Carl Benn

“Redman International - We Run Things” is a deep dive into the catalogue of top-ranking Jamaican record producer Hugh ‘Redman’ James, featuring digital Dancehall scorchers from the likes of Gregory Isaacs, Sugar Minott, John Holt, Frankie Paul and many more. Redman first got his start with his idol, the Dub pioneer King Tubby, back in 1985 after he helped to reignite Tubby’s musical career by facilitating the purchase of a state-of-the-art mixing desk from the USA. He often worked with the hottest musicians on the island such as the Roots Radics and Steely & Clevie, the latter of which really helped to shape Redman’s signature sound, rough and tough basslines, digital drum machines with heavily syncopated rhythms and synth-infused melodies which resonated with the Dancehall massive in a big way.

Like any underground musical movement, the so-called rockabilly revival which curiously blossomed in the UK and spread out to the rest of Europe during the 1970s was largely fed by bootlegs or, at least, reissues of dubious legality.