Summary: This week the Dub Session celebrates the 30th year anniversary of the production of the movie "Rockers!" In 1976, the movie was produced and released in 1977. At the time the movie was released, the Rockers were a group of musicians, DJs, producers and Toasters in Jamaica who were expanding the boundaries of music production and innovation. Often, a hit song would be released on an "A" side like Dennis Brown's "Revolution" or Jacob Miller's "Pamela", or the infamous "Under Mi Sleng Ting" ryddym. Typically, records were released as singles, and on the A side was a vocal version of a popular song, and on the B side was a "dub" version. These popular songs were played in the clubs, or Dancehalls in Jamaica, and then the B sides were played. These B-sides, or dub versions, became templates for reggae-rappers known in Jamaica as "DJs" or "Toasters" to show off their craft. This was the time for Toasters and DJs to shine and show off their stuff. These DJs were Big Youth, I-Roy, U-Roy, U-Brown, Dillinger, Al Capone etc to name a few. The "Rockers" movement in Jamaica from 1972 to 1979 provided the genesis of modern hip hop music production and toasting/rapping, from Kingstown to Brooklyn, Brixton and beyond. In the same way that King Tubby and The Scientist became famous for re-producing hit songs into dub classics like "King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown", their counterparts Africaa Bambaataa and Grand Master Flash in the later 1970s were mixing up the birth of hip hop with their production wizardry and dubplates for rap artists. Jamaican star DJs and Toasters inspired the birth of the rap movement in Brooklyn in the late 1970s where disco hits' B-sides were played, and rappers from different "crews" would battle for style points and popularity just like their Jamaican cousins did at the Dance Halls in Kingston and Negril. So, this week we celebrate the Rockers and put together a showcase of classic Rockers artists, albums and some new-steppers and Rockers from New Zealand, the UK, Jamaica and Austria.
