WCTD Promotion

Sugar Minott had dancehall music running through his veins. He was born at 26a Chisholm Avenue and as a youngster he was often found hanging around a busy Kingston dancehall venue located at 82 Chisholm Avenue and late at night when there was a dance in session he would sneak in to hear all the latest sounds. In the late seventies as he was making inroads into the music business at Studio One, firstly with the African Brothers and more successfully as a solo artist, he also was involved with sound systems in the Maxfield Park area of Kingston. These included working on a set called Sound Of Silence, and, more importantly the Black Roots sound system which was owned by several people including Blacka, Jimmy and Sugar himself. Tiring of the lack of financial rewards in the business in 1979 he opted to form, with help from Keith Hartley and James Brown aka Jimmy, his own labels. Black Roots was the name chosen for his own productions and early releases which did really well for him were his own titles “Man Hungry” and “River Jordan” as well as hit tunes from Trevor Hartley and Barry Brown. A second label Youthman Promotion was started almost simultaneously, early hits were deejay tunes from Captain Sinbad and Ranking Joe whose “Youthman Promotion” summed up Sugar’s vision of the future. But things had to be put on hold for a couple of years as Sugar’s personal success took him off around the world and he chose England as his base.

Returning home in 1982 Sugar committed himself to the Youth Promotion initiative, his way of giving back to the community. His headquarters was now located at 1 Robert Crescent, Kingston 5 and it was from here that his efforts went into overdrive. He knew that there were many, many talented youths who never had a chance to make it in the music business. The building of the Youth Promotion sound system allowed the ghetto youths to practice and learn all the skills needed to cut records which could then be released on Sugar’s own labels, thus avoiding the trap of the rip off producers.

The Youth Promotion collective was very close to Beth Lesser and Dave Kingston’s hearts and they have great memories of the sound and the people who frequented it. The Youth Promotion sound first started playing yard dances and parties but the official opening was probably late July 1984 (a YP 1^ST Anniversary tape is dated 29^th July 1985). Dave remembers that it consisted of “a Technics turntable, and I was once told by Stitch that the cross-overs were originally British-made, but re-conditioned in JA (like everything else...). The boxes were definitely homemade, and for some reason I seem to recall that they had a few amps, one of them being a mid-70's Carver” and Beth recalls “some Peavey amps...Pleasure Minott was so proud of them.” The sound had the legendary Tippatone selector Jah Wise (b. Robert Campbell) selecting during 1984 with Major Stitch (b Melbourne James) operating. But when Jah Wise left for America in 1985 Stitch took over at the controls. Alongside him the sound mixers would include experienced recording engineer Peter Chemist (b. Donovan Thompson), Talouse and Sugar’s brother Pleasure Minott (b. Rudolph Simms) , whose other expertise was stringing up the sound.

Beth says this of Major Stitch, “He didn’t hang out with YP in Sugar’s yard like the kids. Already an elder in the dance hall scene, after working with Black Harmony and Tippatone sounds, he had his own circles, his more elite dreadlocked crowd and his Spangler friends. Stitch was one of the original Spanglers, known for their dress style as much as for their toughness. And Stitch never ceased to dress the part. He wore a new hat everyday from his vast collection, pressed black pinstripe pants and Clarks on his feet. He was proud of his image and remained always cool and collected, never joining in with the juvenile hi-jinx of the rest of the crew. He retained the dignity he felt he had earned as one of the original, foundation men of sound system culture, but was also always relaxed and friendly, never snobbish or detached. Like all the originals in this milieu, he has gone through countless rip off and injustices in the music, but sticks with it and still selects sounds when he can despite his health problems.”

With Sugar being a class singer himself, Youth Promotion always appreciated a dancehall vocalist. Some of the early singers to appear on the set were Trevor Junior whose “War & Crime” was the first single to appear on the newly reactivated Youth Promotion label in 1983. Beth describes him as “a good singer and a well behaved, nice young man, not wild and reckless like some of the rest of the crew”. Cassey Man (b. Caswell Jones) was one of the of the original Youth Promotion singers from the days at Maxfield Park. He recorded for a few producers including Sugar Minott but “although he always possessed a fine voice” he never got that one hit to make the breakthrough.

One singer who did make his breakthrough on Youth Promotion was Tenor Saw (b. Clive Bright). A possessor of an unique, but often imitated singing style, Saw cut his first album “Fever” for Sugar Minott. In a dancehall soundclash he was a vital asset to have on your side and he graced the YP set on numerous occasions. In 1985 Beth pinpointed Tenor Saw as “a youth with a lot of ambition and enough talent to make his mark on music”. Tragically Saw passed away in Houston in 1988 but in that short time he certainly left an indelible mark on the dancehall scene.

Yami Bolo (b. Rolando McLean) was a spar of Tenor Saw and he came to YP at a very early age and would take the microphone regularly in the dance with his youthful charm winning over the crowds. Beth says of Yami, “Back in the 80’s, he was still a teenager and he was wild and free, but with a passionate desire to learn the music business. At 14, he was bleaching all night with the sound on the road and leading the line up in sound clashes. Growing up loose and living an unstructured life, he took more time to settle down. In this, his next mentor after Sugar, Junior Delgado, was helpful. But, in his teens, he climbed trees, got into scraps, smoked the chalice and lived like there was no tomorrow. But he never, ever strayed from music. Music was what he wanted to do and he stuck with it, through everything”. He has gone on to carve a career as a conscious roots artist cutting numerous well received singles and albums.

Other ambitious youth singers like Junior Reid (b. Delroy Reid)and Half Pint (b. Lyndon Roberts) would often turn up at a Promotion dance in the early days. Reid, in fact, also cut his first album “Original Foreign Mind” for Sugar’s Black Roots label which included the monster title track. Don Angelo (b. Donovan Smith) was another singer who was around Sugar from 1979 until he eventually made a breakthrough in 84/85 before moving to the Jammy’s stable. Veteran dancehall singer Thriller (b. Devon Chambers) had been around the King Attorney/Papa Roots set during the latter part of the seventies and in 1984 Sugar recruited him for his sound and his soulful delivery can be heard on numerous tapes over the next few years.

Two other singers who graced the set and perhaps should have been better known were Chris Wayne and Lloyd Hemmings. Wayne was mentored by Sugar and just loved to sing and play guitar. Again he would often be there on the YP sound, singing and harmonizing, especially when Sugar Minott appeared in person. Lloyd is described by Beth as “a very talented singer and dancer. He was terribly under recorded because of his distrustful nature. But he could sound exactly like Sugar Minott and often sang harmonies on his work. He did trust Sugar. He could read and write music and had studied art. He was always trying to teach the younger ones who were often, unco-operative students to say the least. He sometimes seemed to drift from reality. During certain visits of ours he would seem better than at others. He was a very creative and talented young man. Lloyd lives and works in California now”.

An impressive array of deejays passed through the Youth Promotion ranks during the halcyon days of the sound. Early starters included Daddy Ants, the older brother of Lloyd Hemmings, knew Sugar back in the seventies in the Waltham Park area. Known as the “Reggae Biter” he started with the Keytone sound before linking with up with Black Roots right from the very beginning. Another deejay with a long standing association with YP was Ant’s sparring partner Daddy Shark, who is the younger brother of Josey Wales. He was a country boy from St Ann who came to Kingston to try and emulate his brother’s success around 1985. Micmen like Santana, President Reagan, Skinny Ranking and Ashman (b. Reinaldo Ashman) could also be called upon during the first year of Promotions engagements.

Colourman (b. Fidel Henry) was a big favourite on Promotion. “Born in the parish of Manchester, Colourman had migrated and was working on Cosmic Force, a sound system based in Clarendon, late in 1984 when Sugar discovered him. The vibes were perfect. Sugar needed deejays and Colourman matched Sugar’s love of both gospel music and the dance.” Also known as “Colour Vibes” and “The Bible Man, Beth noted that he “always walked with his Bible in his hand, striding calmly through the midst of chaos, with a philosophical nugget on the tip of his tongue for anyone who needed a quick spiritual boost. While all around him were carrying on, boxing, climbing trees, smoking the chalice, Colourman was an island of calm. He took both his faith and his deejaying very seriously, but not so seriously that he couldn’t joke about either one. His sense of humour was evident in his lyrics, like “Kick Up Rumpus” in which he compares a dancehall session to a sermon. “Colourman a go start the sermon, Crowd of people in the dance is the congregation, Money whe’ you pay is the collection….”. In fact, the song was banned from the airwaves for taking religion as a joke. But Colourman knew his heart was pure and clean and continued to preach the gospel in his toasting. Always a gentleman, thoughtful and polite, Colourman didn’t last long in the rough and tumble atmosphere of Youth Promotion. He went to England with the sound on tour and stayed, although he would return for special performances.”

Jah Mikey (b. Michael Mitchell) was already an established deejay on the scene, working sets like Emperor Faith, Papa Roots, Arrows and more, but by the time he graced the YP sound he’d been elevated to the title of General Jah Mikey. He was very under recorded but his positive contributions always enhanced a dance. He’s still involved in the reggae and hip hop business having relocated to Los Angeles and opening a studio.

Younger members of the collective muscled in on the deejay action with Blacka T (b. Anthony Richards) perhaps causing the most ripples in the dance. Again under recorded, his only long player “Good Musician” was surprisingly not for Youth Promotion but was for Augustus Pablo. Often at his side, jostling for the mic was Dona P (b D. Brown). Beth remembers them, “Blacka T was young and wild. Him and Dona P were sparring partners. The T was for Trouble and the P for Problems. None of these kids were mean or badmen, they were just teenage boys let loose in the freedom of Sugar yard. Some were more serious about the music than others, but they all liked to have fun and fool around”. Macca P (b. Peter ..) was another that often vied for a chance around the set.

A major force of the Ragga era Daddy Freddy (b. Frederick Nelson) first came to prominence on Youth Promotion, his quickfire delivery and entertaining lyrics stood him out from the crowd and he was in like a razor when soundclash time came around. He toured the UK with Youth Promotion and made his home there making groundbreaking Ragga/Hip Hop records whilst also starring on London sounds Youth Promotion UK, an offshoot set up in London and run by Earl Minott, and Sir Coxsone Outernational.

Deejays Tony Rebel and Bimbo, the original name that Garnett Silk went under, were two budding artists on the Destiny International sound. They travelled to Kingston to boost their careers and they could be found performing on Sugar’s sound around 1986.

One colourful character around the Youth Promotion camp was undoubtedly Jackie Knockshot (b. Samuel Hamilton) and he first came to the attention of dancehall fans when he appeared licking off gunshot salutes on Sugar’s mighty single “War & Crime” on the Youth Promotion label. He was remembered fondly by Beth as “a very talented cartoonist and he worked tirelessly on drawing comic books about the sound system scene and Jamaican life in general. Of course, his talent was never recognized. He was friendly, funny, very trusting and kind. There was no badmanship about him at all. He always kept people laughing with his imitations, sound effects, karate moves and his general horsing around. But, like everyone else, he was disorganized, sometimes thoughtless and often didn’t act in his own best interest. He so wanted his mother to be proud of him for his comics. I’m sure she was always telling him to stop drawing and do his homework. Despite everything, he was always happy and exuberant, bursting with new ideas- for recording sound effects, for drawing. He wasn’t always smart, but his heart was in the right place. I feel so sad that he came to a bad end.” It seems he relocated to New York in the early nineties and was carving out a career deejaying as High Plains Drifter when it seems he became a victim of violent crime himself.

Pretty quickly the Youth Promotion sound began making waves in Jamaica’s dancehalls. Even in 1985, with King Jammy’s “Sleng Teng” changing the face of the music, Promotion still became one of the major players. Their rivalry with Jammy’s throughout that year was fierce and with the advent of multiple sound clash events they soon locked horns with regularity. One such fixture was the showdown dubbed the “Shock of the Century” held at New Kingston’s Cinema 2. The two sounds, plus Black Scorpio and Arrows, threw lyrics and dubplates at each other all night long. As to the winner, it was a very close fought thing with King Jammy’s and Youth Promotion both putting up great all round performances. On the night they couldn’t be separated, but according to Beth, “on the following Monday Barry G used his radio programme to announce the official winner: Youth Promotion.”

From 1985 onwards Youth Promotion were a sound in great demand and there were frequent tours abroad taking in Canada, which was their first overseas venture in December ’84, America and England, often with Sugar leading a full crew of deejays and singers. The period spanning the years 1985/86 were the best for the Youth Promotion crew but as ever things shift in reggae music and the nature of dancehall changed particularly with the emergence of the juggling sounds who gradually ousted the sounds which carried live artists. Luckily there are numerous sound tapes of Youth Promotion in action between the years of 1984-87 which highlight the vision that Sugar Minott had, which was to allow the underprivileged youth a chance to promote themselves in the dancehall business.

WCTD would like to acknowledge the invaluable help given by Beth Lesser and Dave Kingston. Many thanks.

www.bethlesser.com

Youth Promotion – 1 Robert Crescent, Kingston 5, 25th May 1984

Ft: Santana, Jungle, Major Manzie, Robbie G, Dona P, Sugar Minott, Jah Walton, Naggo Morris, Blacka T

Selector – Pleasure Minott

Mixer – Peter Chemist

“This is a real bonus as there aren’t that many Youth Promotion sessions around from 1984 and this is just about the earliest that we’ve heard. This dance at Youth Promotions HQ celebrates Sugar Minott’s birthday and he flexes his granulated vocals, as only he can, in songs like “Devil’s Pickney” and “Gambling”. Santana is a deejay with plenty to say and both Dona P and Major Manzie have quickly incorporated the UK fast style, with the latter shining on “Listen We”. Jah Walton “passes through like a storm” before making way for the Heptones vocalist Naggo Morris who hails up the Youth Promotion set with soundbwoy lyrics. With a crisp musical selection from Sugar’s brother Pleasure and a good set of entertainers around the mic, this all adds up to a fine early YP dance”