INTERVIEW
Interview by : Maxime Nordez
Pictures by : Benoit Collin
on Wednesday, March 31st 2004 - 11 110 views
Met in a Paris studio a few months ago, Ranking Joe first struck us as a calm and reserved man. After a good hour of conversation, we discovered an expansive and truly likeable person. Face to face with the man with the best-known tongue roll in the sound systems. Bang-dily style!!!
Reggaefrance / Can you go back over your beginnings in reggae?
Ranking Joe / I started singing very early, in the 70s. My first hit for Studio One was Gun Court in 1974, then I made songs for Bunny Lee, Tradition, and Bag-a-wire for Enos McLoad. Jacket and Psalm 54 for Watty Burnett of the Congos. Joe Gibbs also produced the album "Natty Superstar" in 1979. All these things make you grow and lift you up.
Looking back at all these collaborations, are there any you wouldn't do again?
I'm proud of everything I've done. I thank God for giving me this opportunity. I thank Him for getting me into Studio One, for allowing me to make a name for myself, for having me work with Bunny Lee, Joe Gibbs…Yes, I can say I'm proud to be part of history.
I know the reggae business, there are always money problems. Have you had any?
It's part of the business. Many producers rob you but give you the opportunity to make a name. I can't blame anybody for really robbing me because I'm still in the music and it's thanks to the producers. You have to get burned to learn, it's part of maturity, it makes you work on your sense of determination. You have to force yourself to learn the business side, which is why I created my own label. There comes a time when you have ideas that a producer can't understand. People didn't always understand the lyrics I poured out on the sound system; the producers taught me to polish my style, it doesn't work only one way.
Throughout your career, you've rather opted for conscious lyrics; is that important to you?
Growing up, I first wanted to work on versatility to make a difference on the sound system. My style is made up of different created styles. I did slackness, for example, because of the music of the moment. I made a commodity of it. By voicing different riddims, you learn, you imitate styles. It's important to say something that means something. Consciousness has to be part of your music, not just a little passage in a song. What you say has to hold up and you have to hold up to say it, seen? Otherwise it's just stories of vanity, girls and so on… Never mind the money, we do it because we love the music, not to hear ourselves on the radio. It's the same for Little John, Trinity, Dillinger, Sugar Minott...
From a musical point of view, how do you choose your riddims?
I don't choose, it's the selecta who chooses! I go by the vibe, I have no requirements. I take all the riddims. I'm experimenting with a lot of things at the moment, notably here in France with Jacob from Guiding Star.
You've travelled a lot; do you feel differences depending on the audience?
Audiences are different and don't always know what a sound system is. When we play a sound, it's dancehall but people are baffled not to see a drum kit or a band. But after a while everybody dances and gets into the riddims, it's Show Time! In some towns, people are more relaxed than in others. They come to dance, listen and learn. I'd like to go and play in Africa. I've never done it, it's very different from the Caribbean.
Overall, would you say you suffer from a lack of recognition?
No. I thank God, these things don't happen all at once. One day, when the first Jamaican artists were starting to export themselves, I imagined myself coming to France. Jah told me: "It's your turn now". And since then I've been here regularly. I didn't think I was that well known. In Poland, for example, while I was on stage, people were calling out for "Bang-dily...", they knew me and some were waiting for me after the show, CD in hand! Reggae Music goes further and further! It's the same for Japan. I met people there who had dreamed of meeting me for years!
Was it with Ray Symbolic that you started?
Let's say he was the first to enable me to go on tour. It was the first Jamaican sound system in England. That's history! By touring England we created a new way of approaching dancehall, the DJ, a new vibe. That's where my "fast-talkin' style" came from. We met sounds like Shaka, Coxsone, it was really good!
In the mid-80s you decided to settle in New York…
I went to America in 1980/1981 with the Papa Moke sound system. We played against Downbeat, African Love, Black Star...and we wrote another page of history...
What do you think of life in the United States compared with life in Jamaica?
It's still the Jamaican way of life that I favour in the United States! (laughs) There's a big Jamaican community in New York! Brooklyn and the Bronx are very Jamaican. Dancehall still lives in Jamaican culture. When I'm there, we try to do a venue every night, Monday to Sunday. Jamaican DJs like Yellowman, Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales and Chaplin come to sing and it turns into a big thing that feels like Jamaica! When I'm in the States, I'm Jamaican first and foremost. People know me from the classics of Sturgav or Ray Symbolic and know that I went to England. Mickey Jarrett, one of the most gifted DJs in the States, set up Papa Moke, which served us well and gave us our first hours of glory. We clashed Downbeat, Sir Tommy's... Papa Moke became something huge in the States. It all really began thanks to us!
What are your plans?
I have an album coming out next month (April 2004, editor's note) on Greensleeves in a limited edition, recorded at Channel One. Another one will come out on General Levy's label, old tracks, new ones, lots of releases coming up! I'm going back to Jamaica to work. Over there, the record market is more global. You have many distributors like One Love, Japanese, Lucas. I have to go to Jamaica on 21 July for Sumfest with Sugar Minott. I spend a lot of time on tour promoting my music. It will be a chance to settle down and pass on my experience to the younger generation. Some need to be guided. Sometimes I miss Jamaica, the food too, in fact! (laughs)
Do you eat ital?
Not really, but I'm a vegetarian and I take care to cook natural produce myself.
Do you find it easy to live your Rastafarian faith?
Living your faith is hard labour. You have to know how to live in relation to others who are going to discriminate against you. When you're a Rasta, you're discriminated against. Wherever you are, you have to be yourself and live Rastafari. You must live the way a Rastaman should and not let the Babylon System get you.
After coming all this way, what do you expect from reggae now?
It's a continuity, it won't stop. I've worked with the best producers and labels, now I want to have my own studio, my sound system, my production company...a Big Complex! There have been good things in the past and I expect more. I keep living and praying to Rastafari and what must be will be. There's no end in music. Music never dies. There will always be the younger generation....
What do you think of the fact that about ten riddims come out every week in Jamaica?
It's simply musical creation. Jamaica is a country that has proved its creativity musically, lyrically, artistically. The young singers are always motivated by living conditions and that makes them creative. Many of them sing what they see, people call it slackness but it's simply the truth! Guys like Sean Paul, whom you can see playing Uptown, that's very good, the music is developing. Reggae Music has no barrier.
I get the impression you don't like speaking ill of others...
It's not that I don't want to speak ill, but I manage to see only the positive side. The negative mashes up your brain. It's true, there are some rubbish riddims! Out of 10 riddims that come out, half are to be thrown away. When we go to record in Jamaica, the young singers rush to make a record with us. So we hold auditions, we record new riddims and, at least, we give them an opportunity to express themselves. There are fewer places than before in Jamaica where the mic is open. It's a mission for me to promote the young ones, just as Coxsone did back in the day. Music is my business, the mic is my tool, it's all I know. I work for Jah and music is my way of fighting. Music is Life!
Where do you see your future?
In Jamaica. I've explored many countries and I've realised that all over the world, people love the music I love. Many producers no longer record Roots & Culture music in Jamaica. So I'm going back to be a producer and provide Europe with the music it loves. We're not talking about Bling Bling Tings but about the Original Ting!
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