CHUNE

Riddim: None A Jah Jah Children

Producer: Sugar Minott

Dancehall has no shortage of distinctive voices and talents, but Sugar Minott (or Lincoln, as surely only his mother called him) had one of the most singular visions in the genre. He’d started out as a roots singer, and never lost that political urgency, but as a child he’d sneak out of the house to go hear soundsystems, a love that couldn’t help come through in his music. As one of the first artists to sing over existing Studio One tracks in the studio—not just at a dance, or toasting over them a la early DJs U-Roy and Big Youth—he became a crucial bridge from reggae to dancehall. Most distinctively, though, Minott created a music collective (Black Roots) to overcome his difficulty in finding producers who would record him. It was in this era that he created “A Slice of the Cake,” a plaintive tune about economic disenfranchisement that repurposed Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus’ 1975 song “None A Jah Jah Children.”

Every time I try a ting
And it seems like I’m about, I’m about to win,
yeah weh dem do
The heathen jus’ a draw bad card, some heathen jus’ a draw bad card…
When time come for me to get my share,
Yeah, weh dem do,
Dem never really treat I fair, no way,
Never really treat I fair
But any man weh work fi get paid
And I hope you will see things my way…

Additional Listening:

• Prince Buster, “Shaking Up Orange Street” (1962): the song that lent its backing track and melody to Minott’s 1978 breakout, “Oh Mr. DC,” and created the inimitable Pressure and Slide riddim.

• Sugar Minott, “Ghetto-ology”: a sufferer’s riff on Sam Cook’s “Wonderful World” and the title track from his remarkable 1979 album.

I got an A in starvation
I passed my grade in sufferation
The ghetto was my classroom
And life itself was my teacher…