Before he migrated to the United States, joined the Marines, and sold millions of albums, Shaggy grew up in Rae Town, a central Kingston community with a strong sound system culture. That is where he first heard Michael Prophet’s Gunman.
The Grammy-winning toaster revisits that classic track for the Badman Riddim, which he co-produced with Shane Hoosong. It is distributed by VP Records and Shaggy’s Ranch Entertainment.
Selector Pull It by Shaggy and Olaf Blackwood and Rude Bwoy Sumthin by veteran deejay Junior Cat, are the first songs from the project, which were released on August 22. Sitt’n fi Chat by Spice is followed on September 12.
Shaggy, who was 12 years old when the Henry “Junjo” Lawes-produced Gunman came out in 1980, says revamping its classic sound is a show of respect for dancehall music’s roots.
“This is really the early form of what we now know as dancehall. Unfortunately, or fortunately in our case, this generation, a lot of them don’t know too much music or where it’s coming from,” he stated. “They don’t know that this is where it actually started from; from the General Echos, the Junjo Lawes, people like Yellowman, U Roy, these people are the foundation,” Shaggy explained to World A Reggae.
A music video highlighting an authentic dancehall setting in Kingston was released to help promote Selector Pull It, with cameos by Bounty Killer, Gyptian, and Boom Boom, one of the most influential sound system selectors in Jamaica.
Gunman was released during a turbulent period in Jamaica. There was a bloody election in the Caribbean country in 1980, with some of that grittiness playing out in the streets, reflected in Michael Prophet’s breakthrough song.
The horn-hooked single helped make Lawes’ Volcano the hottest label in Jamaica at the time. Yellowman, Barrington Levy, The Wailing Souls, and Linval Thompson were also associated with Lawes who recorded most of his songs at Channel One studio in Kingston with the Roots Radics Band.
Lawes and Michael Prophet died in 1999 and 2017, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Many of their contemporaries have also passed on, but the timeless nature of their music is being discovered by a new generation of fans.
“This sound is now being used again, slightly in a hybrid way, but it’s being introduced to this new audience and they’re looking at it as something that is very, very new,” said Shaggy.
By Howard Campbell
