Mister Yellowman

1982, Greensleeves / Volcano / Jah Guidance

Who was Yellowman in 1982? Musically, he was one of several riding the ‘Dance Hall Style’ boom, situated comfortably in the Welton Irie / Johnny Ringo school of deejaying. Slackness and comedy he inherited from them, and his origination was boastfulness and sexiness. Yellowman decided he was a superstar and a sex icon before his debut dropped, and he didn’t have to ‘fake it’ for very many days or weeks before he ‘made it’.

Despite this record bursting at the seams with musical items that either already were or would soon become dancehall cliches, Yellow still manages to make every verse about sexy girls and himself. Mister Chin is ostensibly about Mister Chin the shop owner, but Yellow can’t stop himself from taking his wife to bed within thirty seconds. Despite Yellowman being an awful singer, he still manages to put melody to vinyl without the least hesitation or apology. Despite opening with a righteous and religious tune, he still manages to close with Cocky Did A Hurt Me, lamenting the good old days when Yellow used to make love to rocks. Love Bump and Bobby Babylon’s Volcano cuts (on Morning Ride and Cocky Did A Hurt Me respectively) were herein set in stone as slack and/or sexy cuts.

The A side of this record is one of the toughest out there. Junjo works the Radics and Hi-Times bands and Soldgie is at the mixing table. The amount of respect they have for both Yellow’s voice and the band’s talent is easily audible. See how they mix on Jamaica A Little Miami and Cocky Did A Hurt Me and let the riddim run out at the end of several songs. Hear how a lovely but tragically short keys solo bids us farewell at the end of Mister Chin. Also listen to how they work magic on the skank in Two To Six, Supermix:

Many of these versions were also put to use in “Spar With Me” by Toyan, but I really struggle to disassociate them with this set. In principle, a riddim is a riddim and a version is a version, but in my mind, these cuts are owned by Yellowman.

But this is not just a Yellowman record, because Fathead is in tow in several tunes, as he usually was in pre-Sleng Teng Yellowman records. Uncredited of course. Fathead plays more of a backing role in this set on the whole than he does in several others, but he’s almost always there, even if just to drop a ‘bo’ or ‘bim’ halfway through a tune and not actually take any lines. An excellent deejay who never took full advantage of his talents and lived most of his career playing sidekick for Yellowman – this is not a criticism!

A no gimmicks, gimmicks, a just lyrics, lyrics, make disya one sound so sweet

The accuracy of this line could be debated for most Yellowman records, including anything recorded after 1985, but at the very least, for his debut there was basically nothing to be critical of, and everything to be in awe and celebration of. Mister Yellowman is very high in the list of ‘must-listen’ dancehall albums – the birth of a king.

Bim count: 7
My picks: Natty Sat Upon The Rock, Lost Mi Love, Mister Chin, Two To Six Supermix