Louie hails Dexta Daps
VETERAN singjay Louie Culture is pleased that a new generation of artistes are giving his 26-yearold song, Gangalee, a new lease on life.
Dexta Daps sampled Gangalee on his hit song, Call Me If, released in July.
“It is great when a young artiste samples your work. Dexta contacted me and said he wanted to sample the song, Gangalee. He recorded it and said he wanted me to come voice my part. I left Portland and went to the studio, but when I heard the song, it was perfect. I told him he didn’t need Louie voice, this song gone already. Mi tell him green light, this gone,” Louie Culture told the Jamaica Observer.
Dexta Daps incorporated Gangalee’s punchline and first verse for his remake.
“Everybody has been hearing the song and saying: ‘The man tek yu tune’. But mi laugh and explain say: ‘Nothing like that! Dexta good to go!’” said Louie Culture.
The veteran singjay said that reggae artiste Bugle also did over Gangalee, and that he was pleased with the effort.
Gangalee is an old Jamaican rural term for an unruly, uncontrollable, or bad person. It also means rebel or freedom-fighter.
When Gangalee came out in 1994 on the Corduroy rhythm, it topped reggae charts all over the world, and it made the deejay a household name.
“I had done a version with Lloyd ‘John John’ James II but he sat on it too long so I did another version for Wee Pow and that took off. Couple months later I saw an album from VP Records called Gangalee with songs from Bobby Digital, John John and Scorpio. All now mi no get no money for it, ah that mi ah deal mi a deal with right now with my publishers,” he said.
He said that Gangalee is still arguably his biggest song to date.
“The biggest forward I got for Gangalee was in Half-way-tree where I did if acapella and again at Reggae Bash where I received a four corner forward. Gangalee was my biggest hit, that was the one that made me a household name. Other artistes do it over and it and it hit again, is a big tune,” he said.
A few years ago, Nesbeth referred to himself as an ‘Ole Gangalee’ is one of his songs.
The deejay is working on a number of singles and has two albums in the pipeline.
Louie Culture and Dexta Daps have recorded Bill Now, which will soon be released.
Louie Culture (born Lewin Brown) released an album in June this year called Cyan Dead for a producer Devon Bradshaw, former bassist of Acts of Jahpostle band that backed Garnet Silk. Some of the songs include Territory Hot, Yardman Ting, Thankful, and a remake of Junior Murvin’s Police and Thief.