Artist award at the 2006 Stars of Boston Award show. His success throughout the U.S. fueled his first nationwide road tour in 2004.

‚ÄúMystic is a very talented person,‚Äù said Millions. ‚ÄúHe’s still a young artist, new to the game, but with the right amount of time, he’ll be very pivotal in the musical world and in the rest of the world.‚Äù

But amid all the national hype about Mighty Mystic, an essential part of his past is sometimes overlooked. Mystic, in fact, is a home-grown Somerville phenomenon.

At 10 Mystic and his brother (who is now his lead guitarist) moved from Jamaica to the United States with their mother in 1990 after his parents separated. They settled in Somerville where Mystic grew up – first on Walnut Street and later on Trull Street.

‚ÄúI’m a Somerville kid,‚Äù said Mystic, emphasizing his close ties to the city and to his high school friends. ‚ÄúEvery party we have, birthday parties, I’m there.‚Äù

In part, Mystic credits the type of social interactions and the street life of his neighborhood for helping him develop his musical talents.

‚ÄúSomerville is a very very diverse community, you know, Jamaicans, Spanish, Asians…it’s a melting pot of diversity,‚Äù he said. The variety of interests and activities in Somerville ‚Äúopened up the door for me and gave me the opportunity to do what I wanted to do.‚Äù

Aside from variety, the sheer volume of social activity in Somerville also helped Mystic sow his musical career.

There was always something going on, he said. “Everywhere, in the projects, in the squares, people would gather in a circle and people would sing, or rap, or whatever.” At the Diamond Club, for instance, “local kids from the projects would put on a club-like event. At those local shows, the DJs would allow me to perform,” said Mystic.

But the reggae artist’s adolescent memories of Somerville don’t end with club performances and jam sessions. Somerville shaped him personally as well as musically.

Mystic’s neighborhood was a rough place. Drugs, violence, and other chronic societal problems were familiar faces of his adolescence. ‚ÄúI grew up around that‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúPlenty of kids I grew up with are dead and gone, a drug overdose.‚Äù

Hoping to show kids a way around those dangerous traps, Mystic is ‚Äúalways involved‚Äù in Somerville, he said. These days he goes back to his neighborhood as a role-model, a positive messenger, a bearer of hope. ‚ÄúIt’s because [Somerville] is home, and because for me, I know it gave me the opportunity, so why don’t I go back and show those kids that I’m from here, I grew up here and I walked the same streets and had the same opportunities they have.‚Äù

“You gotta take care of your home,” he said.

Mystic stays involved and takes care of his home by performing in Somerville whenever there’s an opportunity. He’s done shows at several Somerville Arts Council events and at two Teen Empowerment Conferences. Mystic has also performed at many youth concerts and shows for youth groups in Somerville, according to DJ Master Millions. Millions emphasized that Mystic performs in Somerville not to get paid, but to give back to his community.

‚ÄúMystic’s the type of person who cares about the environment and the people in a community. It’s nice to see artists who, do legitimately from their heart, give back,‚Äù he said.

Cip has also noticed a special connection between Mystic and Somerville. ‚ÄúIt’s basically like his home base,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúEverybody I run into from Somerville knows Mystic, and if anybody ever asks him to do stuff out there, it’s a given.‚Äù

Mystic’s performances aren’t just about a nice groove and a sweet beat. Tired of all the ‘b**ches and hoes’, ‚Äúshoot ’em up bang bang on the streets‚Äù lyrics that constitute much of today’s mainstream music, Mystic makes a point to communicate a fresh positivism.

“I think we need a positive message back in music,” he said. “Instead of fighting everybody, just find a common interest, a common goal between two people.” Mystic described his musical message as one calling for an “overall oneness” of the human race, a global “unification.”

“I try to put as much decency in my music as I can,” he said.

Cip and Millions emphatically agree that Mystic and his music constitute a powerful force of optimism. Cip, who only half jokes that he spends ‚Äú22 hours of my 24 hour day‚Äù with Mystic, described the singer’s lyrics as ‚Äúuplifting.‚Äù ‚ÄúThere’s a lot of lessons to be learned with the words that he says,‚Äù Cip said.

No one seems to think Mighty Mystic is more of the same. He’s a little bit of ‚ÄúBob Marley reincarnated,‚Äù said Millions. ‚ÄúI feel like he’s an artist that could be legendary,‚Äù said Cip.