World-A-Reggae’s Jah Raver reviews the new Dub Syndicate album

Dub Syndicate’s new album Hard Food (Echo Beach) is a tribute to the talent and vision of late founder and drummer Lincoln Valentine “Style” Scott, who was brutally murdered in his Manchester, JA home on October 9, 2014.  However, it is also a hard, heavy yet highly-skankable salute to Jamaica – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

For most reggae fans, 2014 will be remembered as a year of profound loss. It was a year in which we bid farewell to Hopeton Lewis (singer), Jimmy Ruffin (singer), Darryl “ET” Thompson (guitarist), John Wayne (dancehall vocalist), Wayne Smith (singer), and Philip Smart (engineer/producer). We also witnessed several of reggae’s most influential artists and musicians pass from this realm. The loss of  percussionist Uziah ‘Sticky’ Thompson, Third World lead vocalist Bunny Rugs, and singer/songwriter John Holt will be felt for many years as these three individuals influenced, shaped, and transformed the “big music from the likkle island.” While the reggae community certainly felt the sting of each of these deaths, none of them were as were as unexpected and shocking as the brutal murder of legendary Roots Radics drummer Lincoln Valentine “Style” Scott on October 9, 2014.

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