Roots Archives Forum

anyone heard any newer macka b stuff? theres an album in the shops now that mentions the royale band or something similar. anyone know what the musics like?

sean,

I'm into Asher Senator, Papa Levi, Macka B, Black Roots, Pato Banton, & Smiley Culture. I have a lot of their 80s stuff. Very tight! They left their mark.

they certainly did, i wish their particular trend/vibe was more popular, i mean even on here nobodys really interested in this thread which i feel speaks volumes about the state of reggae in this country known as uk...more macka b please..more papa levi..

Hail

i-man love the uk bubblers and the saxon massive, many times tippa and the saxon posse would come through to Kingston or Maypen and nice up the session.

we had a session in 84 inna kingstan when we all pass the mic round and freestyle, a we (my bredrin) talk inna patwa and tippa and papa benji talk some cockney. i still remember dat deh session.

I had the upmost respect for Tippa, Asher Senator, Papa Levi, Macka B, Black Roots, Pato Banton, & Smiley Culture, Slatter, Peter King and all of the missive.

I travel once from JA to go to go live session inna shepards bush 1983, wikkid vibes. dance nice.

Anyway Bless Up The UK Bubblers and all the saxon crew. Love Uno Bad.

JAH BLESS

BLESSED, Here some more info pon saxon ::: ---


To be a Saxon MC you had to be totally original with your own chatting
style and inventions. Though I use to love when the MC’s jumped on a style like Asher Sennator’s, ‘Asha no evryting bout de car’, Tippa Irie’s, ‘I’m a lyric
maker’ and Colonels, ‘Sour milk weh mek yoghurt, sour milk weh mek cheese,’and Levi’s, ‘if yuh wah mi an yuh need mi duh not loaf little sista.’ No Saxon MC typified originality more to me than Rusty. Rusty wasn’t into the fast chat thing, but some of his lyrics were wicked. One night at Oaklands in 1985 against Stereoclassic, Rusty torn down the dance with;
“Ow mi cook a food ow mi mek a sweetpot
O mi cook a food ow mi mek a sweetpot
Earli Sundeh morning Mama wake mi up
Gi mi two poun a rice in a di pot fi look up
Me left di good grain tek de bad one dem up
Wen mi dun wash de rice mi put di peas in de pot
Hour an a half longtime fi cook dat
Wen it draw down mi add cream cokenat
Onion thyme it nuh need no carrat…………Daddy Rusty chat different from
the rest!
‘Do yuh rememba di skool days wen’, ‘moped bike moped bike a di new
style’, and
‘one day pass a mi one day pass, nuh one zone ah nuh two zone fi mi
pass legal it a tree zone’ are further examples of Rusty’s individuality..

Early 90's ET start select fi di sound and I never liked how it played,
peer old tune, no new specials at all, more like a disco than a sound. We use to hear that Levi was going to leave and chat for Java with Joe 90, not sure if this is true or rumour but that’s what they use to say. Saxon never played the same and didn't seem as professional more like a joke thing, however once Trevor got hold of the reigns, Saxon started to come good again and once Muscle was back in action the sound was fit to take on the new juggling sound systems. Around this time too I was in Guernsey in the Channel Islands after leaving Birmingham University. There were only a handful of black men on the entire Island. At a local record shop a man was telling me about a reggae artist who would be visiting the Island with his band, I ran through every artist I could think but he just kept saying, ‘no not him.’ He kept saying the artist was a reggae rapper, Tenafly I said, ‘no not him and so on’. Then he said the rapper had a hit in the UK charts with ‘hello’ something. Tippa Irie? I said.
‘Yes Bingo’ was the reply. I went to the airport o meet them when they arrived.

Tippa Irie, Mickey Tuff, Lester Davis and the rest of the crew. I had just come back from Jamaica so I had plenty of white rum, so I cooked some curry
mutton and rice and made some carrot juice for the crew. We reasoned until it was time for them to go and sound check and do the show. It was a great weekend. I have so many memories and got so much entertainment from those days. Saxon was the most loved sound, because they were not a war-mongering, just a bunch of talented youths who would stand their ground. When the heat was turned up in the dance no sound could live with their MC’s. The only sound in the world that would be a match would be Cosmic sound with Papa San and Bunny General and Stereo-one with Lieutenant Stichie, Ricky Stereo and Daddy Blue. Legendary clashes against Coxsone and Young Lion prove the case in point, Saxon had the most
talent and the sound with the best personality so they were always the peoples Champion.

I very rarely visit the dancehall scene anymore too much responsibility
to joke with, and secondly of the madness that has over taken the dancehall scene, control has been handed over to the ‘pi pi bad bwoys’. I took in a 2004 session in Digbeth in Birmingham, my first dance in about 10 years. It was good to see those guys again, they all still look so young and the ability still there. It seems to me that their talent was deserving of much greater reward, both in financial and recognition terms. In my day they kept nuff man sane ‘yuh betta beleeve dat!’ as we had something special to look forward every time a Saxon dance came round. On a cultural level they passed on as
much as any University Lecturer ever taught me about pollution chemistry and analytical techniques! The Saxon MC’s mastered the art of complex lyrics and
invention long ago, it now seems that it’s all about the message’ just like Tippa’s ‘a de shotta dem dweet’ lyric in 25th anniversary reunion dance Bedford, he had the whole dancehall in his hand because he was dealing with reality, a reality that he had sadly come to experience in his own life. As I see it they have become true artists, operating at the highest level in the vocation they chose to follow. Some may never know what Saxon really meant to the dancehall massive but just take a trip down memory lane and listen to the mighty Saxon Sound in full dancehall effect, ‘dun talk’!

Of the 250+ Saxon tapes, CD’s and records I have (many where I was in
the dance), my top ten all time Saxon sessions are;
1. Philip Levi v Lesley Lyric – ‘yu can hav de trophy I’ll take the
cash’ (some say
Lesley was a good MC but Levi buried Lesley so badly that his career
was effectively
over from this point, no one would ever take him seriously after this.
Curiously
enough with a PhD in hand he’s taken very seriously as a visiting
lecturer by
Goldsmiths College).
2. Saxon v Ghetto-tone (Ghetto-tone never turned up, but those lyrics
from Tippa,
Colonel and Levi are still firm in the memory today and had everyone
talking about
them for years – even in very recent times.)
3. Saxon v Surge Shepherds Bush (this tape was a favourite for
everyone, amazing
atmosphere). ‘Tree di hardway as yuh cwan see’
4. Saxon ‘coughing up fire’ live LP (Lickwood!! what more can I say?)
5. Saxon v Stereoclassic Oaklands Birmingham 1985 (Never seen so much
condensation run from the ceiling, the atmosphere inside was just like
those dances we always wanted to be part of, especially when Muscle dropped Tonto Irie on the sleng teng riddim. Trevor Sax said, ‘Cookie, D-Rowe mi nuh no if a SP or ruma but di man dem seh, police dem seh, dem tink a bomb plant in yah soh’, I said ‘a weh im seh bomb plant’? Hugh Johnson said, ‘si di bomb deh, a Saxon an dem a let arf’! Pride of place amongst my tape collection.
6. Saxon v Young Lion Part 1 (Mr Palmer, Nigger Jimmy and Daddy Willie
couldn't manage Levi)
7. Saxon v Coxsone Leeds 1987 (Up until gun shot pop ina de dance,
Saxon did have it, key memories Roger Robin singing Society and Levi chatting about keeping a session down a Washington, after Musclehead fling down five slices of Emmanuel Road, you should have seen the look pon Festus face)
8. Saxon v Luv Injection 1992 UK cup clash (Saxon lick off the head of
the juggling champion. Trevor Sax said, ‘dem neva see a soun bill suh
farse, 'Leroy dan Smart said, ‘the victory is mine'. Luv Injection selector King Zukie, ‘jus hol im ears and squeeze im hed like im kudn’t tek nuh more’.
9. Saxon v Third World Tilden Ballroom New York (or World Third should
I say)
10. Saxon v Coxsone v Taurus St Matthews Church Brixton 1988 (Tippa run
di set wicked de night an big up him sound, B Candy's the Meaning of Life was wicked too plus the Barrington Levy specials. Barrington Levy and Peter Metro live on Coxsone was the only thing that saved them. Tippa show Tenafly how to front a sound. When dance done Musichead and I reason about it and he had to admit that Saxon was ruff in the dance).

Saxon v King Addis v Kebra Negus v Stereophonic 1994 World Cup clash
Milton Keynes (Many would have this as there No 1, but this only told me what I already knew from 19 long-time!) Sound bytes
“To much lyric wi a fi gi sum away eh to much lyric wi a fi gi sum away
heres won fi
yu san heres wan fi yu Tip seckle Trevor Rank nuh boda bite up yu top
lip Muscle
selecting Digit a mix it...... yu can hav the trophy l'll take the
cash.... i am a most
faitful arsenal supporter.... dis ya champion bubbler mek yu wase line
roll... short
smart 5ft 4in in evry word, born in 1967 November the 23rd.... mi born
1965 the
month call june, grow up concious from mi lef mi moda woom.... reggae
and soul lord
wat a dis in a londun we spread di dancehall disease..... ow mi cook a
food ow mi mek
a sweet pot.... three di hard way as yu can see, yes is I Colonel T and
I Tippa Irie and
last but not least I Pupa Levi.... Saxon dun wid the trubling and
strugling is time fi di
entatainin.... fatbelly fatbelly ras like me tek weh tree gwal from
tippa irie..... mi keep
uskankingfreakingbodpoppingbellymovingjockygroovingcoolanddeadlywaterpumping
all on yu toe new design strikly mine sweater dan vintage wine.... All
my people

should know that its crucial in this time, all my friends all around they taking coke and getting high...... The vibes corner hear me now..... Wah dat dem a lick...... jah woman jah man dis a di 84 shan..... bonnie and clyde born in america, di bota dem was to wanted gansta....... I guess some people wonder why do the church bells ring and inside do the people sings of love and happiness tr la la tra la la ..... shuufle up di deck and put di king pon top, irie a sting papa levi a shock, due to the fact we av di lyrical knack, tear down tennament maisonette and flat...... Miss Rowe!
strictly seven up a weh me sip...... Jah Jah a go slarta president botha, down in a africa pople getting massicar african broda an african sista.....
PAPA LEVI, DADDY COLONEL, SENIOR SANDY, TIPPA IRIE, MAXIE PRIEST, ASHER SENATOR, SMILEY CULTURE, JUNIOR SANDY, MISS IRIE, ROGER ROBIN, MIKEY McCLEAN, B CANDY, NEVILLE MORRISON, MIKEY DUPA, SUGAR MERCHANT, DADDY RUSTY, D-ROWE, MUSCLEHEAD, MINI-MUSCLE, TREVOR SACS, MIKEY BOOPS, HENRY SAXs...... Thanks for the memories.

JAH BLESS

great posts trevor..whats a;ll the weird numbers and stuff though?howd that happen?computer fault?it makes your post hard to read.
to me, seeing papa levi live on stage in 1986
was the very best live reggae ive seen "yeaaah..in smokin sensimilla you gotta give thanks an praise "..etc..great

All the DJ/MCs mentioned in this thread were the reason why the UK was ahead of Jamaica on fast chat in the 80s.

Anyone remember Rusty Ranks, he won the British Dancehall Awards in 1985 or 86 with a fast chat tune called "Big Time Living" on a speeded up cut of the Pressure & Slide rhythm. If anyone's interested I can upload a copy.

Regards

Rob

Yes i, would like to here dat

JAH LOVE

Special Request for Ranking Trevor.

see the new thread "Rusty Ranks - Big Time Living" for the Yousendit link to download the tune in Mp3 format.

Regards

Rob

Again, Give thanks Rob, Big Respect for the upload

JAH LOVE