Shabba Ranks the King of Krossover

This weekend Shabba Ranks is the show headliner for the 20th staging of Reggae Sumfest, after a 11 year absence from Jamaica ostensibly because he was not been offered the right money and the right recognition for his contribution to reggae music.

Well it appears he has got both, as the Reggae Sumfest has finally acknowledged both  by honouring him with a commendation this Friday night and of course his highly anticipated performance on the Sumfest stage.


What people don't realize is that  Shabba was doing cross over dance music long before it became fashionable. Here is a gem of a song from 21 years ago ((1991) British punk group Scritti Politti  featuring Shabba Ranks.  "She's a woman", the song is actually a cover of a Beatles song, the original Beatles song  was released as the B-side to "I Feel Fine" in 1964.

and here is the original not as funky

a mee maan SHABBA...maaaahd.

Oh BTW Shabba has sure got better looking with age.