U-Brown

Born Huford Brown in Kingston in 1956, U-Brown ranks among the foremost figures in the next wave of Jamaican deejays. One of eleven children, he absorbed music early by following his father into neighborhood bars and lingering on Bond Street beside Treasure Isle studios. At fifteen he turned professional, working the Sound of Music system owned by Philip Monroe and polishing his craft on sides such as “Wet Up Your Pants Foot” and “Jah Jah Whip Them.”

In 1975 he teamed with Bunny Lee for the album Satta Dread, issued only in Jamaica and Britain. He stayed with Lee through the remainder of the decade, completing three further little-known albums and a scattering of equally obscure singles.

U-Roy remains his chief model; the younger artist keeps the surreal jive yet delivers it at a quicker, more percussive pace. The dub tracks he rides—many mixed by King Tubby and Prince Jammy—also sit deeper and darker than U-Roy’s, producing a sharper overall tension. Late in the 1970s U-Brown launched his own Hit Sound label and found modest success as a producer; during the 1980s he moved to Miami and worked with Kenneth Black.

He returned to Jamaica in 1990 and has continued to produce, record, and deejay, though less often than before. Living in semi-seclusion, he accepts only the projects that appeal to him while still performing on sound systems, the tradition he shares with his hero U-Roy.