CHUNE

Producer: Niney the Observer

Riddim: N/A

Around the turn of the millennium, I was living in the East Village—this was just before I moved to Brooklyn in ’02—which meant I had the good fortune to be three blocks from the record store Jammyland. As you can guess, Jammyland was all things reggae, and every week I’d spend whatever portion of my meager paycheck I could spare on CDs. (Yes, CDs.) I’d been listening to reggae since I was a pre-teen, though it was always my second love behind hip-hop; now, though, I started branching out into unknown waters. Them Never Know Natty Dread Have Him Credentials (1982) was one of those “how can an album with that cover be bad?” purchases, and looks were very much not deceiving: Don Carlos, once of Black Uhuru, would go on to become one of my favorite roots vocalists. The song has since been re-produced by Henry “Junjo” Lawes, but with the mighty Roots Radics band on instruments and Scientist on the boards, you can’t improve perfection.

Additional Listening:

• Don Carlos performs “Hot and Goat” with Slightly Stoopid

• Don Carlos and Gold, “Dice Cup”