Talking and Mixing to the Hip-Hop and Reggae Beat
Talking and Mixing to the Hip-Hop and Reggae Beat
Islands figure big in the history of hip-hop — Public Enemy emerged from Long Island and the Wu-Tang Clan ruled Staten Island. But they’re newcomers compared with what some say are the genre’s original island roots: the West Indies.
In the 1960s, huge portable sound systems would be set up in some of Jamaica’s poorest communities, where deejays like U Roy would talk — toast — to specially recorded instrumental tracks. Small wonder that Joe Strummer of the Clash once called U Roy the “originator of rap.”