Contents - Beth Lesser

1. King Kong - Don’t Touch My Boops - Jammys
2. Anthony Red Rose - Me No Want No Boops - Firehouse
3. Michael Prophet - Nah Call Me John Boops - Techniques
4. Sugar Minott - John Boops - Cornerstone
5. Lyrical - No Try No Boops - 10 Roosevelt Avenue
6. Pompidou - I Love My Boops - Striker Lee
7. Super Dad - See Boops Ya - Blue Mountain
Radio jock Winston Williams, “The Conscious One”, even recorded a 45,
accompanied by a video, featuring the man himself in his black suit and red
bow tie, in which he claimed to be the “Conscious Boops”.
The original version came out on the Techniques label before being redone
for Skengdon. The rhythm was based on Marcia Griffith’s ‘Feel like Jumping’
and Toots & The Maytals ‘54-56’. The lyrics deal with girls who look for relationships
with men just for the monetary gain. Supercat was just picking up
on a current street slang. “Me didn’t start the ‘boops’, but me write the original
‘Boops’. Nicodemus, the entertainer, the short man – well, Nicodemus
deh a Jamaica and a girl come look fe him from America and she say, ‘Wha’,
she can’t see her Boops and she wan’ see her Boops’, and the short man get vex
and start wrinkle him face and say, ‘You can’t call I Boops’.”
So, Cat took the lyrics to Mr. Riley and they went to Channel One to lay
down some fresh rhythms and the song tool off. It puzzled Supercat at the
time, that ‘Boops’ should be such a hit. He preferred the songs ‘Cry fe de
Youth’ and ‘Teach them Something’, in which he tried to reach out to the
youths in the ghetto and “influence [them] towards the right path.”
At the time, ‘Boops’ was both popular and controversial. The lyrics elicited
strong emotional reactions. Some girls hated it and felt it was a slur on all
women. Some identified with it. Some men got teased and began to feel self
conscious about letting off money or giving gifts to their sweeties. Nobody
wanted to look like a ‘Boops!’ Admiral Bailey (who deejayed, “No call me no
Boops, nah wan’ no girl fe come call me no Boops”), commented at the time,
“Me no support the ‘Boops’ thing, you know. It kinda make ‘nuff girl hungry
everyday. Ca’, all a man who used to let off him little $5, [now] him done with
it, ca’ him no wan’ no woman call him boops and all them thing.”
But the final word on the Boops controversy came from Lovindeer, the
Jamaican Weird Al Yankovic, known for both his slack and satirical songs. He
told Jamaican they were all ‘Boops’ for the government.
Whether you ragamuffin or you decent
All of we are Boops fe government
Easy Papa Tax, easy nah man
The girl vex with you all over the land
Cause government tax Boops till him can’t function
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