Dubmasters and Reggae
Dubmasters
Jamaican studio engineers such as King Tubby developed a mixing technique called dubs resulting in "dub plates". These heavy hit beats started to appear on "B" sides fo released records in the early 1970's. By 1972 King Tubby had upgraded to four track and was mixing for producers such as Bunny Lee and Lee Perry.
Lee Perry set up his studio in 1967, Upsetter Records where some say reggae music was born. Influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone, Scratch produced his own unique brand of psychedelic reggae.
"Scratch" Live
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Deejays
Simultaneously, a new art form, the "Deejay" was being born. In the mid 1960's deejays such as Sir Lord Comic started talking over Ska. By 1968, after the emergence of Reggae, deejays U Roy and King Stitt became pioneers so that by the end of the decade, others such as Big Youth were able to combine street talk, religion and political lyrics setting standards for social comments.
Big Youth. Photo: A. Boot
By the mid 1970's Dillinger developed a smoother style and led Reggae into the age of the 12" disco-mix. Throughout the 80s and 90s deejaying or "toasting" became another feature of Jamaican music. At the moment deejays are still going strong with artistes such as Capleton, Mr Vegas and the 2001 Grammy award winning Beenieman.
Deejay Reggae has had enormous influence on Black American youth who took up the style, combined it with nearer to home elements and re-invented it as "rap' - the biggest selling black music in the world today.
Reggae introduction
Perry Henzell's 1974 film, "The Harder They Come", which starred Jimmy Cliff, was the primer for British white kids to be able to identify reggae music with a lifestyle. The sexy, tough image of Cliff was what Chris Blackwell had been looking for to launch Reggae in the British Pop scene. Sadly Jimmy Cliff left Island Records; however a week later Bob Marley walked into the office and filled that rebel image role.
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