UNCONVENTION22: LionFace: DJ.Producer, Dubplate

“Well actually Fred Locks is the artist, which is Fred - Locks, and I should think it's his first album when maybe I was like around - I could say about nine - ten years old, maybe. Well yeah it's Fred Locks is "Black Star Liner" and that album is like what I would call, I would call it Rasta La you know. It's one of the first albums that I really got inspiration from and knowledge of it like, you know, of Rasta and like them. 

Well I was born in Trinidad, right. I was born on the island of Trinidad San Fernando way down in the south and I grew up at that tender age - I left Trinidad when I was thirteen. At that time at that young age I used to be amongst some notorious Rastas, you know. As a youth you know you always want to be around the big man. The big man - the bad man, the big man. Know what I'm saying? 

So I would, in the night I would wait till they go into party and follow them, you know, cos most of time, most of the time we walk like for miles to the party. I would like wait on corner in the bushes and wait till they, you know, and follow them and then after when we get to the party - actually they would see me and like 'yo go home, go home boy'. And I would like - I would go hide and like wait and I would like follow them like still like a half a mile after them and when they reach the party then I would like show up again and they would be like ' but I told you to go home'. 'But I'm not going - I want to go party. ' 

'But you have no money'.bYou have to jump over fences and stuff to get in those parties, yeah. But coming back to Fred Locks, as a little youth nine .. ten years old .. one of my elder sisters - Judy..she passed away from cancer a few years ago..she had a boyfriend who was a Rasta, yeah, and he had a sound system called House of Dread HiFi. Like you know cos I, a lot of people wouldn't understand I've been seeing this sound system thing from when I was a tender age even before I came to America, even before I went to Jamaica I've been experiencing and witnessing these things in Trinidad as a little youth, you understand me. And so my sister's boyfriend would bring over records and leave for her to play, yeah. Like you know Big Youth album with the red, gold and green teeth and you know -what is it called..Natty Dread yeah. And you know the Fred Locks and you know mostly in that time, growing up in that time, the most popular songs were like of Joe Gibbs label, in my time -growing up in Trinidad it was Joe Gibbs label. Those 12" disco mixes were like the most popular music like, you know, the combinations with Dennis Brown and Prince Mohamed and like Culture and Nicodemus, you know stuff like - those 12" disco mix. Mighty Diamonds, Like a River etc, and you know. Those kind of 12" disco mixes with the singer and then the DJ like, you know. The singer and then Trinity after, you know. But then there was another side like a culture side,yeah, which I really took to cos I had the opportunity of playing the albums cos as I said my sister's boyfriend used to bring them over and leave. And when she goes to school, when I would come home from school ..I would try to get home from school as early as possible, right, cos my father had a thing - we called it gram.it's this long, t's like maybe a couple of feet long the speakers are on the front - you know what I'm talking about ..and in the middle you lift up the lid and there's a turntable down there in there with the knobs and stuff,yeah. So that's where I started from. I would pray for my father not to come home early from work and try to get home before my sister gets home so I could play those records and Fred Locks is one of them like, you know. I really love that record like to the maximum Blackstarliner .to this day, you know. I even left Trinidad with it as a little youth, like, the guy who owned it Hans gave it to me you know. 

And so yeah, and even coming to America -well actually I left Trinidad and migrated into the US Virgin Islands, yeah, and I came to New York where I got my diploma, yeah. And so when I came to New York I happened to me, like two blocks away from where I lived ..I came to New York in Brooklyn Sterling Street and Rochester my sister lived there and then next to that I woke up. William - would you believe, the next day I woke up I walked two blocks over to Utica Avenue and it was like my dream come true. Would you believe William who was standing on those corners..Sterling Place and Utica Avenue two blocks from my house - people who Ive been dreaming of seeing. I've been playing their records from when I was a little youth. Nicodemus, Louis Lepkie, Lee Van Cliff Cliff. Like these are like - agh!!what! And then every day they would, cos they have friends that would you know be on those corners from Jamaica ..those people from round that area they ..every artist that comes from Jamaica they know them all. They know the artist very well so all the artists come round here and check them, so I would be like yeah well that's the place to be. So I would be there every day, you know, started hanging out getting to know people then, you know, people getting to know me and I would just fall into it,know what I mean. Fred Locks was one of the first like main reggae albums that inspired me, that made me love reggae music. Not even Bob Marley at the time but it was Fred Locks yeah. So Big Up Fredlocks, yeah man. Even to this day.I need to add to it that after migrate you know to New York and happen to be working in a record shop, this reggae record shop, in Crown Heights Utica, Crown heights Brooklyn one block from ..between Utica and Scenectady It was called Rockers Forever. And I was very very very very good at selling records, you know, very very good at selling records and cassettes. Live dance hall cassettes and I would make custom cassettes for customers who come in and like ' I need these songs and these songs' and they would be like so satisfied and I was really into it from, even as I said from a little boy House of Dread HiFi when I was ten year old. I used to jump my fathers - when my father go to sleep at night open up the back door - jump over and I said go follow..you know - those guys and stuff. I would go far away to quite out of town - follow them on the truck with the sound ..they'd be like, you know 'Put that in the case and put that in the case and go put on this record and stuff', as a little boy. So you know it always stuck with me it was in my blood. Actually when I moved to the Virgin Islands I moved with a like a box of records, there was those same Joe Gibbs 12" and stuff that I was telling you about. And those people in the Virgin Islands they didn't know anything about those music all they knew about was Bob Marley, Third World, Culture, you know the group Culture, stuff like that. Like cultural music and then I introduced, we call it rockers. In high school I used to make cassette tapes and stuff and it was the most popular cassette tape, it was like new music to them. And I came to America and as I said then, talking about Fred Locks now, so while moving to Crown Heights, working at the record store there was this guy who had a sound system called Addis HiFi, which you would know as Addis international now, Addis HiFi that's how it started. The owner of Addis HiFi used to come around to the record store and buy records every Saturday and then he used to just love how I sell records and how - you know. And one day he came and said 'Man do you want to join my team, you want to join my sound system, man you bad in the record store, like you bad ass in the record store. You want to join my sound system'? I was like whaaat! I'm like yeah ok. On Monday there's a holiday, there's the sound systems going to string up outside around the corner just come around and get yourself familiar. And I went around there ..that was it..that was history. And then I became part of Addis HiFi. And so I met the great Danny Dread the famous selector , Danny Dread from Volcano, Papa Roots, King Atarney. One of the original foundations selector of dancehall Danny Dread. And so he mentored me, right so, I grew up on that team. He mentored me and I develop that skill, right. Actually we started I used to be a DJ on the mic first with Supercat and Nicodemus and Tenor Saw and Chuck Turner and everyone who came to New York used came around there by Addis HiFi and practice every night, there was like a party every night. And so the sound became very famous. We started taking on ( class town clash) dates and so I became one of the baddist ass class selectors in the world over the two decades. You know you could look me up , Google me , you know LionFace aka Babyface formerly of King Addis. And so Dub plates. Just to close it off talking about Fred Locks again and so dubplates was a thing that I used to be like .. I lived for dubplates. I was the first one to voice like Billboard hip hop dub plates. I used to be like 'what can I do that the rest of sound systems not doing..what can - to take myself up to another level..like you know. So I used to study about dub plates like ten days a week - there's only seven days in a week ..I used to study about dubplates from morning to morning. I used to be searching for artists that never voiced a dubplate yet etc etc . I always used to be like 'who we haven't heard yet on a dub'. and that's how I always went that way and then I came across .... Gosh I've never voiced Freddy ...I was like Fred Locks ..gosh William ..Fred Locks my reggae hero he's never voiced a dub yet. And then he would happen to be in New York and I called him, I got a link with him and I called him like 'Fred Lock can you get ..' and he said yes. And we went to Long Island Philip Smart studio, Philip Smart has passed away, and he voiced the first two dubplates for ever in the world for Addis international and so we kept that relationship. 

Anytime I go to Jamaica I go visit him out in Harbout View where he lives, you know. Yeah so that's Fred Locks , you know. And also you know along with other artists too kind of inspire me and has played a part in my growing up and, you. Know, Steel Pulse. You know in high school like when I moved to the Virgin Islands as I said they only knew about culture not rub a dub music you know and so Steel Pulse was one of the main reggae bands that people in the Virgin Islands they 

youths they knew in the Vigin Islands along with Aswad. Aswad is Brinsley and Drummie and Gad and man I love those people William man like. Aswad it's like ..man I love ..man Aswad. David Hinds Steel Pulse you know. That's my high school growing up right there and that who played an important part I my reggae growing up and being. Right!” 

LionFace: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, 9th February 2019 

Fred Locks: "Black Star Liner" - released 1976 

The Real Lionface