The Diseases riddim, which is sometimes referred to or known as the Golden Hen riddim is featured here.
I call it the Worries in the Dance Riddim, but the original version of the instrumental was used for the song entitled “Mad Mad Mad” produced in the 1960s by Coxsone Dodd for his Studio One label featuring Alton Ellis on the main vocals. Therefore the original name of this riddim is Mad Mad Mad.
This mix starts with Mad Mad Mad by Alton Ellis and goes all the way to Sizzla in the end. Thank you for listening to the #ReggaeLoverPodcast
Hear some essential works from the 60s and 70s by the predecessors of rappers and today’s dancehall artists. Who was the first DJ (dancehall deejay)? This is often debated and I’m not going to get into the argument, but I personally credit U-Roy as the DJ daddy.
If Daddy U-Roy wasn’t the 1st, then he certainly had the earliest and largest impact with toasting (rapping) over previously recorded instrumentals in the live dancehall setting. Coxsone Dodd, among many other innovations to his credit, pioneered the recording and production of DJs at Studio One.
This mix merely touches upon some of this important dancehall history and I intend to thoroughly exhibit more of the talented foundation artists in future episodes of the Reggae Lover Podcast.
There are too many DJs to name who rose to prominence by delivering rhymes over beats on the Jamaican music scene long before The Sugar Hill Gang‘s ‘Rapper’s Delight‘ was released in 1979 as the first ever rap record.
Playlist
1 Junior Byles – Beat Down Babylon
2 Lyricson and Dennis Alcapone – Alpha and Omega
3 Cuture – Zion Gate
4 Prince Mohammed – 40 Leg Dread
5 Johnny Osborne – Murderer
6 Lone Ranger – Keep On Coming A Dance
7 Mighty Diamonds – Pass the Kutchie
8 Charlie Chaplin – Bubbling Telephone
9 Carlton and The Shoes – Love Me Forever
10 Dennis Alcapone – Forever Version
11 Dennis Brown – Money In My Pocket
12 Big Youth – Ah So We Stay
13 Barrington Levy – Mine Your Mouth
14 Louie Lepke – Late Night Movie
15 Alexander Henry – Please Be True
16 Johnny Osborne – Sing Jay Stylee
17 Big Youth – Dread Is Best
18 Delroy Wilson – Never Conqueror (Cousins version)
19 Dennis Alcapone – The Conqueror (Studio One version)
20 Dennis Brown – How Could I Leave
21 Prince Mohammed – Bubbling Love
22 The Heptones – Pretty Looks
23 Michigan and Smiley – Compliment To Studio One
24 Larry Marshall – Throw Me Corn
25 Rude Boyz International – Bring Back The Loving (dub plate)
26 The Techniques – Queen Majesty
27 U-Roy – Chalice In the Palace
28 Gregory Isaacs and U-Roy – Love Is Overdue
29 Jacob Miller and U Brown – Keep On Knocking
30 Freddie McGregor – Bobby Babylon
31 Lone Ranger – No Call Me Cracky
32 Dennis Brown – Sitting and Watching
33 Ranking Dread – Lots of Loving
34 Willie Williams – Armageddon Time
35 Michigan and Smiley – Nice Up the Dance
36 Slim Smith – Never Let Go
37 Lone Ranger – The Answer
38 Horace Andy – Fever
39 Jim Brown – Cure Fi the Fever
Kemar ‘Flava’ McGregor premiered his new riddim album, “80s Rock Riddim,” Tuesday, January 8, 2013 on iTunes, representing the first of an upcoming series of 1980s-styled pop-reggae projects.
The riddim album – which features new tracks from Gappy Ranks, Gyptian, Aaron Silk and JC Lodge – combines musical motifs from Brit-pop, R&B, soul and 1980’s dancehall, to create a distinctive mixture of melodic pop with a propulsive one-drop bass groove.
Kemar ‘Flava’ McGregor Releases “80s Rock Riddim” on iTunes
In early 2012, McGregor departed from the reggae mainstream, and began producing pop-reggae tracks for the corporate licensing market, which enlists a higher percentage of uplifting 1980s-era tracks that remind listeners of reggae’s bygone golden era.
With “80s Rock Riddim,” McGregor wanted to repair a longstanding credibility problem within the modern reggae industry – an industry that erroneously insists on producing music with negative lyrics and depressing musical styles that reggae fans never wanted, and often at the expense of melodic, party reggae, which has always attracted more customers globally than the negative-themed music of the reggae mainstream.
“The concept of ‘80s Rock’ is to try to bring people back to the good old days of vocal reggae,” said McGregor. “The 1980s was where reggae got its fame and popularity. There’s a joy that I get from listening to ‘80s music – it makes you feel like living is worthwhile. And it’s not just reggae, it’s a lot of the ‘80s music. There’s also some good R&B that makes you feel that way.”
McGregor said “80s Rock Riddim” was inspired in large part by the great riddims of the 1980s, including “Far East” (Barry Brown’s version from 1986), “Sleng Teng” (1985), and popular albums “Big Ship,” by Freddie McGregor (1982), and “Rub-A-Dub Style,” by Michigan & Smiley (1980).
From McGregor’s point of view, these styles established reggae music as a universal worldwide party idiom, which would guarantee celebratory vibes regardless of where the music was played.
Apparently, today’s reggae scene has lost this celebratory spirit, McGregor said.
“When I used to watch videotapes from the 1980s, I would see all those people dancing – the couples were slow-wining so tight, that not even the breeze could get through them,” McGregor said. “Today, when I go to a party, the ladies will be standing on the left side of the room, and the men will be standing on the right. The men will be screwing their faces, and the women will be standing with their arms crossed. That’s not the way to party.”
“When I look at a dance floor today, I’ll hear a bunch of noise coming from the speakers, and when I look at the dance floor, I’ll expect to see a man and a woman dancing, but instead I’ll see a group of men dancing in the middle of the floor by themselves. I don’t want to see that.”
To illustrate his love for 1980s music, McGregor recorded a mixture of melodic songs from the most active artists in the new reggae industry, including Aaron Silk, Junior Kelly, Gappy Ranks, Adele Harley and Ammoye, along with a cadre of vocal legends from the 2000-decade mixtape era, such as Norris Man, Gyptian, Jah Mali and Tony Anthony. In addition, “80s Rock Riddim” will contain songs from “America’s Got Talent” finalist Cas Haley, and British reggae luminaries JC Lodge, Carroll Thompson and Don Campbell.
McGregor’s ultimate goal is to send a message that reggae’s survival will require producers to satisfy the demands of real customers, instead of using drug money to promote negative-themed music that no one wants to buy. McGregor said sales statistics already indicate that consumers prefer the sound of the 1980s.
“Overall, I would say the music of the 1980s was more uplifting. There was more joy into it,” McGregor said. “Most of what the artists were saying in their lyrics – whether it was lovers rock, roots or rub-a-dub – you were excited about what was taking place. The stuff they were singing about, like Yellowman and Michigan & Smiley, it would make you want go out and have a good time. That’s why I like the ‘80s music. It has a lot of value to it.”
First off let me say for the record that since the mid 1990’s, when asked which artist puts on the best live stage show performance, my answer was and is Luciano. I found out that he was going to be performing in Atlanta through word of mouth the day before the concert and decided to go since it had been a while since I attended a stage show. Knowing that Caribbean events in Stone Mountain typically start late, I was in no rush to arrive. I got inside Club Intrigue at around 2am after paying $30. I had no problem forking up the money, because after all, it was for Luciano – my favorite live performer. At that time there was a short line outside and the venue, which can hold approximately 1000 people was about half full. More people continued to arrive over the next couple hours but the club wasn’t packed at all.
English: Photo of Tony Rebel, Jamaican reggae legend (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Early Warm (part 1)
Local sound man, Danger Marcus finished up his set on the turntables and turned the controls over to Adonai Sound from Jamaica. Dred from Adonai selected and mixed, while Atlanta’s Mix Master David acted as MC. Adonai’s Dred started out with some foundation music, but then brought it to more recent conscious and lover’s rock reggae before starting to juggle with songs like ‘Living Dangerously‘ by Bounty Killer featuring Barrington Levy. The music was decent though I would have liked to hear more culture played since it was a culture show. Also, Mix Master David’s specialty is mixing, hence his name, and he struggled to connect with the audience while talking over music being played by the Adonai. I don’t recall any forwards (big crowd responses) being achieved.
The Early Warm (part 2)
At around 3am, the stage show began with opening acts performing dirty south style hip-hop. The first 4 acts took the stage rapping about various subject matter unrelated to the theme of the night (Spiritual Fyah), performing at least 2-3 songs each which made me think to myself, among other questions, “are the promoters familiar with the music of Luciano at all?” After that the MC introduced Fire Harp, the first reggae artist, followed by Ras Idon, Ishmael Turner, and a female duet that reminded me of the group Floetry called Last Lyricists. These performances were good and much more appropriate, but I think this whole portion of the show was too long. Standing up and watching 8 artists you have never heard of sing songs you never heard before for over an hour doesn’t exactly energize a crowd, especially at that time of morning.
More Earlies
The MC then announced that the DJ would take over for a while until the remaining artists were ready to take the stage so Nolan from King Eternity began to select and was joined by Danger Marcus as MC. I think Danger Marcus was better than Mix Master David as he ventured away from the DJ booth in the corner of the stage out to front stage a few times to interact with the crowd. He had more energy, but It didn’t transfer over to the audience. This whole time, the majority of the people were at the back of the club, near the bar or in the far corners so it was pretty empty in front of the stage and on the main dance-floor. During his set, Nolan selected 2002 – 2003 tunes and juggled on riddims like Diwali, Buyout and the Buzz at 4 o’clock in the morning. The selection was not fitting with the theme of the night in general and this prevented the vibes from reaching anywhere. I still can’t believe that I heard no Beres Hammond, Garnett Silk, Capleton, conscious Sizzla… No Anthony B, Everton Blender, Chuck Fender, Bob Marley or any other Marley… You get my drift.
Showtime
It is at this point that the event started suffering from attrition and people began to trickle out one by one. I am sure patrons wondered if the artists they had paid to see were even in Atlanta at all, I know I did. Eventually the MC came back on stage to resume the stage show after the long break and brought out Anthony Malvo. There was still no band in sight, but at least there was a known reggae artist. Anthony Malvo was able to entertain the crowd singing covers of different reggae hits mostly, and his biggest response was in tribute to the late great Alton Ellis.
It was great to see band members emerge and take there place along with Delly who travelled from Jamaica to be the official MC/host. It was around 5am now, and whoever had stuck around that long had to be glad to know that Luciano would be coming out soon. Delly then introduced Papa Michi, Michigan from the foundation DJ duo Michigan and Smiley. I was shocked just to see this artist still performing at his age, but he went through some covers, another Alton Ellis tribute with the same songs Anthony Malvo sang, and also performed the 1980 hit, Diseases. Not bad at all, I just wished it was at least 3 hours earlier.
Star time
Queen Ifrica touched the stage and pulled stragglers in from the far corners of Club Intrigue to the front of the stage. She was well received and sang all her hits from the past 2 years, stopping only to give relevant speeches and introduce her songs like a pro. She worked well with the band and stayed on stage for approximately 30 minutes, ending off with her current hit tune, ‘Keep it to Yourself.’ Her performance was short and sweet.
Tony Rebel was up next. Rebel Tony showed poise and veteranship while on stage. He immediatley commanced attention from the crowd and went through the hits that he is know for globally, including Fresh Vegetable, Chatty Chatty, and If Jah. He also gave some lyrics about the rise of President Barack Obama to bring it current. Tony Rebel’s segment was longer than Queen Ifrica’s – I’d say about 45 minutes, which meant that now it was 6:30am.
Luciano took the stage to close the show and was well worth the wait. I will continue to support this artist because of the vibes and energy he puts into his shows. He skanked, jumped, and tumbled across the stage. He prayed for Barack Obama and gave good reports from his trip to Kenya, which was during the time of the recent Presidential election in the US. Luci did hits from different albums, but while singing Glory Be, given the signal that he had to leave to catch his plane. His performance ended up being not much longer than some of the opening acts which is sad, however in the short time he was on stage (at almost 7am) he was still able to completely energize the audience and get everyone back onto their feet and in a vibes. Then he stopped the last song and had the band start over, playing low so he could at least finish properly, kneeling down to say a prayer in the process. The Messenger Luciano shook the hands of all who were near enough to the stage and posed for pictures as if truly grateful for the opportunity to carry out his life mission – to spread Jah love and a conscious message through singing.
Please share your comments on these artists, concerts or events you have been to, etc. I will be breaking down the Atlanta dancehall scene in depth in future posts so you will want to stay tuned, trust me. That’s all for now.
Highlanda Sound 