Sugar Minott
Few artists have had the impact on Jamaica's dancehall scene as Sugar Minott. His releases provided the blueprints for the rise of the contemporary dancehall style, he was also equally influential as a producer, and his extraordinarily popular sound system helped launch numerous new DJs into the limelight.
Lincoln Barrington Minott was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 25, 1956. He began his career in the sound systems while still a child, he carried on merely as the selector. However, in 1969, Minott decided to take the mic himself, not as a DJ, but as a singer.
Minott had invented an entirely new style. It was pure serendipity, or incredible forethought, that the rhythms the pair used were ones that would soon be tearing up the dancehalls. It took a few releases for the Jamaican public to catch on.
The 1979 release ‘Black Roots’ ranks high among the Jamaican singer's finest efforts. Recorded with a rough-hewn simplicity, the album adds an island inflection to a '60s-style sweet northern soul. Black Roots is markedly political in its attitude - particularly true of the single "Hard Time Pressure," but also notable in "Oppressors Oppression," "Mr. Babylon Man," and the title track. Very few artists have made as dramatic an impact on Jamaica's dancehall scene as Sugar Minott, and Black Roots is a perfect opportunity to dip into an extensive and influential body of work.
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