Jamaica, Jamaica. The land of the sea and the sun. Or in my case, the land of some of the hottest, darkest, and dustiest rooms I’ve ever experienced. While many people travel to Jamaica for sunshine, swimming, and fancy drinks behind resort walls, I always wanted my first trip to Jamaica to focus on music, local culture, and real people in the neighborhoods of Kingston.
Reggae music has been an interest of mine for a long time, but it is really over the past 10-11 years that it has become a primary focus. Back in 2013 I released a mix called Dreams of Jamaica and said “I’ve never been to Jamaica, but I dream of going one day.” Fast forward nearly 10 years and I had the chance to go in Fall of 2022, tagging along with Holdfast Records. Our days were spent digging for records, meeting local legends, and getting real dusty and sweaty in the process.
I’ve shopped for records in a few different places around the world, but this was my biggest adventure yet. Within minutes of arriving, we found ourselves in a car creeping slowly along the roadside due to water in the gas tank. Within a couple hours of arriving, our car was yelled at by a group of uniformed middle schoolers who screamed “I’ll shoot you dead!” But shortly after that, we were flipping through records at Rockers International, dropping 45s on the turntable, and drinking ice cold ginger beer and malta from the bar across the way on Orange Street. I’ll never forget the moment that I looked up from my pile of records to see Flabba Holt standing in front of me, asking me to run back the tune!
Over the course of several action packed days, we dug at places like Penthouse, Rockers International, Youthman Promotion, and Derrick Harriott’s One Stop, as well as a couple of private locations that will remain nameless. It was in some of these nameless places that we transitioned between waiting for our contacts in the burning sun, to digging through mountains of records in the dark. No windows, no fans or AC, no electricity, and no bathrooms in sight. Hot rooms in a hot climate. Lots of dust and grime, and piles and piles of records everywhere we turned. You learn a key lesson quickly in the dark: don’t set anything down, because you might not find it ever again. You also sweat like you’ve never sweat before, realizing quickly that the small set of clothes you packed for the trip won’t last long with the sweat and dirt.
Guard dogs viciously barked at us in several locations, and bats circled overhead and lunged at us in one. We were also at the scheduling whims of our contacts, rushing from one spot to the next and not able to stop for proper food breaks. In one location, I was extremely relieved when the gateman pulled a fresh avocado off of a tree and cut us some slices. I also learned that you need to bring as many bottles of water along in the car as possible: you’ll get thirsty! Overall, our pattern was to skip meals during the day but to feast in the morning and in the evening. In the mornings I ate dumplings, plantains, ackee, steamed callaloo and cabbage, fresh fruit, and toast. In the evenings I stuffed my belly with dishes like ackee-covered vegetable pasta, red peas soup, salad, and bread. It was all so delicious.
One day, we randomly pulled into Youthman Promotion and we were excited to meet some of the children of Sugar Minott and Alton Ellis. They walked us around the property while we looked at murals and reflected on all of the music history that happened there. On another day, we ended up hanging out with Big Youth at Rockers, and realized how special it was to be there with him on Orange Street, where his face appears in at least two murals. The murals around Kingston are a special thing, and I wish I had more time to slow down and look at them even more closely. Orange Street and Youthman are two great destinations for music-themed art, but there are many others as well.
I sent home 2 large boxes of records and made it a year-long project to sort, clean, sleeve, and research everything I found. I finally finished organizing everything in the Fall of 2023, and have now recorded two mixes that are based exclusively on records from that trip. These mixes really only scratch the surface of everything I sent back, so there may be more mixes to come. However, the process of cleaning and organizing took me a full year, and I ended up going back for a second trip to Jamaica in October! You can expect more writing, photos, and mixes to come, especially from that second trip, but in the meantime please check out the first two mixes below. Jamaica continues to hold a special place in my heart, and I hope to visit many more times again in the future!
Selective Approach 014: Digging in Jamaica
Selective Approach 016: Digging in Jamaica pt. 2
All of my other reggae mixes (30 of them to date!) can be found here