Babylon Burning: The Mighty Sounds

Reggae DJ and toaster U Roy (widely known as "the Originator") might just be the great-grandfather of all hip-hop MCs. A vocalist of significant skill, with an in-the-cut, rhythm-heavy delivery that blended party-rousing exhortations with calls to conscience and Rastafarian messages, U Roy first made his name improvising over pre-recorded, re-mixed music at Kingston, Jamaica sound-system dance parties in the 1960s. Tremendously popular, U Roy recorded prolifically over the decades, and his early-'70s recordings, many of which are compiled on BABYLON BURNING, are among his best. U Roy's first Treasure Isle single, "Wake the Town" (which rocketed to the top of Jamaica's charts on its release), leads off this set and reveals U Roy's exuberant, jazzy style that, for all its loose energy, rides the deep rhythms and dub-inspired production perfectly. U Roy duets with Peter Tosh and Alton Ellis here, and reprises several rocksteady classics (even spitting a rapid-fire toast over a reggae-fied "I Shall Not Be Moved"). Throughout the collection, it is U Roy's particular mojo--his instrumental-like vocalizing, effortless timing, and hair-raising screech--that takes center stage. Though only 17 tracks, BABYLON BURNING proves why U Roy's influence has reverberated throughout Jamaican music, and how his innovations might be seen, theoretically, as a blueprint for contemporary rap.