By Shaun Cain
Celebrated music selector, Andrew "Fresh Kid" Taylor, has called for clarification on what dancehall's apparent "line" of decency is.
Speaking with Shaun Cain on the Star Gazing with Shaun Cain YouTube channel, recently, the UK based international deejay was responding to a claim made by fellow selector, Tony Matterhorn, who argues that some dancehall artistes have been overstepping the "line" in their music by apparently turning the Jamaican hardcore genre into pornograhy.
Andrew Fresh has requested to know what characterises the "the line" to which Matterhorn has referred. The Lucky Valley, St. Catherine native says he has not seen any pornographic practices at any venue in all his years of playing music. "I have played in parties that have been promoted as a half-naked party or something like that, which is a totally different thing. That's been advertised as such, so you would expect that, but if you tell me about sex and things like that, to be honest, I have not seen that in the spaces that I have been performing, so I don't know. [Therefore,] I cannot comment on something that I have not seen," he said.
Andrew Fresh, who is known to be a regular deejay at international party hot spots such as Ayia Napa and Ibiza in Europe, argued that half-naked revellers have been a popular feature at street carnivals for many years and no one seems to object, so why is dancehall being picked on? As I said, I have been to carnival in places like Trinidad or even in London or in Canada and I have seen soca fetes advertised, and I haven't seen where dancehall is going on any worse than like the soca fetes. I don't know what to say still because, in term of dancehall overstepping the line," he stated.
Andrew Fresh spent his entire life surrounded by music. His father owned a sound system named Hollywood, which was regularly booked to play at various events and venues across the country.
Every time his father settled down to prepare his playlists, Andrew Fresh would be present, keenly observing and trying to fathom the logic of the order in which the records were organised. Sometimes he would ask his father to explain the rationale. After watching the musical master at work for a while, the penny suddenly dropped.
At a very young age, Andrew Fresh started practising how to spin records when no one was at home. He learned how to cue the records, put the needle on the vinyl and safely remove it at the end of each song. As he did this, his passion for selecting and spinning records was ignited.
Andrew Fresh’s father soon realised that his son had a special talent for playing music with an unrivalled energy and vibe that kept people wanting to hear more and more of his selections. This eventually saw Andrew Fresh become a staple on the sound system’s official list of selectors at the age of 11.
Although his height, at the time, threatened to curtail his deejaying career, innovative ways were introduced to ensure that he lived his passion, which allowed the patrons revel in his musical dexterity. A special hop-up step was built, so that Andrew Fresh could access the turntables and mixing console to create and deliver his musical magic.
After years of playing music in Jamaica, Andrew Fresh emigrated to London in the United Kingdom where he continued his deejaying exploits. He subsequently joined one of the city’s biggest sound systems, Lord Gelly’s, which started in the mid to late 1970s in the English capital. In his efforts to add value to the Lord Gelly’s brand, the young Jamaican introduced dub specials, and commissioned a number of popular entertainers to create unique recordings that would strengthen the sound system’s popularity and crowd-pulling capabilities. The Lord Gelly’s music machine reigned supreme throughout the UK for a very long time.
And, even after more than 3 decades of deejaying, Andrew Fresh is still at the top of his game. The St. Catherine native can’t wait for the restrictions imposed on the entertainment industry due the Coronavirus pandemic, to be lifted, so he can touch road again.
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Shaun Cain is a journalist, author, voiceover talent and producer/presenter of the Star Gazing with Shaun Cain Interview Show on the Star Gazing with Shaun Cain YouTube channel. Check out the content on the channel today.
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