Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Day 158 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - Tapper Zukie - M.P.L.A.

Sticking with another DJ tune for the 157th song in the 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge... today's track "M.P.L.A." is by the man Tapper Zukie (born David Sinclair) and is the title track of his 1976 album on the Klik label.  Zukie had a tendency to get into trouble as a youth and was sent to England by his mother in 1973 to live with his relatives.  UK producer Larry Lawrence was financed by Bunny Lee to hold some recording sessions with "local" talent resulting in his first single "Jump And Twist" the same year.  In 1976 when Zukie returned to Jamaica and after an altercation with Bunny Lee that resulted in the police being called, Lee made amends by providing Tapper Zukie with a few riddims for him to toast over.  Eventually he also accumulated a couple more tracks from Joseph Hoo Kim and armed with these master tapes he dropped by King Tubby's which resulted in his debut album M.P.L.A.  The crossover success of the album subsequently released in the UK on Virgin Records allowed him to move into the producer's chair and establish his Stars label the following year.

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