Roots & Culture 260 Items

Two killers dj tools for 45 Djs ! Twice disco tracks, A side is a Disco Rap for 80, B side is a big classic Disco punched with phat drums and la little pitched up. As usual its a sure shot on 7inch.

"Congo" by Nkrumah is a hypnotic slice of deep roots by Nkrumah aka Toronto's Kwame Salmon. The city that was home to Johnny Osbourne, Leroy Sibbles, Jackie Mittoo and countless other Reggae legends has produced another artist following this great lineage, a singer with a voice unlike anyone else. Originally released in miniscule quantities as a self produced dubplate/lathe cut, the 45 caused a sensation among Djs and sound system operators world wide. This official release features a different mix with an extended version and a spare, mesmerizing Dub version by Toronto's Heavy Manners crew reminiscent of late 90s/early 2000s Rhythm and Sound releases.

Uluru is back with a Reggae Hip-Hop future classic. Following the teaching of masters like J-Star, Dj Maars and L'Entourloop, Dj Dibba makes is own solo debut on vinyl with 2 heavy weight dancefloor killers, meticulously assembled in Rome, Italy. Fusing rocksteady with hip hop, spicing it up with dub influences and modern drum beats, this 7” will definitely give a shake to the reggae hip-hop scene.

Pull up guaranteed!

Pressed on high quality black and yellow/orange vinyl (48 gr.) Edition of 500, cut it loud and fat, highly recommended for big sound systems.

Winston Rodney aka Burning Spear, one of the greatest visionaries in Roots Reggae music, caught live in Santa Cruz, California in 1980, a fabulous year for Jamaican music. Backed by a solid seven piece band, Rodney delivers a highly dense, hypnotic array of songs including immortal Roots anthems such as "Slavery Days", "Columbus", "Old Marcus Garvey" and "African Postman".

With his Disco Deception album, Prince Fatty (who links up with Shniece for the occasion) delivers a captivating blend of disco-infused reggae and soulful grooves. Each track resonates with his signature low-end energy, and is fuelled by Fatty's impeccable production and Shniece's soul-stirring vocals. From funky basslines to shimmering horns, the album captures the essence of classic dub and ska while infusing it with modern flair and plenty of hooky horns and melodies. Shniece's dynamic range and emotive delivery elevate each song to really create a magnetic atmosphere that keeps listeners engaged from start to finish, all with character to spare.

Here's the inaugural release in a new series from the archives of the late great engineer & producer Philip Smart. Philip's resume is impeccable - early friend and collaborator of Augustus Pablo, radio host and dj, first apprentice of King Tubby, and founder, producer and engineer at one of the major reggae studios of New York City history, Hc&f. Many years back our brother label Goldshop did a series of 45 reissues of the dancehall classics from Philip's Eclipse label. We always wanted to go deeper, but time moves fast, and unfortunately, Philip left us in 2014. But everything in due course, and now with his estate we've gone thru the archives to assemble a fantastic series of releases. This first release is a must - produced by Philip during his time as engineer at Tubby's studio, this is an awesome rockers style take on the moody Paragons classic. The flip features a classic blueprint mid 70s Tubby's style dub, HPF in effect with the first Prince, Philip Smart at the helm. Originally released thru Brooklyn's legendary Keith's record shop back around the time it was recorded.

Killer combination roots tune from these two legends. Released in 1986, but the music sounds more in a 1980-81 Roots Radics style. Backed with hard dub version.

We've been overdue to let off a modern gem from the Wackie's vaults, so here we go. Another of our favorite 12 Tribes related artists, the late great Judah Eskender Tafari, on a hard and moody but uplifting digital stepper straight from the Bronx. B-side features a great ghostly raw rhythm version from Bullwackie.

“Skinhead Revolt” by Joe The boss aka Joe Mansano was first released in 1970 on the Trojan sublabel Joe as a B side to the track “Tony B’s Theme” by Joey’s All Stars. “The Thief” was released in 1969 on the Joe Label with the track “Gun The Man Down” by Dice The Boss on the flip. “Gun The Man Down” is also being repressed by us on a separate single. Both titles are British Boss Reggae classics that are very much demand.

Vinyl re-issue in the original 1981 LP artwork! This is Eek-A-Mouse finest album recorded and mixed at Channel One and King Tubby's studio by Scientist, Prince Jammy and Barnabas, produced by Henry 'Junjo' Lawes with the Roots Radics as backing band!

Spinna B-ill's sweet cover of Al Jarreau's 1981 classic! A double-sided 7" record featuring a sweet cover number of Al Jarreau's 1981 classic "We're In This Love Together" by Spinna B-ill and a guitar instrumental tune by Yota Kobayashi on the B-side!

Peak 1987 all time, top tier digital reggae. Killer one-away rhythm and awesome militant vocal from Hopeton Lindo. One of our all time favorite politically conscious reggae tunes, still relevant today. Better still, this release is taken straight from the original master tape and is nearly a full minute longer than the original release, wherein Hopeton drops a bit of our favorite dancehall vernacular. Real hardcore DKR heads will know when they hear it.

The seed for this album comes from a tape compiled but never released by Vivian “Yabby You” Jackson, labelled “The Best Of Patrick Andy”. On the tape were three unreleased tunes, one unreleased dub, and stereo mixes of several singles which had only been heard in mono before. So “Living In Mount Zion” is in full stereo on the tape, as opposed to mono on the released 7”, with Yabby’s characteristic production trick of switching the panning of the horns and rhythm tracks back and forth from left to right, as also heard on several of his albums. “You Don’t Want Me” is also different to the 7” cut, presented in stereo and with extra horns overdubbed. The three unreleased songs are all well worthy of inclusion in this compilation, showing Patrick Andy’s spiritual side over some heavy rhythms. Together they form a fitting tribute to a fine singer and a legendary producer.

The Versatiles were an exciting Jamaican reggae group, formed in 1967 by Junior Byles, also a firefighter at that time, Ben 'Louis' Davis and Dudley Earl.
Lee "Scratch" Perry, then working as chief engineer at Joe Gibbs' studio, was scouting for talent for Gibbs' new Amalgamated label, and spotted the group while they were auditioning for the 1967 Festival Song Contest with "The Time Has Come".
Perry signed the group to the label, but left Gibbs soon after. Three superb titles ("Just Can't Win," "The Time Has Come" and "Trust The Book" were recorded under the supervision of Lee Perry.
When Scratch left, Gibbs employed another up-and-coming engineer/producer by the name of Winston Holness, aka Niney the Observer, to take control of his sessions. Niney produced a few Versatiles songs for Gibbs' Amalgamated label (titles such as "Push It In" and "Lu Lu Belle") which were riddled with sexually suggestive lyrics, tame though they are by today's standard.
The Versatiles stayed with Gibbs for two years, before moving to work with Perry, and then to Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label. They also recorded for other producers such as Laurel Aitken.
The group split up in 1970, when Byles left the group for a successful solo career. Byles still working as a firefighter, continued to record for Perry up to the mid ‘70s…
During their short career, The Versatiles recorded about 30 tracks for a variety of Jamaican & British record labels. Most of these songs are top uptempo early Reggae tracks with Rocskteady vocals; to spice things up, quite a few are on the risqué side such as the hit PUSH IT IN. Never a dull moment with the Versatiles.