Jahmek Power aka Jammer is one of the true pioneers of the grime scene. A builder of bridges and peacemaker rather than a loose cannon, Jammer is one of the few people in London who can count both Dizzee Rascal and Wiley amongst his friends and who has worked with Kano, Tinchy, Chipmunk and just about everyone else, underground and overground. And if none of them have a bad word to say about him, that’s because, at heart, Jammer believes more in music than he does in ego.
Jammer always knew he’d do something in music. His dad was a musician and he grew up fiddling with the buttons on the family stereo. As a teenager he started out DJing drum & bass and ragga with a mate, DJ Supa D (now one of UK funky’s biggest names) after the pair of them found some cheap decks down Hackney Wick market. After leaving school he went to work at the distributors Essential Direct just as So Solid and Ms Dynamite started to come through from the underground. Jammer saved up his wages to buy a basic production set-up which he installed in the cellar of his family’s house in Leytonstone. The space was to become known as The Dungeon and to many people is one of the key locations in any geographical history of grime.
With friends D Double E and Hyper Jammer formed 187 Crew, the three of them eventually migrating to join Nasty Crew around 2000. Nasty were to become one of thedefining crews within the early growth of the musical style which would eventually be named Grime. Their famous Monday night show on pirate station Déjà Vu started at this time and they were amongst the first to be playing releases from the likes of Roll Deep and Dizzee. And as well as the radio show, Jammer was producing, for instance putting together the beat for “Take You Out” – the first Nasty Crew track to feature Kano. Jammer followed this up by releasing Kano’s “Boyz Luv Girlz” on his own Jahmektheworld imprint. Alongside this sat his own “Dubz” releases on the massively influential Locked On imprint, his renowned remix of “Are You Really From The Ends?” and the “Why?” white label, released by Wiley.
Jammer’s connection to Locked On would lead to Kano and D Double E meeting Mike Skinner and eventually signing to 679, an event which played its part in the dissolution of Nasty Crew. Suddenly finding himself with less rappers in the studio Jammer began to play around with MCing himself. The result was “Murkle Man” – one of the funniest (and biggest) grime tunes (and videos) ever made, and one which emphasised that the music could incorporate humour and self-deprecation as well as macho posturing. In between touring the country in a purple and green superhero costume, Jammer found time to release the excellent “Are You Dumb?” mixtape series (check the cover to volume 3, showing Jam tying his shoelace in front of oncoming traffic on the M11) and mastermind, film and record the “Lord of the Mics” DVDs, all from that same basement in the family home and including such classics as the clash between Kano and Wiley.
Since then, in between the mixtapes and DVDs, Jammer has toured the world with Dizzee Rascal and the Dirtee Stank crew (as well as recording with him on the “Murkle Man” remix and “Lemon”), become a member of the most influential contemporary grime collective, Boy Better Know, featured on the BBK remix of Jay Sean’s “Stay” (over 1 million views on YouTube) and on and on. All this and the man is still only 27 and about to release his debut album!
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This is the first single “Killin’ dem” off Jovi Rockwell’s “Psycho Therapy” Mixtape, set for release on October 19th with guest spots from Diplo, Akon, Major Lazer, Andy Milonakis, etc.
This sounds like a hybrid between Timbaland and the Neptunes on production, with vocals sounding like a cross of M.I.A. and Nelly Furtado, or sure, Gwen Stefani (we’ll give that one to you Fader).
It would seem Jovi Rockwell is proving to be an excellent project for Diplo and his crew. The forthcoming mixtape from Jovi Rockwell sounds like it will be quite the catchy beat adventure for all kinds of listeners!
Danna’s friend, Um is that Pixie? I don’t even know.
The Summer has been a non-starter here in Scotland. It hit me pretty hard the other day when my vitamin D deficient face looked out the window for another overcast day in the lab. But it’s kinda beautiful in its own way and it adds extra meaning to songs that can normally coast over you. Me & Fine Art made three tapes this month – one for Dazed, one for Nalden and this one here was just sorta labour of love with some really weird shit ( verging from new Hudson Mo to modern classical, fusion, 90s rnb & soul ) to bring some balance and new meaning to a Summer of dreich ( Scottish for shitty weather ).
oh hell no – no track listing this time.
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Diplo and Switch (the minds behind M.I.A.’s hits) moved to Jamaica to make a reggae album. Although some were skeptical about the move, the duo come through with a dope dance hall LP. By adding electro influence to classic reggae formulas, and recruiting some big Jamaican names to contribute vocals, Diplo and Switch stay true to the culture while making the music theirs.
“Can’t Stop Now” (feat. Mr. Vegas & Jovi Rockwell):
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Jovi Rockwell – “Tonight:”
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Return of the Rub-A-Dub Style is a documentary directed by Steve Hanft and produced by Tom Chasteen of Los Angeles’ Dub Club highlighting the evolution of Soundsystem style Reggae. Rub-A-Dub features interview and live footage of legends and pioneers, Trinity, Ranking Joe, Sister Nancy, U-Roy, Brigadier Jerry, Ranking Trevor, Welton Irie, Sugar Minott, Philip Fraser and Triston Palma among others.
Ask most people to picture a reggae artist and they will think of Bob Marley singing with his band playing behind him. The real roots of reggae grew from a giant wall of speakers, an echo-laden voice chanting over a microphone, a selector flipping through stacks of 45s to find the right riddim to play next, they grew from soundsystem style reggae. The concept of performers rapping over records, the idea of the remix, the promotion of the bass to the lead instrument, all these trends come out of the Soundsystems.
Starting in the 1950s, Soundsystem operators in Jamaica would set up their speakers outdoors and play American R&B records for their dancing patrons. Some time in the 60s DJs began chatting between the selections, to hype up the crowd or introduce the next tune. In the Jamaican terminology, the DJ is the one who talks on the mic, and the selector is the one who spins the records. As General Smiley, of the famous Michigan and Smiley DJ duo, points out in Rub-A-Dub, “a jockey rides a horse, and a disc jockey rides the riddim.”
At some point in the late 60s, instead of putting a different song on the b side of a 45, Jamaican producers began using an instrumental cut of the a-side, known as the “version”. This idea made possible a whole new art form. After a popular tune was played the selector would flip over the record and the DJ would improvise new lyrics, driving the crowd wild. Eventually the DJs began recording their new creations and these tracks proved to be hugely popular. The most popular instrumental versions were recorded over and over and came to be known as “riddims”, classic bass lines that any decent DJ would have a set of lyrics for.
This invention led directly to the creation of hip hop, via Kool Herc, a Jamaican widely acknowledged as one of the fathers of hip hop, who emigrated to the south Bronx in the early 70s, taking the concept of Soundsystem along with him. Rather than playing Jamaican records he played American funk and soul records, but he retained the style of the outdoor Soundsystem with turntables and chatting on the mic.
The version later evolved into dub, where the instrumental is treated with wild reverb and echo effects, essentially creating a new piece of music altogether, with the studio engineer as the artist. Clearly this concept was the original “remix.” This is explored in Rub-A-Dub through an interview with Scientist, legendary dub mixer and student of the late King Tubby, who is recognized as the inventor of dub.
The term ”rub a dub “ doesn’t necessarily refer to dub per se, but rather to a certain musical style popular in the late 70s-early 80s, a not too fast but not too slow style that bubbles along on its monster bass lines, chopping guitar skanks, and percolating horn riffs, the perfect music for all night Soundsystem dances. Several of the toughest instrumental tracks from this time period were licensed from the original Jamaican producers for use in the film.
In 2000 some friends in LA , Jason Mason , Eddie Ruscha and Tom Chasteen, decided to start a weekly reggae club where they could play the classic reggae records they loved and collected fanatically (a 4th selector David Orlando joined up later on.) No Ipods here – strictly turntables and vinyl. For the first year or two the crowds were small but gradually it caught on and grew more and more popular with a young and diverse crowd. Eventually they took the next step of bringing in the original artists they idolized to come and perform live. Not as a history lesson, but as a party.
Rub-A-Dub features fiery live footage of Trinity, Ranking Joe, Sister Nancy, U-Roy, Brigadier Jerry : most of the biggest Dj names from the classic 70s era of Dancehall, as well as influential but seldom seen artists like Ranking Trevor and Welton Irie who had never performed in California before. Along with the DJ, there are the singers: Sugar Minott, Philip Fraser, and Triston Palma, who would perform side by side with the DJs in the dancehall and create the melodies that DJs would improvise off of.
The lineage of this musical form is shown clearly, from King Stitt, the earliest DJ still living , to U-Roy, first to popularize the style on records, to Ranking Trevor and Ranking Joe, disciples of U-Roy, to Welton Irie, who claims Ranking Trevor as his inspiration. Reggae culture always has respect for the roots, in both a literal and mystical sense, and this film tries to honor that by giving the originators their due.
The editing style of the film reflects the musical style, as multiple artists are shown chatting on the same riddim and are beat matched together like a mix tape. Every artist has his or her own lyrics for the classic riddims, like the Sleng Teng, the first drum machine based rhythm to make a big impact in reggae. Eight different artists are shown in rapid succession on the Sleng Teng riddim without dropping a beat, each one bringing their own flavor to the stripped down track, ending with Brigadier Jerry who tells the selector to slow down the record and play the 45 at 33rpm for the “Slow Motion.”
Brigadier Jerry is later shown doing two completely different songs on the same instrumental. First he does “River Jordan” and then “Rhythm and the Blues”, both on the classic Banana Walk” instrumental from the Studio One label. It’s worth noting that neither of these songs have ever been commercially released, but are part of a vast store of lyrics only heard in the dancehall.
Lyrics are constantly being changed and updated, keeping the songs fresh and topical, and the performances have a spontaneity due to the interplay between the selector, the DJ, and the crowd. There is no rehearsal and the DJ generally does not know what track the selector is going to play next. A performance with an artist such as Ranking Joe is three or more hours of improvisation on familiar themes, based in tradition and yet different every time, like a great jazz performance. Topics on CNN in the hotel room the night before, or argued about backstage, may be worked into some brand new lyrics on the spot.
The performances and interviews are all sub-titled allowing audiences without a grasp of Jamaican patois to understand what is being said (in the mass release DVD subtitles will be optional.) The lyrics can be surprising, funny, boastful, insightful, or moving , such as Sister Nancy’s words in her classic tune “Bam Bam’: “One thing Nancy she can’t understand/what makes them talk about mi ambition…some guys them ask mi where mi get it from?/I told them no no it’s from creation” or Trinity’s poetic “ sometimes when I look into the sky/and there’s no star out/ and rain kind of set up/ all these things Jah works” or the classic U-Roy toast “This station rules the nation with version!”
In the retail version, the digipak of Return of the Rub-A-Dub Style will include an album of original music featuring many of the artists from the film, as well as other reggae veterans and some local LA artists who perform at Dub Club regularly. The music was recorded in LA and the vocals were recorded both in LA and in Kingston, Jamaica. The album was produced by Tom Chasteen and Anthony Campbell.
ABOUT STEVE HANFT:
The director, Steve Hanft, made Beck’s groundbreaking “Loser” music video, among many other videos, as well as the feature films Kill The Moonlight, Southlander, and Strange Parallel, a documentary about the late musician Elliott Smith.
ABOUT TOM CHASTEEN:
Tom Chasteen has been a DJ and musician for 20 years. He started the pioneering record label Exist Dance in the early 90s and produced some seminal trip hop tracks such as “They Came In Peace” by Tranquility Bass. XLR8R magazine stated ” when you’re talking LA downtempo, you’re talking Tom Chasteen” . Return of the Rub A Dub Style is his first work in film.
Danna’s friend, Um is that Pixie? I don’t even know.
