Captain Duce

Captain Duce – Ranniford – Wambesi

When it comes to talent, and with deejays in particular – Jamaica was non-stop from the day that

U Roy and Dennis Alcapone came forward.

From that moment in the late sixties, the DJ Express ran non stop for over fifty years. Then it started to slow down, and today it feels like waiting at some old railway station. With no one around, and the sign of the station is hanging down. With just memories of how it use to be.

As per usual there is no one factor. Reggae music is more complex than that. The engine of the DJ Express was the Sound System. So what went wrong? – It started with Sound System becoming obsessed with dub plate. And less interested in helping the deejays. The next bad move was wattage. You cannot play 50,000 watts in small areas without getting a complaint. It’s true that some people would complain if you were playing 50 Watts. But 50,000 can’t work.

The young deejays had no where to learn there trade. But it’s hard. Very hard to kill an art form.

So from time to time you hear the echo of a DJ coming down the track. Thus when Roy Cousins in his role as Station Master announced that he was recording a new DJ - Captain Duce, you had to take notice. Roy knows all about great deejays. He’s recorded and released albums by Prince Far I and Charlie Chaplin.

‘Ranniford’ is the debut album from Captain Duce – who comes from the ‘Ranniford’ area of Kingston. And he used to follow ‘Shalimar’ a local sound owned by a Indian. His deejay style is that of the early nineties. Think Ninjaman, Supercat, Chakademus.

To make it work, Roy Cousins dug deep into into his Rhythm bank and found rhythms that were recorded in the style of The Fireshouse Crew and Steely and Clevie. They were just what ‘Duce’ needed – and he comes into that old DJ station. With the broken sign - in fine style. A great set. From a very talented youth.