Bad Bad Chaka

Before Chaka Demus attained international acclaim as the DJ partner of sweet-voiced Kingston singer Pliers, he was widely respected in the city’s dancehall scene as one of the most nimble-tongued DJs to ever control a mic. He cut his first singles for Lloyd James’ Jammy’s imprint in 1985, and though it'd be more than a year before he scored his first Jamaican hit, his contemporaries on the dancehall scene immediately recognized his talent. His dour, near-uninflected monotone lent palpable authority to his performances, and early singles like “Increase Your Knowledge” won him the admiration of dancehall luminaries like Yellowman and Admiral Bailey, who joined him on a yardman–style appropriation of the R&B chestnut “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” which gave Chaka his first real hit. After that, Chaka was a near-constant presence on the dancehall scene, and his records from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s rank as some of the toughest and most invigorating work to emerge from the second wave of digital dancehall.