Mad Cobra

During the 1990s Mad Cobra ranked among the most prominent dancehall DJs and became the first reggae act to reach the top of the Billboard rap singles chart. Early recognition came through a run of aggressive, no-holds-barred 45s aimed squarely at hardcore listeners, whose lyrics leaned heavily on explicit slackness and gun references. Broader international appeal followed once he began blending R&B and hip-hop textures into his work. Born Ewart Everton Brown on March 31, 1968, in Kingston, he spent his childhood in the parish of St. Mary before returning to the capital as a teenager. He borrowed his performing name from the antagonists in the G.I. Joe comics and appeared on several sound systems while still attending school. His uncle, engineer Delroy “Spiderman” Thompson, oversaw sessions at Tuff Gong and produced Mad Cobra’s first single, “Respect Woman,” issued in 1989. A subsequent duet with Tricia McKay, “Na Go Work,” drew the interest of producers Carl “Banton” Nelson and Captain Sinbad. At the time, Ninjaman-inspired gun talk dominated the scene, and Mad Cobra quickly built support with comparable releases such as “Shoot to Kill,” “Merciless Bad Boy,” and “Ze Taurus.”

Those early successes secured an opportunity at Donovan Germain’s influential Penthouse imprint, where he collaborated with in-house engineer and songwriter Dave Kelly. The 1990 singles “Yush” and “Gundelero” became massive local hits that propelled him to wider prominence; he also scored with the Beres Hammond duet “Feeling Lonely.” His debut LP, Bad Boy Talk, arrived the following year and moved briskly, while additional recordings for leading producers between 1991 and 1992 yielded further successes including “O.P.P.” for King Jammy, “Tek Him” for Bobby Digital, and “Be Patient” for Sly & Robbie. He likewise emerged as a major figure in Britain, topping that country’s reggae singles chart on five separate occasions and working with several of its leading dancehall specialists. Even heated criticism surrounding the openly homophobic content of “Crucifixion” did little to interrupt his ascent.

The commercial breakthrough led to a Columbia contract at a moment when the label was seeking another crossover comparable to Shabba Ranks. Mad Cobra’s first album for the company, Hard to Wet, Easy to Dry, pursued a similar direction, most notably on the opening track “Flex.” Built over a reworking of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination,” the slinky single became a substantial 1992 crossover success, topping the rap singles chart, reaching the R&B top ten, and nearly matching that placement on the pop side. Its follow-up, “Legacy,” failed to connect, prompting a return to primarily Jamaican sessions for the next several years. Amid intense competition with Ninjaman and Buju Banton, he registered two significant 1993 hits with “Mek Noise” and “Matie Haffi Move.” In 1994 he revisited King Jammy’s studio for the album Venom and a string of popular cuts that included “Fat and Buff,” “Length and Bend,” and his initial conscious offering, “Selassie I Rules.”

Steady activity continued through 1995. The next year he signed with Capitol for his second major-label project, Milkman. The suggestive track “Big Long John” achieved modest American crossover airplay, though far short of “Flex” levels, while the set also contained the lighthearted clash single “Sting Night” with Ninjaman. Output tapered considerably in subsequent years, though he resurfaced internationally in 1998 with the Mr. Vegas duet “Guns High.” Various anthologies of his Jamaican material surfaced periodically, many issued by VP, before he reappeared in 2001 with the fresh album Cobra on Artists Only.