Contents - Beth Lesser

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At first, after moving north, Phillip survived doing freelance studio work for Brad’s, Glen Adams, Jah Life and various other New York based reggae producers. The result was, he got so much work, he decided to set up his own studio. In 1982, he opened H, C & F on Long Island where he still works with reggae, hip hop and R&B producers. 160 | RUB A DUB STYLE – The Roots of Modern Dancehall
Frankie Paul A deep, commanding voice greets the caller, “Hello. This is Octopus Prime”, and then directs you to leave your name and a message at the sound of the tone. It’s one of Frankie Paul’s little tricks. “When people hear this voice mail I have they start calling me Octopus Prime,” he recounts with childlike pride and excitement. Despite being an adult now, and an acclaimed vocalist with some 40 to 50 albums to his name and a string of top hits, the veteran reggae singer, Jamaica’s Stevie Wonder, still can’t resist the passing opportunity to stir things up a bit. Paul Blake was born October 19, 1965, and spent his childhood in “Dehnamtown, the Tivoli Gardens area, near Oxford Street”, one the poorest areas of Kingston. Born completely blind, Frankie was sent by his parents to the Salvation Army School for the Blind on Slipe Penn Road (it later relocated to Manning’s Hill Road), in Kingston. When he was about eight, he had the good fortune to obtain a special operation performed on a hospital ship. Life aboard the itinerant vessel made a big impression on the youth. “I went on the Hope Ship for about five years. The hospital Hope. It went from Jamaica and went to America and to more places. Five years I spent on that ship. I became friends with every doctor on board and the captain, and the patients. I sang almost everyday. I was like the top star.” The complex operation succeeded in partially restoring his sight in one eye. When the bandages finally came off, it was very disorienting for the youth. “I was like, ‘What’s going on. This looks different!’ I didn’t even remember I was on the ship. When they took the bandages off, I got myself lost in the ship. I was riding this, you know, kid’s vehicle – and there were four of us driving around. [My friend] went the other way and I took the other corridor. And he said, ‘Let’s meet up back right here’. I couldn’t even find that part where we were supposed to meet. Everything got so strange. I didn’t remember where places were.” With his sight partially restored, he eventually learned to get around on his own but he could never see well enough to master reading and writing. When he began his singing career, he had to keep all his lyrics in his head. Back at The Salvation Army school following the operation, Frankie devoted himself to music and, once again, to making mischief. The school had moved to Mannings Hill Road, St Andrew, where it was bigger and the students had more space. “I had the music room all to myself. Whenever they had lunch and supper, I would hurry up to eat mine. I don’t even wait on the dessert. I hurry up and eat mine and get up and run to the music room and | 161
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Rub a Dub Style The Roots of Modern
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Rub a Dub Style The Roots of Modern
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Thanks to all those who took the ti
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The Dancehall Explosion 136 Junjo L
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earlier days, before radio and pers
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Sound SySTemS rule From that day on
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on and off the truck and the driver
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about three months after U Roy. The
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‘60s, U Roy wasn’t thinking of
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take the sound to the dance, string
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the current motorcycle craze. A yea
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(1976 Channel One), for example, he
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serious time, a time of struggle. P
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porated Rasta symbols, ideas and mu
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heavy manners”. “In ’75, ’7
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Concrete Jungle Rock * . But the gu
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up this morning and you wonder who
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Tosh, Big Youth, Dennis Brown, Ras
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Sounds of the late ‘70s “Empero
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away from U Roy. King Tubby’s sou
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swer Mi Question’. But the songs
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was trying to sell it for him. I re
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people mind you working on. And if
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The Studio One Revival During the
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ight now’.” * Freddy was a lot
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Ragamuffin heard them deejaying in
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playing the ‘Midnight Attraction
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tion over and the verdict in, the s
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ment - nothing mattered. Channel On
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and the dance. “People like Solji
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Solidarity presented The Big Showdo
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Jah Life Comes to Jamaica I n 1979,
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Bounty Hunter, Shine Eye Gal and En
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Barrington Levy & Jah Thomas “I t
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jah ThomaS When Jah Life and Junjo
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his biggest hit was with a singer,
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Anderson or Ansell Collins on keybo
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group founded by Maurice “Blacka
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1970, was a very experimental jazz-
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Scientist & the Greensleeves Dub Al
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‘Heavyweight Champion’. Now Jun
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Slackness T he media, along with th
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gestive lyrics were nothing new in
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General Echo & Stereophonic A fter
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Chat one!’ The first slackness me
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down uumumma’…..” * All this
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SlaCkneSS on reCord Nancy never rel
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until slackness found its second ch
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utes of soul, disco and funky in be
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about his music. In the beginning,
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team, the main attraction of the so
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Squiddley The story of slackness wo
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Lone Ranger & the Eastern Kingston
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In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s
Page 109 and 110: school. They went to Beverly’s Re
Page 111 and 112: other side - and the deejays would
Page 113 and 114: set going. Traveling frequently gav
Page 115 and 116: Dready, Studio One owner Coxsone Do
Page 117 and 118: One Studio and wait on [Jojo’s] c
Page 119 and 120: I dreamed last night I was in the W
Page 121 and 122: artists from the past like The Silv
Page 123 and 124: and he began to operate the new gro
Page 125 and 126: there so we just hang on.” The
Page 127 and 128: drink their coffee and eat then fis
Page 129 and 130: Bredren’ and ‘Dance in Montreal
Page 131 and 132: Yellowman E very successful deejay
Page 133 and 134: woodwork.” In the ‘70s, it was
Page 135 and 136: George Phang recalled that Yellowma
Page 137 and 138: General Brain, Echo Minott, Rappa R
Page 139 and 140: SkaTeland When not playing the regu
Page 141 and 142: Junjo Lawes & Volcano While the gre
Page 143 and 144: him want it. Cause, you know, Junjo
Page 145 and 146: lect them himself from the distribu
Page 147 and 148: know, and I tell him, ‘Listen Toy
Page 149 and 150: 1985, a newly Jheri Curled * Junjo
Page 151 and 152: would stop a few doors down at JC K
Page 153 and 154: and search you. So, you rather send
Page 155 and 156: studio], it just came to me.” Two
Page 157 and 158: “and he wrote a song for me, ‘A
Page 159: “At that time they call them [12
Page 163 and 164: troduced Frankie Paul. “Frankie J
Page 165 and 166: on the radio, for example, he spoke
Page 167 and 168: them man. Them have the real thing
Page 169 and 170: Cassettes gave everyone a chance.
Page 171 and 172: The Sing-jay Style TalenT ShowS In
Page 173 and 174: after Echo had deejayed and come in
Page 175 and 176: There is a posse in the corner, all
Page 177 and 178: Love’ contains lyrics from ‘Lov
Page 179 and 180: the dancehall. Even singers like Su
Page 181 and 182: U Roy’s King Stur-Gav Sound with
Page 183 and 184: certain large amount of crowd. Ther
Page 185 and 186: would know my voice, my tempo, and
Page 187 and 188: He saw himself as a Wild West drift
Page 189 and 190: ing from. So, it make no sense you
Page 191 and 192: inSpeCTor willie “Selecting a sou
Page 193 and 194: Avenue. So, all the singers would p
Page 195 and 196: tal balance between professionalism
Page 197 and 198: push me a lot”, George recalls. S
Page 199 and 200: were struggling to make ends meet.
Page 201 and 202: comes out and the moon goes in…
Page 203 and 204: to clash two or three times for the
Page 205 and 206: everybody.” * Channel One studio
Page 207 and 208: deejay SpeCialS In the very beginni
Page 209 and 210: Whereas during the ‘70s, specials
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Network, or RJR. In 1951, the redif
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changed the energy.” Barry G was
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like what you hear in the dancehall
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Without sound owner Clifton Henry c
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Building up material for the local
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to day runnings. Not just anyone, b
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income. “I started to deejay on a
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and he knew that to survive, you ha
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1. King Kong - Don’t Touch My Boo
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falsetto but with much more lung po
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Patcheye, from Studio Mix, after de
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guys them refused.” In the end, i
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Sugar Minott’s Youth Promotion So
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However, when problems arose in the
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he wasn’t recording heavily, at l
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Saw’s first big hit was ‘Pumpki
Page 243 and 244:
The Business Side of Dancehall “F
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had all but maintained them for tho
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tribute creatively to each new rhyt
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and know what is what. Then you sin
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Lick-over Rhythms Already an establ
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We used to mix the rhythm first wit
Page 255 and 256:
The first rhythm Channel One select
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Metromedia Sound with Peter Metro
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from having more mouths than they c
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Soca. Heat in de Place featured Arr
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1. For example, his instructional r
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Arrows the Ambassador In 1985, when
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Leroy Heptone had done - enough peo
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Hall. They used to keep big dance a
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The Ladies “People no like women
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do everything to comfort him. That
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couldn’t go back in the dancehall
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The center was only a couple of blo
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Through you no get me, you wan’ l
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as Ce’Cile, Macka Diamond, Lady S
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sound was a small sound but everyth
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was on top of the world. As reporte
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King Jammy & Sleng Teng “Once Sle
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sound for stage shows. Eventually,
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ket his productions so he wasn’t
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Drum Machines & Preprogrammed Instr
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ca weren’t ready for the sound he
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was a different era,” Jazzbo expl
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maybe make that be the sound of the
Page 301 and 302:
The Digital Dynamic Duo - Steely an
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system and their father had built a
Page 305 and 306:
The music was really grooving.” A
Page 307 and 308:
The Local Style T hroughout the ‘
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‘Jamaica Way’ (Skengdon), while
Page 311 and 312:
Fancy track suit and fancy track sh
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Black Scorpio Sound with General Tr
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the most crowds. Sassa figured that
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ing Jamaican’s in their day to da
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Raggamuffin Year During the second
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dia loved him. ‘Wear Your Size’
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had left school and was a full adul
Page 325 and 326:
This was after having made his name
Page 327 and 328:
Chaka Demus on ‘One Scotch, One B
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song about talking to women on the
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een known worldwide.” Yet, despit
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Promotion dance, and laid to rest a
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All over the island, a Don (Chorus)
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But, for the foundation generation
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about “police in helicopter searc
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club and a guy ask you what you dri
Page 343 and 344:
the LP, Ghetto Red Hot, became a cr
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in the later ‘80s, Stone Love beg
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played * . This modification forced
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tions in St. Catherines and Clarend
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musics played in Jamaica,” Franki
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All the nostalgia for the ‘good o
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think to hurt a deejay or a singer.
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Contents - Beth Lesser

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