Page 11 - BOX SET BOOKLET _ Down In Jamaica _ 40 Years Of Vp Records

cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Sorry (Baby Can I Hold You Tonight),” and
Opposite page at top, Patricia Chin at 170-21 Jamaica Avenue, mid-1980s, photo by
Beth Lesser; Center left, Randy Chin, late 70s; Center right, Michelle Williams with
customers; Lower left, Angela (Chung) Chin and Karl Miller; Lower right, Shaahtik with
Chris Chin in the mastering studio above the retail store, 1988, photo by Donald Clive
Davidson.
Above, Garnet Damion Smith, a.k.a. Garnet Silk, circa 1993.
Next page, Buju Banton at release event for Inna Heights, 170-21 Jamaica Ave., 1997. (Xterminator) would release much of their best work through VP Records.
Shabba Ranks’ smash “Wicked In Bed,” and has since included over 350
artists and thousands of songs.
The new wave of dancehall in the early 1990s finally began to make the
crossover into the US R&B and hip-hop market, as the style was culturally
connected to hip-hop and rap. DJ culture itself owes an enormous
debt to Jamaica and to one particular Jamaican immigrant. It has long
been documented that the seminal ingredients for hip-hop came via
Jamaican Clive Campbell, later DJ Kool Herc. Campbell brought Jamaican
soundsystem culture to the Bronx in the 1960s, and with a live emcee
on the microphone and the development of turntablism and break-beat
mixing. By using American soul and funk records instead of reggae, he and
his crew started a new art form, one firmly rooted in a Jamaican cultural
aesthetic. VP Records’ ever-growing influence in the New York area and its
centrality to dancehall helped Jamaican music leave its mark on the urban
soundscape. Similarly, the new sounds and images coming out of Brooklyn,
Queens and the Bronx naturally gave dancehall a New York edge. VP
briefly experimented with a subsidiary hip-hop label called Break A Dawn,
releasing roughly a dozen titles between 1994-1996, while dancehall would
remain the focus.
When major labels Columbia, Epic, MCA, Elektra, Mercury, Def Jam,
Atlantic, and Virgin began signing Jamaicans who had hit in the dancehall,
many with initial breakthrough releases on VP, it was only a matter of
time before dancehall superstars would emerge. Capleton, Buju Banton,
and Shabba Ranks rode this wave, with a national dancehall tour 1993,
headlined by Shabba Ranks, Mad Cobra, and Lady Patra, bringing the new
sounds to parts of America whose only exposure to Jamaican music had
been the foundation reggae of Bob Marley. It was the sign of dancehall’s
mainstream success.
In recent years, there has a much publicized ‘reggae revival’ in Jamaica, Down In Jamaica: 40 Years Of VP Records
but the phenomenon has repeated itself several times over the years. Even
after the ‘golden age’ of reggae had passed by the mid-80s, it was far from
over for the reggae sound in the digital era. VP licensed, manufactured,
and distributed hit recordings by stars Barrington Levy (“Too Experience”),
Freddie McGregor (“Stop Loving You”), and Half Pint (“Substitute Lover”),
and Cocoa Tea (“Good Life”), to name a few, setting the stage for a new
wave of singers to challenge the dominance of the dancehall deejays in the
1990s.
The emergence of a pure reggae singer Garnet Silk as a leading force in
Jamaican music in the early 1990s was extremely significant. The music
industry, as well as fans, had been hoping for a ‘next Bob Marley.’ Arriving
amid the new wave of sometimes slack dancehall superstars, he showed
that Jamaican music was running on two paths, sometimes contradictory,
sometimes complementary. These contradictions were reflections of the
broader tensions in Jamaican society. When Garnet Silk came on the scene
with force, conviction, and charisma, songs like “Every Knee Shall Bow,”
“Lord Watch Over Our Shoulders,” and “Kingly Character” made it clear he
was a ‘once in a generation’ artist. VP Records released three of his studio
albums and was integral to his rise to prominence, with major efforts
from producers Donovan Germain, King Jammy, and Bobby Digital. While
Silk’s tragic passing in 1994 was a setback for this first reggae revival,
Luciano emerged immediately to take up the cause, proving that culturally
grounded music, specifically built on reggae’s core rhythmic and spiritual
foundation, would always have a place in Jamaica and abroad. Luciano’s
success in 1995 brought him to critical acclaim via Chris Blackwell’s Island
Jamaica label during the 1990s. Luciano and his producer Fatis Burrell
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