King Tubby

Dub is arguably one of the most important conceptual shifts in all of modern music history.

People like King Tubby, who notably started as a radio repairman, which gave him an intimate knowledge of electronics, realized that a finished, pressed vinyl record was not a sacred, untouchable final product.

Prior to this, you buy a Beatles record, and that's the song.

It is Frozen in Amber.

So then he just held on to the rhythm.

And the thing was, of course, with Bunny Lee, all of his master tapes were stored at King Tubby's studio in 18 Dramalee Avenue.

And so once word got out that there was this killer, killer instrumental of the Shankai Sheik rhythm, all the sound men started turning up at King Tubby's studio and demanding a dub cut of it.

And it got so crazy that King Tubby named that rhythm, even though it is the Chiang Kai-shek rhythm, he named it the flat foot hustling rhythm because he was like, every damn flat foot hustler on the island is coming to me wanting a dub plate cut.

Because, of course, they wanted the rhythm because they could then play a dub plate of that on the sound system and then the guys could MC over the top rhythm.

So that was why it was in such demand.

So that one comes from an album of previously unissued rhythms.

DKR did it again, Deeper Knowledge Records out of Brooklyn, New York.

Just to make sure everybody can keep the pace.

In the background, it's the Roots Radix, and it's King Tubby.

A little dub called Payback.

Reggae radio, reggae radio, reggae radio Yes, it's reggae radio, it's sounds of the Caribbean Let's get back into the mix with Culture, a track called Behold.

That one's on the Ross record label, among many others.

Mikey Dredd's dreaded the controls as well.

The classic, classic dub, Mikey Dredd, putting all his treatments on King Tubby's music.

Speaking of King Tubby, Augustus Pablo teams up with King Tubby.

Oh, when trouble gets you, if you show up, I'll fit you too.

so so Tribulation is upon mankind and solve this problem I said to bow down to the king up to the throne of justice I'm telling you Yeah, yeah, all right Said I'm telling you, all right Yes, I'm telling you, all right You are all around me On your own Thank you.

All

right, dear listener, I am going to have to take a DJ prerogative and cut out this really awful...

yeah

So baby, look at that, look at that But don't watch that, you gotta watch

Now wait until you tell the people, for the musical disc is coming your way So no matter what they do, no matter what they say, say it down so they never leave you astray Say Papa, what you can do with sweet? A hundred, you'll have to brush my teeth A thousand, you'll have to rap to my beat Come and say I'm on my way down to East Green Street Every sexy girl, that time is As I say, them feel so sweet As I say, them asking out their teeth Papa Koja can do it sweet Mama Liza adopt to the deep A hundred, boy have to rock to the deep A thousand, boy have to clean out their teeth Because we can't let them ask out, girl Me say me can't take the marshmallow girl, after me fix your mouth and me carry you out, you take a rum bar with manna drink stout, no man never know you when you have marshmallow, you must see my papa, papa coach and get you out, eh? You must, you must pop up and coach and get you out Me say me

can't take the cash guy boy Me say me can't take the cash guy boy Me say you look punk coach and got me

God[reggae music] [applause] [reggae music]

Yes, the crazy dub madness of Mikey Dread and King Tubby.

Mikey Dread giving you Love the Dread, and then teaming up with King Tubby for the Eternal Energy Dub.

From Mikey Dread's Dread At the Control record label.

Before that, it was Ferris Hammond and Everton Blender riding on the same rhythm.

[reggae music] And it's a shame when people mess with your name.

Speaking of messing with your name, Lee "Scratch" Perry with Cult the Game from his album Upset the Game on the Heartbeat record label.

Asking who shot King Tubby, kind of accusing Bunny Lee maybe being one of the perpetrators.

So it's really about tunes that are exclusive on dub plates and the sounds that's really powered.

You can go back to Jamaica, fascist in Jamaica with King Tubby.

and those guys, and they would hang speakers, tweeters, in trees, and apparently you could hear the sound for miles.

So it's a bit of both.

Then we look at dub.

Born in Jamaica in the late 1960s and 70s through pioneers like King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry.

Here, dub essentially birthed the concept of the low end as the lead instrument by deliberately destroying everything else.

In dub, the traditional elements you normally rely on to navigate a song, the lead vocal, the rhythm guitar, the horns, are taken into the studio and ruthlessly manipulated.

We started off with Vivian Jackson, AKA Yabby You and His Prophets with Judgment on the Land.

We gave you the dub from King Tubby, Repatriation Rock, both taken from Yabby You, Jesus Dread, the double CD set.

Here's 1972 to 1977 on the Blood and Fire record label.

Well, I received a special birthday wish as I was just about to go on air this evening.

I believe that was one of the last projects that Robbie Shakespeare worked on in person.

Always bigging up The Scientist.

Before that, it was King Tubby.

Actually, I believe it was Scientist at the control desk for that one as well.