Labels Stepping Over Each Other In Race For Kamoze Ą BY BRED ATWOOD LOS ANGELES-Major labels are swarming in on dance hall reggae artist Ini Kamoze, who is climbing the Hot 100 thanks to a new surge of interest in the 3-year-old sleeper hit "Here Comes The Hotstepper." The single is No.4 on the Hot 100 and No.2 on the Hot R&B Singles chart this week. Among the labels in the chase for Kamoze are Giant, EastWest, Island, Atlantic, Mercury, and Columbia. The bidding war surrounding Kamoze is similar to the surprise success of Lisa Loeb. That singer/ While many labels are expressing songwriter's "Stay (I Missed You)," interest, there is no guarantee that featured on RCA's "Reality Bites" Columbia will make the hit song soundtrack, vaulted up the Hot 100, available to competing labels for in- while Loeb remained unsigned. She clusion on a full-length album. IfCoeventually signed with Geffen (Bill-(Continued on page 109) board, July 23). Kamoze has yet to benefit from ex-~ _ posure on a soundtrack, but will soon receive that added boost. "Here Comes The Hotstepper" will be fea tured in the upcoming Robert Alt man film "Pret-a-Porter." The film's soundtrack is due Dec. 6 on Colum 1 bia (see The Beat, page 14). . Columbia, which issued the gold sirrgle,~had ~acqance to sign Kamoziq -to-a yearlong contran.,)",CiOIi tilaL ~ would have given the label a first 1 shot at signing him to a long-term deal. However, that contract expired just as the song began to climb up the charts. At press time, no label had inked a deal with Kamoze. However, a source close to the Kingston, J a rnaica-based artist says Giant is at the head of the pack. Sources say that Columbia initial ly balked at matching the rapidly es calating price tag to sign Kamoze, which has edged close to the $1 mil lion mark. Thelabel is reportedly un certain whether such a hefty invest ment would yield a long-term career artist 01' a one-hit wonder. "Here Comes The Hotstepper" was originally recorded in early 1992, and was passed over by several major labels before landing on the Columbia reggae dance hall compila tion "Stir It Up," released last March. "We did the song well over two years ago," says Salaam Remi, who also produced the four-track demo cassette now circulating through several A&R offices. "It just kind of sat around collecting dust before that compilation." . Columbia licensed the rights to Ą "Here Comes The Hotstepper" in the summer of 1993 with the specific intent of placing the bouncy street anthem on the "Stir It Up" compila- tion, However, the album wasn't re leased until nearly a year later. The delayed release of "Stir It Up" allowed time to tick away on the licensing contract, which contained a stipulation giving Columbia the right I to match any offer made to sign Kamoze.