Reggae Anthology: Look How Me Sexy

Reggae Anthology: Look How Me Sexy

The charismatic DJ Yellowman so enraptured Jamaican audiences with his sly self-assurance and wittily lascivious lyrics that within a few years of attaining prominence on Kingston’s dancehall circuit, selectors at late-night sound clashes were introducing him as “King Yellowman.” To glimpse footage of Yellowman in his prime, or to listen to the hypnotically minimal dancehall records that he cut in the early '80s with producers like Henry “Junjo” Lawes, George Phang and Scientist is to experience the quintessence of dancehall; a genre that thrives on a delicate balance of steely self control and quicksilver improvisation. Look How Me Sexy collects 21 exceptional tracks from this halcyon period. The rhythms here are mostly provided by the Roots Radics, whose taut instrumentation is further pared down by production work that lends a ghostly, echo-drenched ambience to tracks like “Ram Jam Master” and the endlessly quoted “Zunguzung,” a tune whose infectious refrain has been adapted by hip-hop and reggae artists alike.

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