Culture

The vocal group Culture played a pivotal role in shaping the sonic identity and aesthetic of Rastafarian roots reggae, driven chiefly by the magnetic presence of their lead vocalist, songwriter, and guiding force Joseph Hill. Faithful to the ensemble’s moniker, their output centered almost entirely on spiritual, societal, and political themes, which Hill conveyed with a passionate fervor that aligned him alongside other committed Rastafarian voices such as Burning Spear and Black Uhuru. Their landmark debut album Two Sevens Clash, issued in 1977, endures as a cornerstone of roots reggae, while the bulk of their remaining late-1970s recordings uphold an equally elevated level of quality. Following a period of inactivity, Culture reemerged in the mid-1980s with a brighter, more refined approach informed by broader musical influences. Nevertheless, the potency of their lyrical convictions remained undiminished as they persisted into the new millennium. After Hill suffered a collapse onstage and passed away during a 2006 European tour, his son Kenyatta Hill stepped into the role of lead singer. Over the subsequent fifteen years Culture maintained an active touring schedule under Kenyatta’s direction. He simultaneously paid tribute to his father’s influence through a sequence of solo projects, among them the 2011 tribute album Live On: Tribute to Culture.

Joseph Hill had already pursued individual endeavors for several years before establishing Culture. He began by serving as a disc selector for sound systems in his native Linstead, located in St. Catherine Parish. He subsequently joined the Soul Defenders as a percussionist and occasional vocalist. In 1971 the Soul Defenders contributed to sessions at Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s renowned Studio One, supplying instrumental support for numerous singers. During those same sessions Hill cut several solo tracks, including “Behold the Land” and “Take Me Girl,” though none achieved release at the time. The Soul Defenders later returned to St. Catherine to perform in hotel lounges across northern Jamaica, while Hill moved through additional ensembles before founding Culture in 1976. His cousin Albert Walker proposed forming a vocal trio, and the pair soon enlisted another relative, Roy “Kenneth” Dayes, to provide harmony vocals alongside Walker.

Originally known as the African Disciples, the three vocalists connected with producer Joe Gibbs in Kingston and promptly adopted the name Culture. Under the supervision of Gibbs and engineer Errol Thompson, collectively recognized as the Mighty Two, they introduced themselves with the single “This Time” on Gibbs’s Belmont imprint. Shortly afterward they achieved wider recognition through several successful singles such as “See Them a Come” and “Two Sevens Clash.” The latter presented a Rastafarian prophecy of imminent apocalypse that heightened public anxiety during an already turbulent election year and supplied the title for their debut album, which appeared in 1977 to widespread praise. Among its essential selections were “Get Ready to Ride the Lion to Zion” and “Natty Dread Take Over,” forming a spiritual declaration opposing racial injustice and economic hardship. The record attracted substantial audiences not only in Jamaica but also in the U.K., where the emerging punk rock scene recognized affinities with protest-oriented reggae and responded directly to the album’s forceful sense of disillusionment.

Dissatisfied with their financial arrangements with Gibbs, Culture departed for a short, contentious tenure at Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label, where they began but never completed a follow-up album titled Africa Stand Alone; the unfinished recordings eventually surfaced without authorization. In the meantime Gibbs issued remaining material from the Two Sevens Clash sessions across two additional albums, Baldhead Bridge (whose title track became a hit) and More Culture. By late 1977 Culture had relocated to Sonia Pottinger’s High Note label, where they completed three strong albums in rapid succession: Harder Than the Rest in 1978 and both Cumbolo and International Herb in 1979. Further recordings from that period later appeared on the compilations Trod On and Production Something. The group performed at the historic One Love Peace Concert in 1978 and subsequently toured extensively in the U.K. alongside the backing band the Revolutionaries, which featured the young Sly & Robbie.

Little additional material emerged for several years. Culture disbanded in 1982, prompting Hill to release what amounted to a solo effort, Lion Rock, under the Culture name, while Walker and Dayes each worked briefly with producer Henry “Junjo” Lawes. The original trio reunited in 1986 and promptly delivered two favorably received comeback albums, Culture at Work and Culture in Culture. They resumed live performances as well, inaugurating another active phase with releases such as Nuff Crisis in 1988 (containing the pointed protest song “Crack in New York”), Good Things in 1989, the dancehall-inflected Three Sides to My Story in 1991, and Wings of a Dove in 1992.

Kenneth Lloyd Dayes departed in 1993 to launch a solo career focused on extending their prior dancehall explorations. Culture continued touring with the independent backing band Dub Mystic, whose lead singer Ire’Lano Malomo was recruited as the new third vocalist. Malomo featured on the studio albums One Stone in 1996 and Trust Me in 1997. He was succeeded in 1999 by veteran singer Telford Nelson, who debuted on the 2000 release Payday. Hill issued another strong solo album, Humble African, in 2001, and Culture returned in 2003 with the well-regarded World Peace. On August 19, 2006, during a performance in Berlin, Germany, Hill collapsed onstage and died.

His son Kenyatta Hill, then serving as the band’s sound engineer on tour, set aside his grief to take the microphone and complete the remaining dates. In the years that followed Kenyatta guided Culture forward, introducing their music to fresh audiences while simultaneously developing his own solo work. His 2007 solo album Pass the Torch included completions of several unfinished compositions by his father together with new songs that merged contemporary dancehall elements with the socially conscious roots style Joseph had helped establish. The 2011 release Live On: Tribute to Culture presented Kenyatta’s interpretations of classic Culture material, and 2014’s Riddim of Life further defined his individual presence within modern roots reggae. In 2017 Culture embarked on a tour marking the fortieth anniversary of their acclaimed debut Two Sevens Clash, with Kenyatta performing alongside founder Albert Walker and later member Telford Nelson. The Nighthawk Sessions, an archival collection issued by the Omnivore label in 2021, gathered rare tracks originally featured on the 1982 compilation Calling Rastafari along with previously unreleased recordings from the same era.