A capacity crowd at Central Park SummerStage rocked to the sounds of 90s dancehall and hip hop Saturday night with a line up featuring as Slick Rick, Wayne Wonder, Shinehead, Red Fox, and Lady G that blended old-school riddims and beats for a potent mix of dancefloor classics. The unique blend of artists was the brainchild of VP Records whose affiliation to the New York reggae scene dates to the…
VP: How did you get your start in the business? PP: I started in 1989, as a party promoter and DJ. My bredren Terry Midas and I used to rent the legendary Q-Club in Jamaica, Queens from DJ Roy and BMW Mike. Even though the Q-Club was known primarily as a Reggae spot, my “College Thursdays” theme night brought in a diverse crowd, a mix of Americans, Latinos, Asians, and…
Hip-hop’s ties to the Jamaican soundsystem tradition of the 1960s are well established – via the early experiments of Jamaican expat Clive “Kool Herc” Campbell in the South Bronx. The cultural conversation between Jamaica and New York continued through the decades, spawning a New York reggae scene that launched multiple careers and countless street music anthems, many breaking through in the 1990s, when mainstream radio and the major labels saw…