This feature is part of the LeZo Spotlight – a series of features highlighting and celebrating black success stories out of Guyana, in honour of the new Wakanada Forever movie, and the upcoming LeZo Eccentric Afrobeats Party slated for Friday November 25th at Outside Lounge. These stories are intended to inspire others and promote a narrative that allows for a shift in mindset.
____________________________________________________________________________
Many may have heard the name Marlon Jacobs, or any of his other aliases – ‘Freedom’, ‘Freedom Boss’, ‘Da GOAT’, or most recent ‘4 Cornrows’. The list of names keep extending as the young entrepreneur and father of two, continues to reinvent himself, making him an all-round entertainer – Actor, Singer, Song Writer, Promoter, Comedian, you name it.
Marlon rose to fame in his early teen, being a well-known “bad egg” in St. Joseph High. In an interview, the local celebrity shared his story on his rise to stardom – from a “class clown” to one of the most trending and influential Guyanese personalities.
“In school, I was very well known as either the class clown, or the guy that’s always in trouble; the bad guy, or the guy that always gets the blame for things, even when I’m not there… When I migrated, I made a decision to capitalise on that popularity, and make something out of myself with it,” he said.
Further explaining that after migrating, surviving college was tough since he hadn’t the support from his parents. These kinds of situations either make you or 
break you, and he was adamant that it was going to be the former(make), for him.
Promotion just came as a survival idea, he shared, “I started doing events while I was in College in the US to pay my way through, and then my events grew so big that I started doing events at other schools in the area. I kept doing it, and it was profitable for me. I didn’t even envision myself being a promoter. In fact, my mother wouldn’t send me to school, if I had told her I wanted to be a promoter. When I was in Guyana, I was in the Tech stream at St. Joseph High. So when I migrated, I continued along that path, and I completed my Upstate New York College years, and graduated with my degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.”
In 2014, Marlo
n returned to Guyana to give locals a taste of the experience from his events.
“When I was in college, I did the events myself, or sometimes with my roommates who were Jamaicans. And my friend here in Guyana, Allistair, called me and said that I have to do some events here. So we teamed up and threw our first party; ‘Freedom’ at Club Monaco in May 2014. And then we formed the promotion company. It was named after the party: ‘Freedom Family’, and it’s from there I got the name ‘Freedom Boss’,” he explained.
Since 2014, Freedom has been hosting events throughout the year in Guyana, in other Caribbean countries and of course in the US, where he first started. Now his brand has grown to be one of the most successful, coming out of Guyana.
Freedom – The Artiste
Now that Marlon has already made his name as a promoter, he decided to extend his portfolio, delving into other areas of entertainment.
If you have been following him, you may have heard his music – Voodoo ft Fojo, Is Da Bamzy Fah Me, Nice 2 be Nice, his catchy verse on Broken, with Carlvin Burnett, and Charge, with Officer Bling. This new career happened incidentally after an event he hosted.
Fojo and Marlon“I had an event in April 2021 during the pandemic and Super Ray riddim was playing and I took the mic from the DJ and sang a piece of my version of the song and the crowd went crazy. Fojo, who was a patron at the event, saw how people responded to the song I sang and he asked me to record it professionally. Even at that time, I still wasn’t interested, since promotion is my real passion. But my cousin and friend, ‘GT Star’, who also sings, told me let’s go to the studio and I did the song, released it and it was by far the hottest Guyanese song last year,” Marlon shared.
After he recorded that song, he said studio became therapeutic “since I was grieving the death of my grandmother. Fojo and I probably recorded 30 songs together, most of which aren’t released as yet.”
Outside of working with Fojo, “I was fortunate to meet with Joey2Kool, through Carlvin Burnett, and Joey is always working, so he’s always sending me new beats. We’re always recording so lots of new music is on the way,” Marlon disclosed.
In addition to etching is name in the music industry, he is also currently making his name as a comedian actor through his role in the new Odessa Primus production “Laffy Laffy Baby”, where he appears as “4 Cornrows”.
Now having a full command of the entertainment industry, Marlon said his next step is to create more opportunities for others.
“My ultimate goal is to bring local talents/acts with me around the world. I’ve already done great with promoting events outside of my comfort zone, so I’d like to expose my entertainer friends or anyone who’s hungry enough to take on such stages because there is a demand for not just me but for every Guyanese who’s talented. I know this because many times I travel and fans would ask ‘why you didn’t bring kunchi?’ ‘why u didn’t bring Odesssa?” ‘I hope you’re bringing Carlvin?’ So I know there’s demands out there, I just hope one day we can all create a network that will benefit us. Ckush & Drew are doing well, Azariel is doing well, Mafi is definitely an artist Guyana should look out for, Sammy is taking the gospel thing to a different level, Carlvin Burnett is definitely doing his thing and for females, I love Tennicia, Mariah, Kady Kïšh, and overseas, Gaddie G & Terror and an upcoming group called common sense. There are a lot of guys doing good music and I want to help us push and create exposure for them,” he shared.
ADVICE TO YOUTHS
The young promoter said that a lot of youths run away with the wrong idea of how to get by in life, especially when they have an impoverished background. Many fall through the school system and come out of school with nothing. And while he started with that same thrust, he identified it early enough to not have it derail his life, and he steered his life in a different direction.
To this end, he admonished youths to “First, you have to work on your mindset, and not be easily influenced by friends; you gotta learn to make your own decisions. When you figure that part out, you start to figure yourself out on a whole. But when it comes to going out there and creating the opportunities for yourself, you have to have a strategy, and you have to know exactly what you’re going out there to do. Over time, as you get to know yourself and what you want, you have to be willing to make sacrifices and take risks. Second, Don’t make anything break you. I started with zero, and now I’m living comfortably. Also, you can’t be afraid to start over. Many times you may fail, but always try again. Pride kills. Sometimes you have to put your pride aside, and do what you have to do to get what you want. And when you get there, celebrate.”
