This article originally appeared in Reggae Report DJ STYLE - BEGINNINGS Lee O'Neill In Reggae Report V10 #1, we did a story entitled The Dawn of the DJ Style that described the creation of the DJ style of recording, from the earliest days of the sound systems right up to the time when U Roy was dominating the charts. In this issue, we pick up where we left off to describe the legacy of the artists who laid the foundation for today's dancehall scene. The story of the DJ style begins with U Roy, the Godfather, the Originator, born as Ewart Beckford. He may not have been the first sound system DJ to record his raps to hot instrumental, but he was certainly the first to transform his sound system style to a string of #1 hits and a period in which he had the #1, #2 and #3 hits on the Jamaican charts. His first recording was the Keith Hudson produced "Dynamic Fashion Way," but he is best remembered today for the more than two dozen hits he enjoyed for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label. Some of those early Treasure Isle songs have been collected on a bewildering variety of Trojan and Treasure Isle anthologies but most are also available U Roy & Friends - Your Ace from Space (Trojan, 1995) and Version of Wisdom (Caroline, 1990). The former is a near complete set of U Roy/Duke Reid recordings with decent liner notes and credits for most of the original songs used by Daddy U Roy. Version of Wisdom had the honor of being the only good source of early U R After his streak of successes with Duke Reid, U Roy quietly faded from sight under the onslaught of a new generation of DJs (more about them in a moment!). Then in 1976, almost out of the clear blue sky, came Dread In a Babylon, a brilliant album produced by Prince Tony and originally released on Virgin and distributed in the US by Columbia. Where U Roy's early style mimicked his sound system technique of rapid fire interjections made in the spaces left by the singers, on Dread In a Babylon he was free to chat as he saw fit and the combination of the unleashed U Roy and hot contemporary rockers riddims is devastating. The album revived U Roy's career and he proceeded to cut strong music for Prince Tony (collected on Natty Rebel Extra Version, Caroline, 1990 and Rasta Ambassador, Caroline, 1990) and Bunny Lee (collected on Rock With I, RAS, 1992) before disappearing again until his late 80s revival. Any trend as lucrative as the one started by U Roy, however, was bound to spawn other practitioners and the DJ style was no exception. Two excellent anthologies give an idea of the earliest DJs, With a Flick of My Musical Wrist (Trojan, 1988) and Keep on Coming Through the Door (Trojan, 1988). Both give a great snapshot of DJs who would move on to greater things (U Roy, I Roy, Dennis Alcapone, Prince Jazzbo) and those who would not (Samuel the First, King Sporty, Prince Heron). Of all the first generation of DJs, only I Roy and Dennis Alcapone managed to transcend the pioneer stage and carve out a niche for themselves. Alcapone (Dennis Smith) started out at roughly the same time as U Roy but his style was actually more fully developed than U Roy's. Alcapone approached studio recording with more than his sound system technique and his early records sound more complete, more constructed and occasionally more contrived than U Roy's. Most of his best early recordings are scattered throughout several anthologies but Forever Version (originally Studio One, 1972, reissued by Heartbeat in 1991) is a tremendous collection of Alcapone chatting over some of Clement Dodd's most famous riddims. Soul to Soul DJs Choice (Trojan, 1973) which was repackaged as Baba Riba Skank (Lagoon, 1992) and My Voice Is Insured for $500,000 (Trojan, 1989) also present a good, if necessarily incomplete look at one of the real originators of the DJ sound. I Roy (Roy Reid) took part of U Roy's name, most of his vocal sound and a lyric approach that was part U Roy and part Dennis Alcapone to weave a musical tapestry that made him one of Jamaica's most popular artists in the early 70s. There are no I Roy albums from his peak period, although several anthologies on Trojan and the albums Presenting I Roy, Hell & Sorrow and Many Moods of I Roy (all on Trojan, 1973 or 1974) provide a good idea of his approach. Presenting I Roy has been reissued as Blackman's Time (Jamaica Gold, 1994) but I Roy remains the most under-represented of all the major early DJs. For all of the popularity of U Roy, I Roy and Dennis Alcapone, however, it took a new generation of DJs to guide the style into the rockers era. Big Youth, Prince Jazzbo, Dillinger and a handful of others added a more complex lyric style, a more fully developed approach to recording and vocal technique that combined elements of singing with the more purely "rapping" style of the first DJs. Big Youth was the one who broke new ground. There was no way in which his records could be mistaken for recreations of dancehall performances as his lyrics were organic, organized and often told a story. Furthermore, although it took a year or so, Big Youth soon became identified with the Rastafarian faith and along with the Wailers, Abyssinians, Burning Spear and others was responsible for making Rasta an integral part of mainstream reggae in the 1970s. Screaming Target (Trojan, 1973) was his first album and it, with the collection Everyday Skank (Trojan, 1980) present Big Youth in the period leading up to his peak. These tracks capture his dynamic presence and lyric ingenuity but it wasn't until the material collected on Reggae Phenomenon (Trojan, 1974), Hit the Road Jack (Trojan, 1976), Natty Cultural Dread (Trojan, 1976) and Dreadlocks Dread (Caroline, 1990) that he focused his attentions on cultural and social issues. During this period he was possibly the most popular artist in reggae and his influence was incalculable. Two DJs who used Big Youth's innovations as starting points were Prince Jazzbo and Dillinger. Jazzbo is known primarily these days as a contemporary producer and for his famous feud with I Roy that has been immortalized in some of the books on reggae. Unfortunately, this has obscured his considerable talent as a DJ. Like Big Youth, his particular skill lay in constructing culturally aware songs that worked with the riddims he used. Few of his classic singles are available today, but Choice of Version (Studio One, 1990) is a collection of Jazzbo riding a virtual library of classic Studio One riddims that is positively brilliant. Ital Corner (Clocktower, 1976) has Jazzbo working with state of the art Lee Perry riddims and is truly one of the best DJ albums of the 1970s. Dillinger, on the other hand, is horribly overexposed. Like Jazzbo, Dillinger (Lester Bullocks) took the techniques of Big Youth but he used this style to construct songs of reality and the daily life of the ghetto. He too, was extraordinarily popular and after a strong debut with Ready Natty Dreadie (Studio One, 1975), his next albums were issued internationally on Mango, CB 200 (Mango, 1975) and Bionic Dread (Mango, 1976). Both had several powerful songs but they were overshadowed by "Cokane in My Brain," a major international hit that has dominated Dillinger's career ever since. After "Cokane," Dillinger's local focus disappeared and he often became a caricature of himself with an over-emphasis on drug and sex lyrics. There are close to a dozen CDs of Dillinger's material available as imports today and while all have some good material, none match the fire of his Studio One debut or the two sets that originally appeared on Mango. ??