I've been listening to rap music since 1983. Oddly enough, a lot of Jamaican kids who at that time got caught up with the world-wide rap inspired break-dancing phenomenon pretty much abandoned the genre once the dancing craze faded and instead got turned on to the new local drum-machine and synth bass driven tunes. So yes, while I did appreciate local tunes such as Admiral Bailey's 'Big Belly Man' and General Tree's 'Fifty Dollar Bill', I maintained my love for rap music.

However, rap was not all-together forgotten on the local scene. I recalled that between 1984-5, many of my high school friends were very interested in and followed quite keenly the rap battles between Roxanne Shante and UTFO. Also around that time Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick's 'The Show' was quite popular, both on the radio and at high school Fetes.

Now between the yrs. 85-87, unless there was a battle going on, there was a complete dearth of rap music on the radio in Jamaica. So, even though their classic first album, Licensed to Ill was released in '86, here in Jamaica, nobody knew who the Beastie Boys were until years later. I heard the album for the first time a year after its release, and was completely blown away. The beat from 'Paul Revere' was primarily the reason for my start at banging on class room desks.

I first heard the term hiphop around '87-'88 when BDP became the group to listen to. Though they rapped about DJ Scott la Rock's death, I never knew who he was and I surely couldn't google it!

1987-88 was the Satellite dish explosion years in Jamaica (if they only knew of Gilbert around the corner!). It was the ultimate status symbol for a teenager. It was also the gateway to the emerging world of hiphop cable videos. Of course I didn't have one, but the key was finding someone who did, then proceed to beg with VHS cassette blank in hand. My main source of videos was my cousin. Getting (a borrows off) a new cassette filled with music videos was like nothing else (pair of nikes, maybe?). So, it was because of the trouble I had to go through why I remember so fondly to this day many of the hiphop artists from that era and their hit songs.

Nothing will again hit me with such force like hearing Public Enemy for the first time. I think back to me trying to get and hang on to every syllable uttered by KRS-one. In rap's yesteryear, Lyte was a queen before Latifa. Rakim kept making me stop the tape, rewind and press play again just to comprehend what he was saying.

Some of my other favourites were: Kane, EPMD, Gang Star (DJ Premiere, alltime best producer!!!), CL Smooth and Pete Rock(also on the all time best producer list!), De La Soul, X-clan, Chub Rock, Tribe Called Quest and many others who made my head nod.

Sadly those days are gone. I don't know what to call today's corporate hiphop. Though it's loved by the Jamaican youth almost as much as dancehall, I find it so formulistic and soulless. Artists sound exactly alike. Unique artists get no understanding or support from their labels. Every month the question is asked: who will save hiphop now? The Game, Nas, Jay-Z, Busta or even Lupe Fiasco (my candidate!).

Well enough about that. All this thinking about hiphop led me to the lab to do my first hiphop beat, actually my best DJ Premiere impression. Check it out.

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