Selector Just-Ice (and Pete Rock)

Words by Jesse Serwer

Manhattan soundsystem/record shop Deadly Dragon Sound routinely bring names like Johnny Osbourne, Downbeat the Ruler, Wayne Smith and Ranking Joe out of the woodwork for their dances at Chinatown’s Happy Ending. This Thursday’s Jamaican Independence Day celebration boasts an added bonus: besides appearances from the aforementioned reggae legends, hip-hop icons (and American-born Jamaicans) Pete Rock and Just-Ice, as well as Japanese hip-hop/breaks oracle DJ Muro, will be on the wheels. We’re particularly amped on the inclusion of Just (It goes without saying that a Pete Rock DJ set is always worth the price of admission), who is always the most interesting man in any room. When I interviewed the original Gangster of Rap two years ago for an XXL piece on his classic debut Back to the Old School, he mentioned he’d be flexing his selector skills more often. This is one of the first opportunities we’ve heard of to actually catch him in action.

During that interview, we also got to talking about his yard connections, and how he’s pretty much the original rude bwoy rapper. Here’s a few outtakes from that conversation, which also included the best (only?) breakdown on the history of blunt-smoking ever, from its roots in the Jamaican fronto leaf to the flavored blunt wraps of today.

Anything you feel you should be credited as a pioneer for?
Well, I was the first one to fuse reggae and hip-hop together. I was the very first one to do that.

Did you grow up listening primarily to reggae?
My mom’s from Jamaica, dog. It’s a matter of all the music that I listened to growing up. I mean there’s a lot of music in my head. It just came out like that.

Obviously, Herc was Jamaican, too
You mean is Jamaican. You said “was Jamaican” like he stopped. [Laughs]

Ha. You know what I mean. Him being Jamaican, reggae was always there in hip-hop but was it heavier around your environment than other people?
Yeah, cause I’m from Brooklyn, remember. Up in the BX, the only time you heard reggae it was when the big DJs played it. Reggae was being played up in the Bronx so much during the early days that Bambaataa started playing it during his sets. But it was nothing like Brooklyn. I went to school in the fourth and seventh grade in an area that was nothing but Jamaicans so I mean every morning I’d get off the A-train at Jamaica Avenue, the first thing I’m seeing is a spliff. And I’m hearing Michigan and Smiley. It was no Jackson 5, Al Green, Staples Singers— none of that shit over there! We had that in Fort Greene and other parts of Brooklyn a little but Bed-Stuy when I was going to school was full of Jamaicans.

Tell me about the reggae song on Back to the Old School, “Little Bad Johnny.”
Well “Little Bad Johnny” comes from a record that I still play to this day by Lone Ranger, called “Little Bad Johnny.” As a matter of fact it’s really called “Johnny Make You Bad So.” And I play that every day if I can still. That’s a very hot record to this day. You play that record in any Jamaican club now, people will dance. I don’t know what I mentioned in that damn song. You know how long ago that was? I smoked a lot of weed in between then, man.
That was a reggae beat without no bass in it. That was my idea but [producer] Kurtis [Mantronik] is Jamaican. He knew about that kind of shit. His mother’s Jamaican.

“Put The Record Back On” was more like a dance, club record, talking about how motherfuckers are quick to take the record off, and I’m like, “Put that shit back on.” I used to hang out at a lot of Jamaican clubs, and them motherfuckers pull that record up in a minute. As soon as that record starts getting good they go “bliddadidadidad” and pull it back. That’s where I got the idea from. ‘Cause hip-hop wasn’t really like that. The only time I listened to a lot of hip-hop was in the Bronx. When I was in Brooklyn, it was all reggae music. Me and Shelly Thunder started becoming friends back then. Me and Shinehead are good friends… Hold on a minute, somebody at my door. God damn, man ring the bell! How am I supposed to hear this. Alright. What were you saying?