Biography of U-Roy

In the late '60s, Ewart Beckford (U-Roy) almost single-handedly invented the modern DJ rap style in Jamaica by toasting on the sound system of pioneer King Tubby, who was the first engineer to mix reverb and echo effects on deconstructed rhythm tracks. This led directly to the Jamaican peculiarity of having only one song per 7-inch single (the A-side being the vocal, the B-side being the "dub version" or rhythm bed that any local toaster could "skank" over with the events of the day). But U-Roy remains the most trickily tasteful exemplar of the style, due largely to his uncanny choice in tracks over which to toast, creating ad hoc dialogs with the singer, commenting on and responding to the lyrics in such classics of the form as "On the Beach," "Wear You to the Ball," and "Tide Is High," not to mention the royalty-ridiculing '70s scat "Chalice in the Palace," on which he invites the Queen herself to suck on the ganja pipe (chalice). Still active, living in Los Angeles, he is now referred to respectfully as Daddy U-Roy. ~ Roger Steffens