GENERAL SMILEY & PAPA MICHIGAN - RUB A DUB STYLE/ BARRINGTON LEVY - PRISON OVAL ROCK

After finally checking out the amazing closet-sized Deadly Dragon records in New York last fall, I left undeniably overwhelmed by the scope of Jamaican music in general, let alone the specific genres such as rocksteady and dancehall that have had such an influence on so many other musical styles internationally. Fortunately for me there’s Als massive record collection, which I would die for, and wikipedia. The Dancehall sound was named after the spaces where new popular Jamaican recordings were being played by local live soundsystems/dj’s and consumed by the “ready to party” crowd in the socially and politically shifting scene of Jamaica in the mid to late 70’s. The previous socialist PNP party was being replaced by a right wing JLP government and the worn themes of internationally-oriented roots reggae such as social injustice, repatriation, and Rastafari were soon being overtaken by songs about dancing, violence, and explicit sexuality. Musically, older rhythms and melodies of the late 60’s were being recycled with new vocal overdubs or reworked altogether to create what would become the digital era of dancehall in the early and mid 80’s.

Papa Michigan and General Smiley were among the first dual-toasters on the first wave of Dancehall style in Jamaica. Beginning in the late 1970s while still in school, the humorous duo (Smiley got his name because he never smiles) scored immediately with “Rub A Dub Style” which featured their innovative call and response style vocals overdubbed on the classic Studio One rhythm, “Vanity”. Barrington Levy is a famous reggae singer from Kingston who was already pressing hit singles with riddims from Roots Radics at age 15 and has recorded several more such as Bounty Hunter and the internationally well known Under Me Sensi to name just a few.