Reasoning With Scientist

A Dub Legend Speaks on King Tubby, The Roots of Dub, & The Vampire-Killing Power of Drum & Bass

History will be made tonight at B.B. King’s in New York City when the Dub Champions Festival presents Scientist and the Roots Radics band performing their legendary 1981 album Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires live in its entirety for the first time ever. The Radics’s sessions for Henry “Junjo” Lawes at Channel One Studio became the stuff of legend, largely because the brilliant young engineer Scientist was at the controls. Born Overton Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, Scientist was just a teenager when he first began working with King Tubby’s, the originator of dub music. He managed to win Tubby’s confidence and the student soon became a master, the most in-demand studio engineer in Jamaica. With a big assist from Emch of Subatomic Sounds we caught up with Scientist for this rare in-depth interview and he had so much things to say. Suffice it to say that half the story has never been told. Q&A after the jump.

A lot of people get their information from Google and Wikipedia nowadays, but I don’t like to rely on that. That’s why It’s such a treat to speak with people who actually made musical history, so we can learn the real stories. Please tell us how you became the Scientist. How did you get into dub music? The story on Wikipedia is something about you getting a job at King Tubby’s—but maybe it started before that?
Well, I would like you to put this on the record. Wikipedia is not accurate. I’m kinda fed up with Wikipedia because they allow any people to edit it and they keep putting slander and false information in it. So do not rely on Wikipedia for anything because anybody can go on Wikipedia and put up whatever nonsense they want.

I became the Scientist by me first being a television repair person in my neighborhood that started building amplifiers. I wanted to meet the great King Tubby’s because as everybody knew back in Jamaica, King Tubby’s was building the best sound systems. I was just a kid at the time and I wanted to meet someone who knew a little bit more than me about sound systems. So I was very intrigued by Tubby’s work and I got even more interested when he released his first dub album named Roots of Dub. It became my favorite test album for when I’m testing an amplifier because it had good frequency response. It had good bass good treble, so we would know how the amplifier would sound when someone took it from us and played it in a dancehall. So that was my introduction to Tubby’s.

King Tubby’s The Dub Irator

After I met Tubby’s, he gave me the privilege—I was the only person there that he give the privilege to have a key and to run the place. I started bugging Tubby’s brains about, basically, the future. And the ideas that I had back in 1985 was about everything just about that you see now. I have it documented from back in those times that we were talking about moving faders that you see on almost every console now. This whole digital realm with virtual tracks—you know, all that was my idea that was documented more than 20 years ago in a book called Reggae International by Stephen Davis. So based on all those crazy ideas that I was presenting to King Tubby at that time, Bunny Lee started calling me “The Scientist.”

Oh Bunny Lee? Was he a regular client of Tubby’s?
Well yes. He was the person who put out the first known and recognized dub album in the world. Which was Roots of Dub with King Tubby’s.

So those other albums that we always hear about, like Scratch’s Blackboard Jungle Dub, and Impact All-Stars’ Java Java Java Java—those came after?
I cannot honestly say 100% for sure. I would have to go back and look at the history books but one thing’s for sure, it was the most known dub album of all time. That was like the birth of dub albums, and all my dub albums followed that one. That’s what’s in history. And you go back as far as you can to see the first album with an engineer’s photograph on it—was King Tubby’s. Because there wasn’t any other before that. Then after that dub album came all of my other dub albums featuring engineers as the artists.

Right now in 2012 this idea of the engineer as artist is considered a radical new concept in the mainstream music business. We see people like Skrillex and Diplo and Danger Maus on the covers of magazines. People are calling it EDM now—Electronic Dance Music. But the whole thing goes way back to Jamaica, doesn’t it?
Well yes, undoubtedly. Where a recording console become an instrument started from King Tubby’s. Right? That was the first time the world know that this thing could do this thing. When Tubby created the model T of Dub, that was the launch of it. Just like everything else. When the Wright Brothers first invented the aircraft, when you first saw it you would probably be scared to get into it. But Tubby’s undoubtedly—and no one can say anything else otherwise—was the first to develop this technique.

What do you mean the Model T of Dub?
Well, back in those times—and this is no disrespect to King Tubby’s—back in those times when King Tubby’s did it, you couldn’t say the first thing he did was the peak. It was not the best. Just like the first record that I mixed, I have to be honest with myself and say that it was not the best. Because when you start telling yourself that it’s the best, it’s a formula for you to not succeed. After that happened, then came… I presented a lot of different new and unique ideas to use with the same console. And this is something that can be well verified.

So this was on Tubby’s console? The four-track Mixer?
Yeah, it was a four-track mixer. But after that time when Tubby’s was using it, I developed my own personalized way and techniques for the whole recording process. And my own dub mixing technique. And make no mistake about this, people want to put dance records, rock and roll, and all these things, as if they’re over reggae. Actually reggae is 100 times more harder to mix and engineer than all the different genres. When I mix a rock and roll or any other genre it’s like a piece of cake. It’s easy. And the proof is when you get any of these engineers from other genres and get them to mix a reggae tracks they it start showing up all the weaknesses.

Make no mistake, Reggae is what set the benchmark. Not rock and roll and all the other genres. Why? Because it does not have the bandwidth, which is 20 to 20,000 cycles. You know when you play rock, or any of the other genres, and you put it through a spectrum analyzer, you’ll find that it has a very narrow bandwidth. Without reggae—the sound that was coming from Jamaica when I started to develop my techniques—there’s no way amplifier builders or speaker builders could gather the data to actually see what happens to an amplifier when you play it like this. Why? Because the other different genres didn’t have the jackhammer drum and bass to put the speakers and the amplifiers through the test to see how it’s actually gonna work. You know, this is something we knew way back then in Jamaica.

And as a result of that, if forces people—especially the people who make car speakers—now to develop better speakers. Because when you look at the cone displacement rate with the other genres, they’re next to none. The cone displacement rate is how much the cone moves off where it’s supposed to be. You see when the bass reaches the speaker, the cone has a tendency to drift and then the cone start rubbing on the metal, which in turn scrapes off the insulation and then what? It burns out the speaker. When you do that with reggae that cone dance like crazy. So what they had to do was… it forced them to develop a thicker and better spider. Because if they were playing rock and roll through it, they would have no need to do it. Because they’re not mixing rock music the way they could really mix it. I wish I could get Mick Jagger and really carry him to a different level so I could show him what he’s been missing.

OK, so when we talk about “the booming system” in hip hop that comes out of the same reggae frequencies?
Of course. Make no mistake, hip-hop and other dance music is a close relative to reggae. I remember before I even come into engineering I brought home this record named “Double Barrell” from Ansel Collins. And when you play every other record you don’t hear the furniture in the house vibrating. But as you start to play “Double Barrell,” you start to hear the speaker and everything flapping. Back in those days they were using paper cone and some little cheap material to build speakers. And when you mix with those type of frequency response it could just tear up the speakers. So as a technician, me and Tubby’s used to have a joke where a speaker would come in, and I would say, ‘Hey, Tubby’s. The jackhammer would destroy this one.” We’re talking about the jackhammer drum and bass. And the guy who brought the speaker over would have no idea. “What they hell they talking about, jackhammer?” We had certain code word that we’d use when we’re repairing speakers. Like Tubby’s would say “Hey Scientist, what’s up?” And I’d say “The jackhammer tore it up.” And he would know exactly what I mean. When we’re repairing speakers, we would put thicker cone and thicker spiders so when the bass reach it the cone don’t drift as much. Good thing we’re having this discussion so the younger people can now start to see where this thing actually comes from.

How did you learn all this? Was this all self-taught or did you go to school for it?
Ha—school! Make no mistake bout this: there’s a difference between education and wisdom. Education is something that you memorize—6+4 make 10 and 5 + 5 make 10. And what we all seems to do when we’re hiring people, we say “Oh let’s hire him! He’s from Harvard!!!” Well, the guy could be a goddamn buffoon from Harvard. Idiot. The guy just know 5 and 5 and whatever he recited. The guy didn’t know that 6 + 4 make 10 and also 8 + 2 make 10 and 9 + 1 make 10. He was just educated that 5 + 5 make 10.

So the answer is I’ve been all self-taught. I didn’t wanna go to school anymore and here about Christopher Columbus discovered other people’s property. And I started learning on my own. Yes. Everything was self-taught. King Tubby’s, he made me a bet that if he sent me around a console I wouldn’t know what to do, and he lost on his bet.

What was the bet?
When I first met him I always been telling him that “I can mix, I can mix.” And he always telling me “Well kid, first of all you should be in school. You’re smoking too much weed. Several big me try to do this. You’re a kid. Nobody not gonna allow you to mix.” I would keep on bugging him, bugging him, bugging him. But he always just had me doing TV repairs, fixing the amplifiers and stuff for him. One day when Jammy failed to come—like he always do most of the time—Tubby’s made me a bet. He said “I bet if I send you around there to work, you wouldn’t know the first thing to do.” And he pretty much lost on his bet. The first record I mixed went number one.

Which one was that?
It was Barrington Levy “On My Way to Maverly.”

You mean “Collie?”
“Collie Weed,” yeah. And that was pretty much the birth of all these dub albums that was put out, that Greensleeves been pirating, and all that stuff there.

How would you describe your style and technique of dub? One of the things I always noticed is the way you would make use of a little snip of vocals early in the track and then you sort of blast it out into space.
The mixing technique that I used, it just depends what part of the triangle I am focusing on. Within the drum we have the triangle: the kick drum, the snare, and the high hat. It depends on my timing in the triangle. You would have three other triangles that would make up the total triangle of the drum, the bass, and the rhythm section. It depends on what part I start on or what I want to use.

That triangle concept is amazing. Is there a triangle within the rhythm section also?
Yes, because the piano is one point of the triangle and the guitar is one and then the horn is one. In the bass it’s the notes.

I’m getting a dub education here. This is a real treat.
I was the one who developed that whole recording technique. At first, from Studio One, with Michigan & Smiley and that stuff—that’s where it first started. I was the one who came and started recording with EQ. If you go back and listen to the other Studio Ones with Johnny Osbourne and those Studio Ones, you will hear the change in the sound.

Scientist Speaks on Dub at RBMA

I want to be clear, because Studio One goes back a long way. When you talk about recording are you saying you were re-recording the original session tapes and EQing them or are you talking about recording the instruments and players live?
Live—from scratch. There’s a certain technique that I developed. How to mic the drums, how to EQ it. Everybody used to record the instruments flat. You see a lot of people want to keep it twisted. A lot of people want to fool people. I was the one that developed that sound. When I left that studio pretty much froze, and Tuff Gong became the place that pretty much had that sound. Anyone who doesn’t want to listen to what I say can go back and listen to the records. They can prove the facts.

So your focus went from working mostly at Tubby’s to Channel One and then to Tuff Gong.
Tubby’s, Studio One, then Channel One.

I think a lot of people are confused about the Studio One part because we think about Coxsone and real old-school stuff. But there was a second wave of Studio One, in the 70s. That’s what you’re talking about right?
Well yes. Johnny Osbourne, Wailing Souls, Willi Williams, Sugar Minott. All that is my work at Studio One. All that is me.

You would use the original Studio One instrumentals and then just EQ them differently right?
Well, Coxsone had new musicians play over the drums and the bassline and the piano. So it was like a brand new track. That was the problem with Coxsone back in those days when you look on the Studio One records the new generation won’t know who plays what and that is very bad for history. Maybe because Coxsone didn’t want to put anyone’s name on there and give anybody credit back in those days. As far as who played the bass line, nobody knew. And then the problem that created was all these musicians who should be getting their performing rights nobody knew who to give what to because it was not documented.

And that’s been a problem ever since, right?
Yeah because you have the pirates. The labels who come in, see that a lot of musicians want to play the music, and they take advantage of a lot of them.

I just wanna stay on the music production side before we get into the pirate thing. When you talk about the Channel One days there were some other engineers who were working there as well. Who was responsible for that sound?
Nobody can contest what I say because the records are there. When you go back and listen to early Channel One, I can tell you pretty much the birth of Channel One. You put one of those early records against the one with the M-16 riddim and the one with Half Pint, when you put them together it is a night and day difference. Because they were all so much the same garbage that was recorded flat. I was the one that came there and developed that big powerful sound they had that no one can duplicate until now. All that stuff like “Big Ship” with Freddie McGregor, that was my technique. Back in early Channel One they didn’t have anything else to compare it to, so it was like a breath of fresh air. But if you go back now you can hear it. Like, the kick drum wasn’t even mic’ed. You could hear that! Jah Life can verify this. He could shed light on a lot of these things.

We should organize a conversation between you and him.
We should. He is one of the people who can verify these things. Even outside of that, the most powerful proof is the records themselves. What’s coming down from Jamaica now, they don’t know how to record drums. This is true! You can check what I’m saying. Go play a record like “Mr. Landlord” with Half Pint. Go play Lone Ranger “M-16.” You will hear exactly what I’m talking about.

Is that why Sly went on to the computer drums?
Not necessarily. Sly is one of the chief innovators. Thank God they made drum machines because a lot of people would be suffering real bad because the drums would have sounded worse.

When you look at all of your body of work is there one period that your proudest of?
No.

You worked with Sly & Robbie, The Roots Radics, and many more. Was there a particular rhythm section that you enjoyed working with the most?
I didn’t have a favorite. I was in a position a lot of times where I wanted to sleep cause I hadn’t slept in two or three days.

I wanted to sleep, but here comes this set of musicians that didn’t probably work in two weeks and if I go to sleep they don’t get no money. I wanna sleep but if I go to sleep then a lot of people go hungry. So I have to force myself to stay up so they can eat. After a while it became a duty.

Why? Because if you don’t do it no other engineer will do it?
 Well the producer, 9 out of 10 times, wants me to work. He doesn’t want the others. After a while it all becomes work and a duty. It’s like someone giving you a top of the line car to drive, after a while it’s hard to choose because they all drive good.

The albums you did with the Roots Radics are some of the best known dub albums in the world. What about their sound was so distinctive?
Going back to what I said earlier, people would come to the studio and then I would be the engineer. At that time everybody wants to work with Roots Radics and I mixed most of their records. It became that sound.


You did an album at Tubby’s called
Heavyweight Dub Champion. Was that significant for you just to be declared the Heavyweight Dub Champion?
That was mixed at Tubby’s. Back then I looked at it just as work. If you go back and listen to the album then you see why. When you put it against the things that Tubby was doing on the same console then you could hear what’s on that album.

So with all respect to Tubby you were taking it farther?
Well he created the Model T Car of Dub.

And you invented the super car?
You could say that. Just like the guy who invented The Model T, when he saw these new cars he might be afraid to get inside and drive it.

There was another album called The Big Showdown at King Tubby’s with you and Prince Jammy. How did that work? Did you and Jammy mix the tracks separately?
No, no. Please. Let me set the record straight. Jammy never mixed one track on that album. Jammy does not know anything about even how to set up a console or else why is he not doing other records? Why can he not do anything like that in his new recordings? Why? I can point you to records, just last week, where you can see it. You can google “Scientist Remix Marvin Gaye”you can hear all the stuff I’ve been doing, and you can hear that it even got better. I wish I could get some of those old masters and remix them with the new technology. I can do way better than what I did back then.

When did you remix Marvin Gaye? Is that very recent?
Yes! Look here, you don’t have to believe what I say. Go play the old Marvin Gaye. Those are the same exact tracks from Motown. There’s nothing added. It’s the same exact recording. And those are rough mixes. So it proves the point that reggae is way harder. And you see everybody look into that type of music. They believe that’s what it’s supposed to sound like. When I hear it, I hear all the flaws. You don’t have to believe what I say. The records can prove the point. When you listen to that record and the original mixes you can see the difference.

I wish I could get Beyoncé and Lady Gaga to recut their vocals so they could hear what they should really sound like. You don’t have to take my word for it, go listen to the Lady Gaga and Beyoncé tracks and you can hear it yourself. When you listen to the original mix, you can hear how they have their voice. I want to get Beyoncé and Lady Gaga with all those million-dollar vocals and really let them hear how they can sound.

That’s not how mics can sound. It sounds like someone recorded them in a basement! People don’t know this because they aren’t used to hearing that genre any other way. With the power of reggae what can be done for the other genres! It’s the technique that was developed in Jamaica. Tubby developed the Model T car of electronic music and I was the one who developed the technique of how to record the drum, the bass, the vocals and all of that sound. I wish I could get Mick Jagger to hear what the Rolling Stones have been missing all this time. That technique was developed in Jamaica.

OK, so that’s a standing invitation to Beyoncé, Gaga, and The Rolling Stones; The Scientist is ready to work with them.
Look here, when those guys are working on those records it takes them months or weeks to mix one record. When it finish it comes out on a very narrow bandwidth. Most people don’t know because they have been hearing rock and roll for 20 years and everybody’s ears have been tuned to that and they have accepted that that’s what it sounds like. I would say to Mick Jagger and them, “No, no, no, no, no! There are several different levels above that.” Make no mistake about this. This is what I’m talking about with the difference between education and wisdom. People with all the technology still try to figure out how the most primitive people were able to build giant pyramids. Right? That’s also a triangle. They had the knowledge of the triangle. A lot of people just took the first step but they don’t even know how huge the difference is—and thank God and because a lot of people would want to use it for bad purposes. Certain things everybody shouldn’t know because they could be used for destructive purposes.

That makes me think about some of your album titles, like Scientist Meets the Space Invaders and Scientist Rids The World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires… Those titles have a humorous side to them, but do you truly believe your music can be a force for positive change in this world?
Well of course. Same thing with Bob Marley. Same thing with a lot of others. I didn’t come into the music business trying to get famous. I came in losing all the money that I made to feed people around me. When I collect my money, everyone gets more of it than me. It was never about that. A lot of injustice goes on in the world. Look at what’s going on right now in America. Look at what is happening in Occupy Wall Street. Don’t tell me these people don’t have anything better to do and they are just doing it because they don’t like rich folks. No. There is an injustice going on; there are the haves and the have-nots. There are some people who get a kick out of driving a Rolls Royce when to me I wouldn’t want the Rolls Royce. First of all, because they are ugly but a lot of idiots want to drive them because it puts them in a special class and they like that. They like being in the elite and they like people starving around them because it creates money. So our purpose is to reverse all of that. When you have, I have, and everybody has. There’s no anger between us. Now that I’m sure that you have, can you just please leave me alone with mine? Because you have yours.

It’s getting out of control. Look at what happened in the housing market. The first thing is that none of the houses, especially here in California that are 2, 3, $400,000 dollars. They are drywall and 2 x 4s that cost about $50,000 in materials. Now, we created a system where a school teacher can’t own a house because the banks made sure. Mom and Pop, the civil workers, the judge, the policeman, they can’t own a house. Why? Because Wall Street got greedy. By the time the teacher sees it, the price went up. What they did is just to make sure that the teacher can’t have none. Right? I don’t want to live in a world like that. The ideal world is when I can eat, everybody can eat, so you have no reason to want my things because you can also eat. Why would you want my things when you can eat? You have everything I have, why can’t you just leave me with mine?

So this is how you would rid the world of the curse of the vampires?
Yes! We live under the vampire system. The banks are sucking the blood of the sufferer—like Bob Marley sang in his song “Babylon System.” This is true. Look at what’s going on in America. 99% of the people are saying something is wrong. And the 1% are saying, “No, it’s not wrong. All you other people around the world are crazy. You are lazy and you need jobs. We need to be greedy and richer.” Look at what’s going on in New York. I don’t know how some of those folks sleep down there in the freezing winter. In a country that has so much?

There’s a big difference between education and wisdom. Some of the most educated people from around the world are in this country, isn’t that right? Then why they can’t fix the problem? They are supposed to be the smartest, so why can’t they fix it? They can’t fix it because they don’t have the wisdom. They have been to Harvard and Harvard brainwashed them. The buffoons can’t see outside of the box to fix the problem. That’s my purpose in music and I wish a lot of celebrities would see it. When you become somebody like that, people look to you for leadership. And a lot of these musicians have to be aware of how they can poison the young people. They don’t really realize what they are doing. Everyone’s purpose in life should be to make sure that the other person can live and can eat. That is what God wanted. God didn’t want all this chaos. You know he is looking down at all these evil people. You think God looks at us and says, “Oh great! Great America!” There are a bunch of sinners and people who are destroying the planet.

As the saying goes, Jah Jah don’t sleep. He sees it all.
We live in a world where some people have pleasure going to their bed with everything that they can have and get pleasure knowing that someone else is going to bed hungry.

What is the status of your battle for your rights and royalties? This is something you’ve spoken about in the past. What’s the latest? Have you have any satisfaction in your legal battle?
I’m not satisfied with the justice system because the entire justice system doesn’t know what it’s doing. I start to wonder when I hear any verdict, did they get it right? The problem with the justice system is that when they make a mistake they can’t say, ‘Hey, you know what. We made a mistake. Let’s fix it.’ They want to put a time limit as to when the truth is important when we know the truth always comes out.

Do you mean, like, a statute of limitations?
There’s none with me. Make it clear. There is none. I’m just talking about how the law wants to put a limit on when the truth is important when we all agree that the truth eventually comes out. We know it will always come out. The law, I think, should not limit when the truth can come out. And they want to call it a statute of limitations. Look here, I was threatened with murder. The proof is there. I was told that we need to stop the court battles or we will be dead. The recording is all there.

So what happened when you were threatened? What did you do?
Well everbody heard about it because I put it online for the world to hear so if anything happened they would know where to look.

Did you feel like that protected you?
I’m not scared. A lot of people don’t know a lot of things and I’m about spreading knowledge. That record company, they robbed a lot of artists. You can call all different artists and they have the same exact story.

So what does the label say? That they dealt with Junjo, the producer?
That’s why I say I have a problem with the law because sometimes it’s not consistent. Jamaican law says the producer needs written permission, there is no work for hire unless it’s in writing. That’s what the law is. The Supreme Court upheld a previous ruling that say’s work for hire isn’t valid if it isn’t in writing. So technically they don’t have anything over me. I’m the one with something over them. When I drag them to court, the only thing I have to do is show the court what the Supreme Court says and they have to follow it. That’s the law of the land. The only way it could be legal is if an artist is dumb enough to sign away everything to Junjo. Let me give you something further, it’s not going to Junjo’s family, it’s going to the crooked record company. I don’t know what’s going on with these crooks.

Switching gears, what role does ganja play in your music?
People always ask why my stuff was different than Tubby’s. Well, God made certain things that just work with your brain and make your focus better. Tubby used to believe ganja would poison your brain and as a result it made my imagination different from his. He couldn’t stand it. His eyes would turn red and run water. He couldn’t handle it. We pioneered smoking herb in the studio. It’s good with music. We need to study those who do and those who don’t and see who has more creative music.

But Tubby was famous for not allowing anyone to smoke in the studio.
He couldn’t stop it. He’s a wise man. As long as people are not damaging property or not ruining the equipment, what’s the damage? Point out the damage? If there’s no damage then leave them alone. On the other hand, no cigarette smoking because we know the damage it causes. Your lungs turning brown. So we have a good reason not to smoke cigarettes.

Does it bother you that ganja is illegal?
What kind of man would put a man in jail for plants? Something that God makes? A man is giving himself more power than the almighty creator who made the plants. People should not go to jail for plants with nothing of harm attributed to them. Bring the brightest smartest person and have them justify how you can put a man in jail for a plant? I understand someone going to jail for crack cocaine because you make it into a harmful substance. But it’s barbaric, it’s foolish, it’s uncivilized that someone goes to jail for 20 years because of a plant. It does no bodily harm. But a few people got together and said, “We know better—you should go to jail for plants.” They were wrong, and they cant just say, “We made a mistake. You shouldn’t go to jail for a plant.” The problem is that they can’t admit when they are wrong. They can’t say “You know what? We made a foolish mistake. People have been put in jail for a plant these last 20 years. Let them out. Let’s reverse their criminal status because it was a plant that God makes!”

Another question about Tubby’s: David Rodigan was telling me about his visits to Tubby’s studio and he said that Tubby had a big jazz collection that people didn’t know about. What’s the connection between jazz and dub?
Music is music. There’s no special connection. When I met Tubby I remember he would lock up listening to Beethoven. Music is music. There is no limit to what type of music is music. If you listen to just reggae, then you won’t have the ear for other things. I listen to jazz too, because I can do the same thing with jazz that I can do with reggae. Yeah, Marvin Gaye and jazz are way easier to mix that reggae. Reggae is what shows the flaws.

What’s the latest work you’ve been doing?
Well I just finished mixing Slightly Stoopid. If you go to my dub page, you can hear the stuff that I did with them.

So dubmusic.com is your website? Is that the best place for people to keep up with your work?
Yeah, you can look up the stuff on there. When you talk to Jah Life, ask him about the Princess. He would come sit beside me. I would record and mix the record and when it comes out he would put his name on it.

So that’s what happened with the Half Pint album you were talking about?
Yeah. Here’s what the proof is. He can’t record anything else that sounds like that. Why not? He’s supposed to be the King Jammy, so why not? You put those other records that he makes after that and they sound watered down. Why is that? The question is, do you know enough about that vital pyramid? These so-called experts go hijack history and want to rewrite it. They want to keep things their way and keep things twisted. A lot of folks are just lost in the wind.

9 Responses

  1. Dubtafari says:

    One of the best & informative Scientist interviews that I’ve read in years. Hopeton Overton Brown (Scientist), is truly a national & aural dub treasure. One day I’m at the train station in New Jersey. There is this suburban youth wearing an expensive pair of headphones, listening to music while waiting for the train. The likkle youth could not had been No more than 21 years old. We struck up a conversation about music. As we continued, the youth mentioned his absolute love for Scientist. I could not believe what I was hearing. The youth was truly a lover of sound. Especially dub music. Which he first heard by listening to dub music from the Grand Theft Auto series. Not in a million years would I have ever believed that many Of the album titles of the many Scientist Greensleeves dub albums, would apply to real life, reality & the literal battles that Scientist & many other Jamaican artist now fInd themselves in when it comes to record Companies & royalties. The proof is in the hearing & the music. Much respect & love to Scientist who is undoubtedly the true “Heavyweight Dub Champion”. Give thanks.

  2. Oomo says:

    He thinks very highly of himself. He can go on forever about how he is the best and knows many things.

  3. […] to say, “No, this is how the song should sound.” Indeed, he has since outright issued this exact challenge to several non-reggae […]

  4. […] to say, “No, this is how the song should sound.” Indeed, he has since outright issued this exact challenge to several non-reggae […]

  5. […] to say, “No, this is how the song should sound.” Indeed, he has since outright issued this exact challenge to several non-reggae […]

  6. L13 says:

    awesome!
    big respect to a pioneer!
    jah bless scientist I hope he gets paid for his hard work

  7. Sasha says:

    Very cool =)

  8. Sasha says:

    Mr.Scientist help me please.I writing you from Russia. My englash is not well.Very long time i look for your song from film “Dub Echo”,where you to write him on studio.There is some words of woman vocal from that song – ” People get ready…watcha-watcha..” Please help me.If you can,write on my mail – ukk3@yandex.ru Thank you master = )

  9. Steve Netshishivhe says:

    Does anyone know The Scientist’s email address? If you do please send it to me at pfulu@live.com.

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