King Jammy remains authentic DESPITE ‘WATERING DOWN’ OF MUSIC
Veteran music producer Lloyd ‘King Jammy’ James says he has observed a ‘watering down’ of the music through the production of rhythms that lack soul.
King Jammy, who is credited with revolutionising the sound of reggae music with his 1985 dancehall production, ‘Sleng Teng,’ made the observation during an interview with
last week. “The 80s and the 90s were the best days of dancehall rhythms. You will have artistes who come and go, but the rhythms have to create this kind of feel for the artiste to even be encouraged to voice a hit tune on it,” King Jammy said.
“[During my production] of rhythms in the 1980s, [such as] Cat Paw, China Town and Sleng Teng, you could relate to these rhythms musically and lyrically. We didn’t have much of the bad, gun lyrics like what is going on now because [nowadays] it doesn’t seem like the producers are creating any original things. They are just watering down the ting, not everybody is watering it down, but most of who I hear are producing, they don’t do a good production and the rhythms that they are making now is just a one beat ting, nothing nuh really musical,” the veteran producer stated.
King Jammy has been credited with releasing the first digital rhythm in reggae, leading to the modern dancehall era. Taking a trip down memory land, the genius producer recalled the moment he realised ‘Sleng Teng would change Jamaica’s musical landscape.
STAR
“In 1985, I created a rhythm that changed the whole vibe and sound of reggae music. Noel Davey, Wayne Smith and myself experimented on the keyboard and found something that was very exciting and interesting. [That’s when] we recorded the Sleng Teng rhythm. I was so happy to do this rhythm because it started a fire in me. All these years I’ve been hearing the same type of [sounds] now, something new come about,” King Jammy shared in his interview with THE
STAR.
“At that stage I had a big size sound system, so I cut a dubplate of the Sleng Teng rhythm [on which] Wayne Smith voiced the tune, Under Me Sleng Teng, and send it to the dance. When I went to the dance and they played that tune, I saw the results – pure excitement. People loved [it] and I knew that rhythm was gonna be something to reckon with. That rhythm changed the whole era from acoustic recording and took the place by storm. [It] revolutionised and took over the whole scene and dancehall was created then,” he added.
However, the musical pioneer shared that since that massive impact to the newly found dancehall genre in the 80s, the altering of the sound has evolved to what he now described as the ‘watering down’ of the music. His advice to new producers to “step up their game now” in order to achieve better results of the authentic sound of dancehall and reggae music globally.
“If we want our music to be more on the international scene, these new producers and these guys who are making rhythms now, have to step up the game and take a leaf out of some of the producers who have passed on book, and do something that the music can last and maintain its velocity. If you’re doing things the right way then you definitely will have growth,” he said.
Meanwhile, in an effort to keep up the rapid musical changes and the urge for more upbeat and high tempo ‘one beat’ sounds, Jammy said he still manages to keep his production authentic to the sound of true Jamaican reggae/dancehall music, without the need to adapt to the new sounds of the genres. “I always try to stay current in the music business because if people is not hearing your type of music they will forget about you, or listen to [other forms of music] if they don’t get good local music. But you must have a special feeling for your own music because reggae music is the heartbeat of the people. I don’t copy, I stay original, but if I’m to copy [a sound], it must be an old rhythm I go back to and then revitalise it,” said the reggae
pioneer.