It’s good to be back! For your listening pleasure I present 5 early Yellowman singles that I think you’ll dig! This will probably be the first of many presentations of Yellowman’s singles – I’ve got Yellow comin’ out my ears! You’ll find them below…
Are you still with me? Good. I wanted to take this opportunity to proclaim my admiration and respect for Yellow AKA Winston Foster. Reggae history revisionists like to downplay the significance that the albino DJ had on Jamaican music and reggae’s acceptance worldwide but I will stand up now and proclaim at the top of my voice… Yellowman is the greatest DJ in the history of reggae music! I know many disagree and think the title belongs to U-Roy or Brigadier Jerry or Dillinger or Lone Ranger or Charlie Chaplin or Beenie Man or Trinity or Prince Far I (I actually have a 7” from Far I where he goes on a 3 minute, narrow-minded tirade insulting Yellowman for being an albino which I’ll share at a later date – so much for the ol’ Prince being a peaceful and upfull Rastaman huh?)… I could go on for days, but I stand firmly by my proclamation! If you disagree or have had limited exposure to Yellowman’s talent at riding riddims have a listen! The man had/has an unlimited talent like no one else and I’ve yet to find any early Yellowman that I don’t like – and I’ve got a shelf in my record collection devoted to him! I’ve also had the opportunity to talk with Yellow at length on a couple occasions after some local shows and the guy is the most down-to-earth, friendly man you could ever meet!
I realize that the vast majority of his current releases can’t and don’t recapture his former glory but he deserves the respect he’s due! I think many try to minimalize his catalog by stating he was too slack (vulgar) but if you fall into that category you obviously haven’t listened enough! His sexually explicit lyrics and tracks are so few and far between it’s unjustifiable to label him as a DJ dealing only with slackness. The man was crowned the King in the early 80’s and I think his title should stand out of respect for what he did for Jamaican music. Long live the King!!
Yellowman.Zip
Great share, I really like early Yellowman. I think he suffered by being regarded as something of a novelty (certainly here in the UK) which as you rightly say was very unfair considering his DJ talent. I don't agree that he was the best, but hey, life would be so boring if we all thought the same way, and it's refreshing to hear your enthusiasm for the man. I will dig some of his albums out after hearing these tracks.
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In general, I'm not really a big fan of Yellowman; although I appreciate what he did for the dancehall scene in the early 80s. "Zengu Zheng" was my favorite diddy from him until last week when I picked up the Trojan 'Legends' Box Set which included his "For Your Eyes Only" which is a really great song! To bad it's a bit out of character for him. Great blog and graphics by the way.
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