Category Archives: Vol 13-1995

Buju Banton, Capleton, Dancehall - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

IT’S 1995 & IT’S HIP TO BE RASTA – A Look at Buju Banton & Capleton

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30 Years Later . . . and it’s still Hip to be Rasta! 

It’s 1995 in Jamaica . . . and It’s Hip to be Rasta

By Howard Campbell     from V13#1 1995

Buju Banton cries out for divine help in “God of my Salvation”; Capleton gives assurance that the Emperor still sits on the throne with the constant reminder that “Selassie liveth every time,” while Garnet Silk’s equally prolific shouts of “Jah Rastafari” have given the proclamation Bob Marley made internationally famous new flavor.

buju banton, rasta got soul, reggae, dancehall, reggae report
Buju Banton’s Rasta Got Soul LP

Such are the lyrics of cultural change that have been blaring through the speakers of Jamaica’s dance halls in recent times, replacing the gun and ribald lyrics of the DJs that dominated for the greater part of a decade. The cultural rebirth in the dance halls has also sparked a second coming of the Rastafari religion that traces its roots back to the late 1950s and which gained worldwide prominence in the 1970s with the international emergence of the dreadlocked Marley.

Buju’s newfound faith has been wholly accepted by the youth with whom he can do no wrong. The same can be said of fellow DJ Capleton and charismatic singer Silk, one of the forerunners of the revival. Their impact is there for all to see. It’s in vogue to wear locks again. It’s even cool to openly acknowledge Jah without fear of being ridiculed. It’s Jamaica 1995 and it’s hip to be Rasta. Whether a “God of my Salvation” will hold relevance as a “Roof Over my Head” 10 years from now is left to be seen. That could all depend on whether Buju and Capleton decide to forsake their still growing locks and Rasta rhetoric for the latest “talk,” or look, in the coming months. Continue reading IT’S 1995 & IT’S HIP TO BE RASTA – A Look at Buju Banton & Capleton →

Garnet Silk, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Uncategorized, Vol 13-1995

Garnet Silk – On Record – A Discography 1995

M. Peggy Quattro

Garnet Silk on Record

by Lee O’Neill           V13#2 1995

The passing of Garnet Silk is greatly mourned throughout the Reggae community. It is becoming a far too common occurrence for talented artists to needlessly lose their lives. In Silk’s case, the tragedy is compounded by his youthfulness, his vitality and the sense that he hadn’t yet come close to fulfilling his considerable potential.

It’s Growing was Silk’s first album released on VP Records in 1992, although he had been releasing records for at least a couple of years in Jamaica. It’s inconsistent, at best, with a handful of great songs, such as the title track, “Place in Your Heart,” “Commitment” and “I Am Vex.” Some of the other songs, however, sound forced or incomplete, and while Silk has one of the best voices, he hadn’t completely learned to control it or discipline it on It’s Growing. The session was produced by Bobby Digital. Continue reading Garnet Silk – On Record – A Discography 1995 →

Garnet Silk, Legends & Singers - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

Garnet Silk Legacy Discussed with Rebel, Garrick & Semaj

M. Peggy Quattro

Garnet Silk Returns to Zion

by Howard Campbell      V13#2 1995

Garnet at home, 1/13/94

Before we proceed, let’s get one thing straight, Garnet Silk was no Bob Marley. He didn’t profess to be Bob Marley, nor did he want to be. Despite the obvious similarities in religion and profession, the two possessed entirely different personalities.

The inevitable comparisons that have been made since Garnet burst onto the scene three years ago have been further fueled since his death a few months ago. Such a flattering likeness is evidence of the social impact the 28-year-old singer made in such a short period. In fact, he created a spark more famous names, like Ziggy Marley, failed to ignite among the masses.

That was probably the most glaring similarity between Bob Marley and Garnet Silk, the fact that they were both hero-worshipped by Jamaica’s lower class and, through their music, transformed the status quo of a country obsessed with social standing. Continue reading Garnet Silk Legacy Discussed with Rebel, Garrick & Semaj →

Dancehall - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

SPRAGGA BENZ – 1995

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SPRAGGA BENZ – Rising Star

by Yasmine Peru

Although ace DJ, Carlton “Spragga Benz” Grant has been on the music scene for less than two years, he has had mega hits with his first singles (“Jock it Up” and “Girls Horray”) and has recently been signed to Capitol Records in what has been hailed in the music industry as “historic.” Through it all, Spragga has managed to remain a humble youth with both feet placed firmly on the ground. “I’m just a normal person like everybody else,” he declared.

For Carlos, as he is affectionately called at home, being introduced to Stacy Greenberg from Capitol Records at the Cactus nightclub in Portmore was the first step towards getting signed. Stacy, he said, had heard New York DJ Dahved Levi playing some of his songs and really became inspired. She came to Jamaica in March of last year in search of him; he went to L.A. shortly after, and the rest, they say, is history. Continue reading SPRAGGA BENZ – 1995 →

Bands & Groups - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

INNER CIRCLE GRAMMY NOD V13#2 1995

M. Peggy Quattro

2019 UPDATE: Congratulations to brothers Ian and Roger Lewis, co-founders of the Grammy-winning band Inner Circle, on receiving Jamaica’s Order of Distinction (the government’s sixth-highest civic honor) at a King’s House ceremony on October 21, 2019, in Kingston. Honored for Inner Circle’s more than 50-year musical contributions, their iconic lead singer Jacob Miller was also recognized and awarded, and his son Taki Miller accepted posthumously on his behalf.

Here is a Reggae Report interview and story by writer and editor Sara Gurgen after catching up with bandleader Roger Lewis following Inner Circle’s 1994 Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album (they won that Grammy in 1993!)

INNER CIRCLE – Miami’s “Bad Boys” Nominated for ’94 Grammy

by Sara Gurgen

They won the Grammy for best 1993 Reggae album, and now Inner Circle–Miami’s world-famous, hard-working “Bad Boys” of Reggae–have been nominated for the 1994 Grammy with their latest Big Beat/Atlantic release, Reggae Dancer.

“It’s doing excellent, man, everywhere in the world; and when I mean excellent, I mean excellent,” said band leader and rhythm guitarist, Roger Lewis, in a recent Miami interview during a brief respite from Inner Circle’s hectic touring schedule.

“It is one of the biggest selling foreign albums in Japan. Over 300,000 albums [have sold] in Japan [as of Dec. 21]. Hundreds of thousands in Mexico. In Brazil, in Europe–very well. In America, it’s not doing too bad. I think we made it up to about 200,000 copies.”

One of the songs on the album that has been released worldwide and doing very well is “Games People Play.” “It was not really a success in America, but ‘Games People Play’ was literally a hit single everywhere else in the world,” explained Roger. “It was a top 10 song in about 10 countries in Europe. It didn’t really go No. 1 and do what “Sweat” did, but it was top 10 in Holland, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Brazil; and it was No. 1 in Japan.” Continue reading INNER CIRCLE GRAMMY NOD V13#2 1995 →

Dancehall - All, Read the Music! Magazine Articles & More! - All, Vol 13-1995

Capleton – The Prophet “Pon Tour” V13#1 1995

M. Peggy Quattro
CAPLETON  – THE PROPHET ‘PON “TOUR”

by Patricia Meschino    V13#1 1995

The imposing stage at Jamworld, St. Catherine, Jamaica, the largest open-air entertainment center in the Caribbean and occasional home of Sting and former home of Reggae Sunsplash, is a challenge for any musical artist. When an entertainer fails to meet audience expectations there, the repercussions are greatly magnified; but when an artist delivers spectacularly, the effects seem to reverberate all the way to the island’s north coast!

While Sunsplash ’94 was, as a whole, not as successful as previous years, the five-day event nonetheless produced some unforgettable musical moments that are still being talked about. On Dancehall Night, the performance most “Splashers” are still raving about came from Capleton.

V13#1 1995

Continue reading Capleton – The Prophet “Pon Tour” V13#1 1995 →

Read by Volume/Issue/Year, Vol 13-1995

Inner Circle – Bad Boys of Reggae – V13#02 1995

M. Peggy Quattro

2019 UPDATE: Congratulations to brothers Ian and Roger Lewis, co-founders of the Grammy-winning band Inner Circle, on receiving Jamaica’s Order of Distinction (the government’s sixth-highest civic honor) at a King’s House ceremony on October 21, 2019, in Kingston. Honored for Inner Circle’s more than 50-year musical contributions, their iconic lead singer Jacob Miller was also recognized and awarded, and his son Taki Miller accepted posthumously on his behalf.

Here is a Reggae Report interview and story by writer and editor Sara Gurgen after catching up with bandleader Roger Lewis following Inner Circle’s 1994 Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album (they won that Grammy in 1993!)

INNER CIRCLE  Miami’s “Bad Boys” Nominated for ’94 Grammy

by Sara Gurgen

They won the Grammy for best 1993 Reggae album, and now Inner Circle–Miami’s world-famous, hard-working “Bad Boys” of Reggae–have been nominated for the 1994 Grammy with their latest Big Beat/Atlantic release, Reggae Dancer.

“It’s doing excellent, man, everywhere in the world; and when I mean excellent, I mean excellent,” said band leader and rhythm guitarist, Roger Lewis, in a recent Miami interview during a brief respite from Inner Circle’s hectic touring schedule.

“It is one of the biggest selling foreign albums in Japan. Over 300,000 albums [have sold] in Japan [as of Dec. 21]. Hundreds of thousands in Mexico. In Brazil, in Europe–very well. In America, it’s not doing too bad. I think we made it up to about 200,000 copies.”

One of the songs on the album that has been released worldwide and doing very well is “Games People Play.” “It was not really a success in America, but ‘Games People Play’ was literally a hit single everywhere else in the world,” explained Roger. “It was a top 10 song in about 10 countries in Europe. It didn’t really go No. 1 and do what “Sweat” did, but it was top 10 in Holland, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in Brazil; and it was No. 1 in Japan.”

Another stand-out track on the 12-song album that has been released as a single, along with a video, is “Black Roses,” also the name of Inner Circle’s 1990 album. “It’s a great song, man,” exclaimed Roger. “‘Black Roses’ is like a vibe song, you know, dealing with the children and the injustices towards kids in the world. If you look into the world today, you have child labor; you have slave labor in India; you have child prostitution in Asia; you have people killing kids. That’s what ‘Black Roses’ is about, my garden of black roses. What we talk about a lot in our show is abuse to children and also world unity and respect for each other in this world. We try to solve this racial business. There’s only one race, and that’s the human race.”

Roger said that there is no particular theme or concept behind Reggae Dancer, which, with the exception of one song, was written by the band. “We didn’t really approach it with a concept. It’s not like it’s a love album or a party album. It has everything in there. You know, mix-up business–all spectrums of life, from ‘Reggae Dancer’ to ‘Summer Jammin” [featured in the film and soundtrack album Beverly Hills Cops III] to ‘Signs,’ talking about prejudice, to ‘Walking on the Rainbow,’ talking about unity.

“Everything we do is Inner Circle style,” Roger continued. “We don’t try and copy no guy’s style. This is just Inner Circle’s vibe of Reggae music. Our interpretation, our feel for the big tree of Reggae. Bob Marley has his style, we have our style–how we feel to put it over. A lot of times people want to put us in this bag. You know, ‘you are supposed to be traditional Reggae.’ I don’t know about all of that. I just know that we make music from our heart and how we feel within the vein of Reggae; and if you like it, you like it and if you don’t, I can’t help you.” When asked what he thinks about the state of Reggae today and where he hopes to see it go in the future, Roger responded: “As long as it is successful, fine with me. I know what I like. I like the cultural vibes and everything; but everybody has their own vibe, and what the people love, the people love. Variety is the spice of life.”

Roger’s favorite song on Reggae Dancer is “24-7-365” because “it depicts what we are all about. We are always working 24-7-365. You understand that Inner Circle was like an underdog group. A lot of people never liked Inner Circle for some reason. Them never think that we have the talent to really make it or whatever. [The band’s success] is a true testimony to hard work and perseverance. Our point is to reach our goal [which] is to leave a Reggae legacy behind us.”

Inner Circle’s roots can be traced back to more than 20 years ago in Kingston, Jamaica, where founding members Roger and his brother Ian Lewis (bass), joined forces with keyboardist Touter Harvey and singer Jacob “Killer” Miller. Their career climbed throughout the ’70s and then came to a sudden halt when Jacob was killed in a car crash in 1980. Soon after Jacob’s untimely, tragic passing, Ian and Touter moved to Miami and set up Top Ranking Records (which later evolved into Circle Sounds Studio). A few years later, Roger moved to Miami as well. They brought in dynamo drummer Lancelot Hall and impressive lead vocalist Calton Coffie, and in no time the new line-up released the highly acclaimed, One Way (Ras Records, 1987), featuring their smash hit “Bad Boys” which became the theme song for the FOX network’s hit TV show Cops. “Bad Boys” was nominated for an Emmy as Best Theme Song for a docudrama, and became a No. 1 hit in Norway and England and went platinum in Sweden. In 1990, the new Inner Circle came out with their second release, Black Roses (RAS), which didn’t do as well as One Way. They came back with a vengeance in 1992 with their extremely successful Bad to the Bone (RAS), featuring the mega hit, “Make U Sweat.” Bad to the Bone was re-configured, with some track changes, to become the Grammy award-winning Bad Boys, Inner Circle’s debut Big Beat/Atlantic release. The album included a remixed “Make U Sweat,” called “Sweat (a La LA LA Long),” which became an international hit. The song reached No. 1 in every European country, except Greece and England, and reached No. 1 in nearly every South American country.

Since the Grammy, Inner Circle has had a chance to perform in many of those countries. “We’ve been all around the world. We’ve been to Europe. We’ve been to Asia. You name it, we’ve been everywhere,” said Roger. “In March, we are going out to India, Thailand, Korea, Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing–maybe the first Reggae group to play Beijing– South Africa, New Zealand. We are going to leave in March and not come back [to Miami] until May. Then we are going to Europe in early summer. Then we will be in America and Canada for the rest of the time, about three months. I think we are going to lock down shop from September and take those months off and start to work on a new album,” which they plan on releasing in 1996.

“Remember, we always work on our albums and our videos on the run. You have to realize that, you know. So this time, I think we are going to take time off from about September and really try and give [the project] some time, you know what I mean?”

Before ending the interview, Roger gave respect to cultural singer Garnet Silk who’s recent passing he said was “very, very, very tragic. I never really knew him very well, but the guy was so talented.” Roger’s final message to Reggae Report readers was: “Peace and love and unity, and stop the violence. Who have kids, spend time and look after them because they are the next generation.”