JAMMING JAZZBO DOWN YOUR EAR HOLE

I was looking for something else and ran across this, Prince Jazzbo's "Crab Walking". I'd been wanting to post it again because it's a favorite but assumed the link I had was dead (wrong!). Jazzbo DJs over the riddim from Horace Andy's "Skylarking" (also a favorite) and it's on Studio One (yet another favorite) and it's a DJ 12" with the version tacked on to the end (also a favorite format). Basically the only way the song could max out all of my favorite elements of reggae would be if U Roy was doing the toasting (sadly, U Roy never teamed up with Coxone Dodd.)

What I was actually looking for when I stumbled on "Crab Walking" was Gregory Isaacs's "Night Nurse". I heard it at the beach today after just coming out of the water and was stoked to hear it in the wild. I normally hate hearing other people's music at the beach, but today was an exception. Particularly after passing a group that was blasting nu-country. So here's those two cuts and a couple others that hit the spot while I was looking for the Isaacs's thing.

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Listen:
Prince Jazzbo - Crab Walking mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Feems
Burning Spear - Social Living mp3 at Internet Archive 12" version, with a couple minutes of the version on the flip.
Horace Andy - See A Man's Face mp3 at Kazo Wailers

THIS ALBUM COVER RULES

Several months ago I was told that my favorite record store here in San Diego had closed. It was my favorite because it was well rounded. I really don't give a shit if a record store gets the latest release first, if they have all sorts of Record Store Day bonanzas or is a hipster hub. What I value in a record store is their overall selection and how well they know the music they're selling. The store nearest my house is big on new releases but either don't know music or are really shitty at curating. Their reggae section absolutely blows and they have nothing good in jazz other than the Miles Davis or Coltrane records that you already have. It kills me because they used to have a much better selection. (One of the buyers went to another record store.) So, yeah, I was bummed about the good record store closing. Even though they were a hassle to get to, I always left with multiple selections.

Last night I thought I'd see if I could find out why they closed. Within minutes I found out that they hadn't closed, they moved. Even better, they moved to a spot that's between me and the grocery store that I go to, so I don't even have to go out of my way or plan a half day excursion. Fu-huck yeah. I went there today and was in heaven. One litmus test for me is to check for lesser known artists. Today I checked for Fela. They had eight different Fela LPs on vinyl. That was a good sign. I move to the reggae. They had a shitload of good reggae, probably the best selection I've seen locally outside of a specialty reggae record store (RIP). I had to limit my time because I had plans but I still left with three solid keepers, all reggae. One was a compilation of Sound Dimension, the house band at Studio One (the cream of the crop in reggae studio players), for seven bucks. Another was a reggae DJ collection (U Roy, Prince Jazzbo, Big Youth, I Roy, and a few that I never heard of (!). That one was eight bucks. The killer deal was one I couldn't pass up. Dr. Alimantado's Best Dressed Chicken In Town, one of my favorite reggae albums of all time. For whatever reason, the album has gone out of print and then reissued a couple of times. When that happens I don't take chances, I have to have a back up copy (see also the Monks' Black Monk Time  and Gene Vincent's first two LPs). I already have it on vinyl and CD, so this was a CD I already had, but it was only six bucks. I couldn't pass it up, if only to push it in a friends face. Here are a few from the LP, these recorded in the mid-seventies at King Tubby's. Those of you that know reggae will recognize a few of the riddims. Man, I can't wait to go back to that record store. This could be dangerous.

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Listen:
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - Just the Other Day mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - Plead I Cause mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - I Shall Fear No Evil mp3 at Internet Archive

THIS COVER PAYED DIVIDENDS

I just ran into U Roy's "Runaway Girl". It was the first song on the first U Roy album I ever bought, Dread In A Babylon. The very first time I'd ever heard U Roy. I was about twenty years old and was sucked in by the photo on the cover. Excellent marketing. That was decades ago and it's been a favorite ever since. I've posted it before, but the old link is dead, so there's not an ounce of lazy guilt in this corner. The other song below, "Chalice In the Palace" is the second song on the Dread album. It's about smoking out with the Queen (chalice = bong). Yeah, baby.

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Listen:
U Roy - Runaway Girl mp3 at Pixieradio
U Roy - Chalice In the Palace mp3 at Pixieradio

THE FUCK IT IS. IT'S SPELLED N-E-W Y-O-R-K.

How do you spell New York? A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork. That's the way you spell New York. Ask anybody who's heard reggae DJ/toaster Dillinger. It's a line from his "Cocaine In My Brain". My friend Javier turned me onto the song over thirty years ago. Crucial. And Javier was from the punk scene. The cool thing about it is that it wasn't unusual back then. Punks listened to reggae. There was only a limited amount of punk records to listen to, and everybody back then had played their Stooges, Dolls, Velvets and MC5 records to exhaustion. Reggae was just another available type of rebel music. And there was so much to get caught up on.

The song wasn't even on my mind, but I was visiting Funky 16 Corners, and after sampling an excellent mix (Loose and Groovy, the second one on this post), I saw the previous post, a song called "A Knife and a Fork" by Kip Anderson. I guarantee you, even today, if Javier saw that song title he'd have something to say about a bottle and a cork. I've posted the Dillinger song before, but the links are now kaput. No choice folks, time to refresh. I found both versions. The first one was recorded at Channel One and is the better of the two. More character. I don't know where the other version was recorded, or when, because I don't really care. If I'm going to listen to Dillinger doing "Cocaine in My Brain", I'm going to listen to the Channel One version.

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Listen:
Dillinger - Cocaine In My Brain mp3 at Cubikmusik Channel One version
Dillinger - Cocaine In My Brain mp3 at San-Andreas (?)

LIKES TO SAY "LOOK AT THAT"

Out and about today, just about all the music I heard was holiday music. It's way too early for that shit. I can deal with it for a week or two, and then only intermittently. I know I lean on it as it gets closer to the day, but that's really because I'm lazy and holiday music, be it Halloween or Christmas, is easy to find and it keeps the party planners satiated. But not yet.

What I was listening to at home was Dr. Alimantado. He'd been on my mind after reading (again) that John Lydon was a fan and seeing him on a Paul Simonon playlist. Nothing new to me, but it had been a while. Lydon mentions a fondness for "Born For a Purpose" while Simonon goes with "Poison Flour", an all time favorite within these walls. Simonon wins.

"Poison Flour" is on the Best Dressed Chicken In Town LP, as is "I Killed the Barber". That LP is awesome all around. Great title and one of the best cover photos of all time.

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Listen:
Dr. Alimantado - Born For a Purpose mp3 at Surrepptitious Music
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour (streaming) at YouTube
Dr. Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Full LP:
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town (zip) at Compartilhando Reggae

DANCE WITH THE DREAD THAT BROUGHT YOU

Back when I was twenty years old I knew very little about the different types of reggae. I knew I liked reggae, but I didn't have many friends who knew much about it, the internet didn't exist and there were few books on the subject in book stores or record stores other than Bab Marley bios, I had to go by gut instinct, what looked like it could be heavy, and the photo above of U Roy was all it took to take a chance on his Dread In A Babylon LP. I mean, look at it. "Three Little Birds" it ain't. That lead to road testing other reggae DJs, Two others among the earliest of my reggae albums were Big Youth's Hit the Road Jack LP, and Dr. Alimantado's Best Dressed Chicken in Town. I've been listening to all three for over half my life and they still never get old. Toe tippers start here.

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Listen:
U Roy - Dreadlocks Dread mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Dr, Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Big Youth - Hit the Road Jack mp3 at PashPash

DUDE DESERVES A BETTER PHOTO

I gotta say, I hate bad album covers. Covers that are so bad they don't even qualify for the "so bad it's good" routine. They're just bad. The one below is one of them. What makes it worse is that the music it contains is damn fine, the album cover is one of very few for Scotty, a Jamaican DJ/toaster, and that shitty little round photo is one of only two to be found online. (The other, above.)

Some of you, familiar with his "Draw Your Brakes" from the soundtrack of The Harder They Come, might assume that he was as big as some of the other artists on the soundtrack, namely Jimmy Cliff, the Maytals, and Desmond Dekker. Not so, at least outside of Jamaica. There he had several hits. But outside of Jamaica, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who can name another song of his besides "Draw You Brakes", So it is that that seems to be the only song floating around online. But guess what? Ghost Capital has the whole LP. And a great profile. Yee haw.

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Listen:
Scotty - Draw Your Brakes mp3 at Art Decade
The LP:
The Best of Scotty, Draw Your Brakes at Ghost Capital 13 songs in a zip, and a short profile.

EARLY THIS GUY

Here's some early U Roy. A couple cuts from his first LP, Version Galore, along with the riddim sources, two songs by the Paragons, "Tide Is High" and "Wear You To the Ball".  The video below is from the same period, and was the title song of the LP. I'm not really in the mood to explain who U Roy is, or why he was influential. If you don't know, shit, you're on the internet already. Use it.

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Listen:
The Paragons - Wear You To The Ball mp3 at Kazoo Wailers
U Roy - Wear You To The Ball mp3 at Grounds For Appeal
The Paragons - Tide Is High mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
U Roy - Tide Is High mp3 at A.Tumblr (?)

I LIKE THE CARS THAT GO BAM BAM

I was walking home from the beach tonight and a car crossed my path blasting Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam". This shit doesn't happen around here. Not often. And it was blasting out of a newer tricked out import. Go figure. But it was a nice surprise. Sister Nancy was one of the first, if not the first, women DJs, as in reggae DJ's (we don't have to go over that again do we?) So, that was it. "Bam Bam" it is.

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Listen:
Sister Nancy - Bam Bam mp3 at Tumblr (?)
Sister Nancy - Roof Over Mi Head mp3 at Fat Berri's
Sister Nancy - Only Woman DJ With Degree mp3 at Knotoryus
Visit:
Sister Nancy at Wikipedia

WE MISSED THE FIRST BAND

It seems like a bad idea, suggesting to someone to take it slow going into a long weekend by listening to a song called "Cocaine", so I won't. But it is a slow burner, and it takes me back to the pre-show hanging out that occurred back when it was played a lot, and not because people I hung out with were doing coke. It feels like a buildup to something, more of music comradery and beer drinking type thing than anything else.

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Listen:
Dillinger - Cocaine (In My Brain) mp3 at Isodisco LP version
Dillinger - Cocaine (In My Brain) mp3 at Giant Panther
People's Choice - Do It Any Way You Wanna (streaming) at YouTub Riddim source

THE DEWEY DECIBEL SYSTEM

Have you checked out the air checks at Beware of the Blog? They're some cool audio time capsules. Take this one for instance, an hour of Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips on the air in the late fifties. This is good stuff. Phillips, a fast talking hillbilly nut, spins Rosco Gordon, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Larry Williams, Bill Dogget, and so on. And he talks a lot, pitches two brands of beer, furniture suits and all sorts of stuff.

Phillips was the first DJ to play Elvis, and the two were friends for years. They did have some sort of falling out at some point, and then made up (read it here.) Regardless, he was there, he played a role, he had taste, and he was a hillbilly nut. Did I mention the part about hillbilly nut? Hell yeah, good enough for me.

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Listen:

Dewey Phillips - On the Air mp3 at Beware of the Blog An hour of his WHMQ "Red Hot and Blue" show

Dewey Phillips - The same show (streaming) at Memphis Music Hall of Fame

Dewey Phillips - On the Air (streaming) at YouTube 16 minutes

Dewey Phillips - On the Air, 1952 (streaming) at YouTube 4 minutes

Other Airchecks at Beware of the Blog Scroll down, in the right column

Video:

Dewey Phillips interviews Jerry Lee Lewis, 1957 at YouTube

Dewey Phillips - Short narrative profile at YouTube Described by Knox Phillips, Sam Phillips's son

Visit:

Dewey Phillips at Memphis Music Hall of Fame

Dewey Phillips at Wikipedia

BUBBLEGUM? WHAT'S THAT?

How the fuck did that just happen? One minute my interest is piqued by an Archies cover by Big Youth, then six clicks later I'm digging through the catalog of Pressure Sounds, a UK label, They specialize in obscure and never released reggae, much of it from the golden era. I think you know what that means. About Big Youth. the cover is great, it's him with Junior Byles, from 1977. It's on a post with nine songs, a good cross section, a couple of which are below. There's some even you hot shots might not recognize (Pluto? The Eagles?). 

Looking for more info about the Big Youth cut, I ended up on the page for his "Town Without Pity" 45 at Pressure Sounds. A nice 45 I may purchase one day. A couple clicks later I ran into a compilation of versions, all from the Micron label, and deep with heavy hitters. Holy jeez, add that to the list. Looks like this fantasy shopping trip is gonna take a while. The song snippets sucked me right in.

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Listen:
Big Youth with Junior Byles - Sugar Sugar mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
U Roy - Dreadlocks Dread mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Dr, Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Big Youth - Hit the Road Jack mp3 at PashPash
Big Youth - Cool Breeze mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Visit:
Pressure Sounds  

STILL FRESH

Depending on your age, you might have had the same experience. Punk rock comes along and you're excited by all the possibilities. The whole music dynamic changes. After digging your heels in, you begin to realize that the bulk of your records are by big budget bloated rock stars who's job it is to put as much distance between the performer and audience as possible. Because the bigger that space is, the more elite they are, and that leads to adulation, wealth, and a lot of hooey that has little to do with music. Fuck that. You're done being a sucker. You begin to purge your record collection, Half the shit you owned is suspect. As you get close to bare bones and then start to rebuild it, you find yourself looking for music with different criteria.

That was basically how I ended up listening to reggae. I had just a handful of reggae records at the time, and was still sort of guessing. My first picks were records that were mentioned in magazines and interviews, but without direction from a peer, I got to the point where I was just going to have to take the plunge and gamble. That was the situation when I saw an LP with a guy squatting, mid-bowl load, half enveloped in a cloud of smoke. This looks authentic, I thought. I had never heard of the artist, and had no idea there were different types of reggae, let alone what sound systems were, what toasting was, or what the role of Jamaican DJs was.  All I knew is that the dude looked like the real deal, so I bought it. The LP was Dread In A Babylon by U Roy. To say that the gamble paid dividends is a massive understatement. It's an all timer in this house, loved as much when I heard it today as it was when one of the songs, "Runaway Girl", appeared on my top ten in the second issue of my fanzine [mumble mumble] decades ago. That's just a long winded way of saying that U Roy has been with me for a long time, and ain't going anywhere soon.

Here's a smattering of U Roy. Just a few. Because, as you'll note, I got carried away with all that self sbsorbed shit. I didn't even get to anything about U Roy himself. That just gives me an excuse to post more of his stuff later. In the meantime, here's a few. The first is the one that started my obsession with reggae DJs, and as it happened, the first U Roy song I ever heard. "Runaway Girl". So good.

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Listen:

U Roy - Runaway Girl mp3 at Tous les jours la grande chose (1975)
U Roy - Chalice in the Palace mp3 at Pixie Radio (?) (1975)

U-Roy - Natty Rebel mp3 at Tous les jours la grande chose (1976)

U Roy - Your Ace From Outer Space mp3 at Clumsy and Shy (1970)
U Roy - Way Down In South mp3 (via DivShare) at Dave's Jukebox (1972)

Holy shit! Live DJ sets!:
The King Attorney Hi-Fi sets at Who Corked the Dance King Attorney hosts U Roy, Dillinger, Ranking Trevor and others. Click on "Reup"," and it'll take you to MediaFire, which is a bit of a pain, but they're fast downloads, and really, you may never again have the opportunity to hear U Roy on the fly in the seventies.

70% POST CONSUMER RIDDIM

I picked up a handful of cheap LPs over the weekend, including a record that isn't typically the sort of thing I go for, Boogie Down U.S.A., a mid-seventies LP by People's Choice. It was produced by Gamble and Huff, of note because they pretty much were the Philly sound. How's this: the Soul Survivors' "Expressway to Your Heart", Archie Bell & the Drells' "I Can't Stop Dancing", the O'Jay's "Back Stabbers" and " Love Train", Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "Wake Up Everybody", all produced by the pair. But, that's not why I picked up the LP. I wanted it because it had "Do It Any Way You Wanna", the song Dillinger (pictured above) revamped as riddim for "Cocaine (In My Brain)", one of his best known songs, a mid-seventies reggae DJ classic. Here's the weird twist, contemporary disco band Escort did a disco cover of Dillinger's "Cocaine". That's not quite full circle, but the time machine's in the shop.

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Listen:
Dillinger - Cocaine (In My Brain) mp3 at Isodisco LP version
Dillinger - Cocaine (In My Brain) mp3 at Giant Panther
People's Choice - Do It Any Way You Wanna (streaming) at YouTube
Escort - Cocaine Blues mp3 at American Athlete

MIC PASSING DIVERSION

Just ran into a post with ten good reggae DJ (toaster type) cuts, with some of my favorites. U Roy, Dillinger, Dennis Alcapone, Trinity, Big Youth and so on. You'll recognize the backing tracks (riddims), a few of them have been used a lot. Even so, it's always interesting to hear what someone else does with it. Maybe not always, but often. Check Trinity's "Three Piece Suit", the riddim of which is used in Althea and Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking". Both of those have been here before, but I don't remember if I ever posted Big Youth's "Cool Breeze" which uses the the same riddim as Scotty's "Draw Your Brakes". Always had a soft spot for that one, "Draw Your Brakes". It was the first reggae DJ song I ever heard. (Scotty pictured above.) So that was the reason I started down this road. But, man, were things about to turn weird.

I ran into a track by one Dub Gabriel, with David J from Bauhaus on bass and U Roy on the mic. Boy oh boy, ain't no U Roy I know. You know what it sounds like? It sounds like a late night jam with Berlin/Low-era Bowie, Eno, U Roy, and..., hey look over there, there's Ralf and Florian smokin' a doobie. It's kind of unsettling if you're a purist, but it is interesting to hear. I guess. They kinda paved paradise there.

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Listen:
Scotty - Draw Your Breaks mp3 at La Grand Chose
Big Youth - Cool Breeze mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Trinity - Three Piece Suit mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Eight more prime DJ cuts at For the Sake of the Song
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking mp3 at Clumsy and Shy
Dub Gabriel with David J and U Roy - Luv n' Liv mp3 at Music to Die For

SOUND AND STYLE

The album above is one great package. I don't know what the consensus is outside my front door, but within these walls it's a bona fide classic. First off, how do you beat that cover? There aren't enough words. The Doctor takes the piss out of any and all fluff. The music is top shelf DJ stuff, and the backing riddims include repurposed tracks by Horace Andy ("Poison Flour") and Gregory Issacs ("Unitone Skank"). The third down there, "Best Dressed Chicken In Town" is obviously from the same album. It's killer as well.

One more thing: Check the link to ten great reggae cuts, including "Unitone Skank", at For the Sake of the Song, which is what began tonights diversion.

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Songs:
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Dr. Alimantado - Uinitone Skank mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Mix:
Unitone Skank mix at For the Sake of the Song Ten reggae cuts with "skank" in the title. 

CATCH YOU ON THE FLIP, I-ROY

Prince Jazzbo passed away from lung cancer a few days ago. Some may consider him a tier two reggae DJ, but he put out some damn good sides. The one below, "Crab Walking", has it all. You really should give it a listen. It's Studio One, it's riddim is from Horace Andy's classic "Skylarking", with Jazzbo toasting over it. And, it's the disco version (not as in disco music, as in the long version), with the dub laced version spliced in and out. So, add that up; Studio One, plus "Skylarking", plus DJ, plus dub. That there equals hot shit. The editing is crude, but that's how they did it. I don't care. I love that song.

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Listen:
Prince Jazzbo - Crab Walking mp3 at Snuhthing Anything Eight minutes
Prince Jazzbo - Pepper Rock mp3 at Reggae Top Site Over Burning Spear
Prince Jazzbo - School mp3 at Reggae Top Site
Prince Jazzbo - Kick Boy Face (streaming) at YouTube Where Claude Bessy got his nom de plume
Visit:
Prince Jazzbo - Good consise profile at Mojo

CRASH COURSE

Here's a nice contrast and compare exercise for anyone not really sure what the Jamaican DJ or toaster actually does. The first thing you should know is that they don't actually play records. In a nutshell, they talk, shout, boast, comment, make fanciful noises, and throw in a few of there own personal catch phrases, basically just about everything vocal but sing, and they do it over records being played at sound systems. Jamaican sound systems were basically mobile discos. In the beginning (late fifties) they played rhythm and blues, later moving to ska, rocksteady, and reggae, as Jamaican music evolved. DJing started back with Count Machuki, credited by most as the first person to toast over Jamaican records. It was one of those serendipitous improvised moments of brilliance. He was just fucking around, killing time while the sound system operator Tom the Great Sebastian took a break, just throwing out stuff over the records being played. When the crowd dug it, he went home and started working on his rhymes. "If you dig my jive, you're cool and very much alive, Everybody all round town, Machukis' the reason why I shake it down, When it comes to jive, You can't whip him with no stick."  People went nuts, so in no time others followed suit.

Which brings me to the song "The Tide Is High" by the Paragons, recorded at Duke Reid's studio in 1967. Here's the original version, along with an early U Roy version, toasting over it sans lead vocal. You can hear that a good DJ adds flavor, and U Roy was one of the best. (Just for context, the antiseptic version by Blondie is down there too. They add no flavor.) If you listen to enough U Roy, you'll start to recognize his catch phrases, which made me think of the last one below, "D.J.'s Choice" by Dennis Alcapone. It's a bit of a novelty, in that the first verse name drops about eight or so DJ's, followed by one of their catch phrases. The song actually annoys me, but I'm that way about name dropping in songs. Regardless, it's a  DJ toasting about other DJs, so it's interesting.

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Listen:
The Paragons - The Tide Is High mp3 at Cubik Musik
U Roy - Tide Is High mp3 at A.Tumblr (?)
Blondie - The Tide Is High mp3 at Evil Vince
Dennis Alcapone - D.J.'s Choice (streaming) at YouTube
Visit:
DJ at Wikipedia
The Tide Is High at Wikipedia
More DJ stuff

SIR LORD, COUNT, KING, AND WHO?

Change of gears here. I ran into a Sir Lord Comic cut and had to point you to it. He was an early reggae DJ, back when there were very few, Count Machuki and King Stitt among them. Sir Lord, Count and King. That's a lot of royalty floating around in those names. Then U Roy waltzes in, and ruins the whole regal name streak (though he did record for Duke Reid). Where was I? Oh yeah, Sir Lord Comic. His stuff doesn't pop up online very often, so that's why he's down there. The rest are just a cross section of DJ stuff, reggae DJ stuff (if you don't know the difference here's a wiki thing). Some of it's been here before, but there are a couple other goodies I hadn't seen before, a Big Youth live cut from '74, and a very early U Roy, with the Tommy McCook and the Supersonics (gloriously scratched I might add). 

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Listen:
Sir Lord Comic - The Great Wuga Wuga mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens
Count Machuki - Pepper Pot mp3 at Planet Mondo
King Stitt & the Wailing Souls - Whitebread mp3 at Constant Pressure
U Roy - Flashing My Whip mp3 (via DivShare) at Black Gold with Tommy McCook!
U Roy - Runaway Girl mp3 at Tous les jours la grande chose
Scotty - Draw Your Breaks mp3 at La Grand Chose
Dillinger - Cocaine mp3 at Giant Panther
Big Youth - Cool Breeze mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Big Youth - Santa Massa Gone Ya (Live) mp3 at Earmilk 
Dennis Alcapone - Cassius Clay mp3 at Reggae Top Site 

DOUBLE OH G

Do you like U Roy, Dillinger, Big Youth, Dennis Alcapone, Scotty, and other reggae DJs? Count Machuki was their man. The first person to toast over Jamaican records. The first time he did it, he was just fucking around, killing time while the sound system operator Tom the Great Sebastian was on a booze run. When the crowd dug it, he went home and started working on his rhymes. "If you dig my jive/you're cool and very much alive, Everybody all round town, Machukis' the reason why I shake it down, When it comes to jive, You can't whip him with no stick." If you go chronologically backwards, all roads lead to the Count. From hip hop, rap, and dancehall, through all of the other reggae DJs, it is a direct lineage. He was the first to rap, free style or otherwise. He also to first to make rhythmic oddball grunts and such, which was a huge part of the DJ package. The Count did it in the mother loving fifties.

I've never run into his stuff online, except at YouTube (and believe me, I've looked). So when I ran into the one today at Planet Mondo, I absolutely had to post it. If you need some padding, check the past posts about other reggae DJ's.

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Listen:
Count Machuki - Pepper Pot mp3 at Planet Mondo
More:
Reggae DJ posts
All reggae posts