Junior Reid Teams Up With Dave East For ‘Badness’
Veteran Jamaican Reggae star Junior ‘One Blood’ Reid, recently teamed up with American rapper Dave East to voice a track titled Badness.
The song marks the umpteenth time Reid is collaborating with a Hip-Hop artiste. Its theme is about women wanting to be involved with men who are gangsters, for which East says he fits the bill, with Reid singing the hook:
Dem gyal nuh wan’ no man if yuh no badman no, no (Bad)
Dem gyal ah doh wan’ no ragman, no, no (Uh)
Dem gyal nuh wan’ no sad man, no, no (You better know it, n-gga)
You haffi be a badman, yeah, yeah (Uh)
It comes just over two months East released Unruly featuring Dancehall star Popcaan, the video for which was shot in sections of eastern Jamaica.
The 57-year-old Reid, who hails from Waterhouse in Kingston, could easily be crowned the ‘Jamaican King of HipHop Collaborations’, as he has more highly popular, chart-making collaborations with Hip Hop artistes, than any other Reggae or Dancehall act.
Reid is best known in US Hip Hop circles for his feature verses on The Game’s Its Okay (One Blood) in 2007 which sampled his own 1989 Dancehall anthem One Blood. That track skyrocketed up the music charts and was also included in the video game Def Jam: Icon for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The success of the song, spurred by Reid’s contribution, saw him becoming the go-to artiste for rappers looking for a Reggae ‘embellishment’ to their songs.
Junior Reid also teamed up with rapper Mims for a remix of his hit track This Is Why I’m Hot in 2007. The song went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. In addition, he featured on a remix version of Alicia Keys’ hit single No One and also paired up with Lil’ Wayne in 2011 for Ghetto Youths Rock and Pom Pom, a remake of Reid’s own 1991 Dancehall hit Rappa Pam Pam. He appeared on the remix of Smitty’s song Died In Your Arms remix which also featured Rick Ross and T-Pain.
He also teamed up with his Jamaican compatriot Bounty Killa in 1996, for the Warlord’s hit single Change Like the Weather, which also featured American rapper Busta Rhymes.
Among the other artistes whose songs he has graced with his voice, are Fabolous on the track Gangsta Don’t Play and Fat Joe on the track More Money; Wu-Tang Clan with One Blood Under W and Jah World from the group’s The W album which was released in November 2000, as well as American rapper Bun B’s If It Was Up II Me in 2008.
Three years later in 2011, Reid was among a galaxy of stars chosen by Palestinian-American producer, DJ Khaled to to team up for the remix of Welcome to My Hood the lead single of his We the Best Forever album. The artistes featured alongside Reid, included his Jamaican compatriot Mavado, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, T-Pain, Bun B, The Game, Fat Joe, Birdman, among others.
Junior Reid came to national attention when he became the lead singer of the internationally acclaimed group Black Uhuru at age 18. He was lead vocalist for three of Black Uhuru’s albums: Brutal, Positive and Black Uhuru Live in New York.
Also as a music producer, Reid, whose JR Productions label is now 37 years old, produced Nah Settle Down, a song by Barrington Levy, as well as Pray by Black Uhuru, for which he was lead singer for three years during the 1980s. He has also produced albums and songs by Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Spanner Banner and Canadian artiste Snow.
JR Productions has rights to Reid’s catalogue which includes his own albums and tracks, as well as albums he produced for other artistes.
Among his other solo hits are Listen to The Voices, Human Nature and Positive, Foreign Mind, All Fruits Ripe and Married Life.