CHUNE

Riddim: Zion Gate

Producer: Ian Williams and Michael “Mikey John” Johnson

In the pre-Spotify era, I always thought about years in terms of the songs that dominated radio in New York. 2001, at least on the mighty WLIB, meant three songs: Junior Kelly’s “Love So Nice,” VC’s “By His Deeds,” and this song. It felt like young Warrior King had come out of nowhere with an absolutely perfect¹ love song—sincere, spiritual, and utterly joyful.

Woman I love and honor, for they are di life carrier
Hail Empress Omega, the mother of Rastafari culture
Give ises to the King and his empress Menen
Who showed us the right and the true eway of living
Woman could never cause sin, seh listen as I sing
For the woman of the earth deh my joy bell ring ring ring…

The next year, I got a chance to meet Warrior King—I was interviewing him for a story I was working on for GQ—and immediately was struck by how that same energy radiated from him in person. He was soft-spoken, but intensely positive; at one point, his wife called him, and he insisted on handing me his phone so I could introduce myself. (She was very confused, and rightly so.)

Additional Listening:

• Culture, “Zion Gate” (1978): The original, courtesy of Joe Gibson’s in-house band The Professionals.

• Barbara Jones, “Satisfaction” (1980): Zion Gate’s next incarnation.

• Luciano, “Come Away” (2001): Drawing the line forward from yesterday’s introduction to Luciano, The Messenger had another lovely song on the updated Zion Gate riddim.

• Warrior King, “Never Go Where Pagans Go” (2002): Nothing could match the heights of “Virtuous Woman,” but this tune got pretty damn close.

1. Well, with the exception of the completely unnecessary line “I and I a bun out all g*y” ↩︎