Salaam Remi is... ‘Black on Purpose’ - ...and Super Cat is the ‘OG’
Published:Sunday | September 6, 2020 | 12:20 AMYasmine Peru - Senior Sunday Gleaner Writer
Anybody who knows Grammy Award-winning music producer Salaam Remi’s history will not be surprised that he recently linked up with the Don Dada, Super Cat, and at midnight on Wednesday, they quietly cancelled 2020 as they dropped a track and visuals that “fully bad like ‘90s dancehall”. On a socially conscious single titled Push Time, the Wild Apache, with an umbrella swag that “tun all the way up”, takes us straight back to the era when dancehall bad like yaws. He rides the classic Cabin Stabbin riddim with lyrics and a flow that is pure Super Cat OG, and the music video, Super Cat’s first in 20 years, cleverly references the time when “ghetto run hot”. It is no surprise that fans are all over the comments section like a rash.
Among the comments were: “Wild Apache never miss a step! Still coming correct almost 40 years in the game. Big up Salaam Remi for giving our elders their roses while they’re still here.” “This is dope!!! Like he never left!” “This tune and riddim is lit! “Buju ... Don Dada all we need is Shabba in addition. It’s about to be 1992 ... dope.”
An animated Salaam Remi told The Sunday Gleaner that he is equally excited for various reasons. “I’m really very happy to see the reaction of the people to the song and video,” he said. “When you have an idea in your head, sometimes when you see it unfold, it’s like watching a baby grow,” added Salaam, who is prepping the release of his album Black on Purpose, from which the track is taken. Scheduled to be released in the fall, Black on Purpose will also feature Jamaican artistes Spragga Benz, Stephen Marley, and Chronixx, as well as Nas, Jennifer Hudson, Case, Teedra Moses, Bilal, Busta Rhymes, MuMu Fresh, and Doug E Fresh, Black Thought, Cee-Lo Green, and Anthony Hamilton.
THE REASONING
Of Push Time, he says. “More than anything else, it was the reasoning. Since the ‘90s, Super Cat and I have always been able to reason. I talked to Cat about the song. We spoke about what’s going on now … the state of the communities and the worldwide unrest. And that led to Push Time. We recorded a version of it, and then after George Floyd’s death, we adjusted some of the lyrics.”
For Salaam, the creative process was a thrill. “He’s still in New York, and I am in Florida. When the video was being shot, I was watching on Face Time,” he recalled. And, as far as choosing the ‘riddim’ is concerned, he definitely went for nostalgia. “I always like the Cabin Stabbin riddim. It feels like who we are. It’s like ginger tea with turmeric,” the Queens, USA-born Salaam, who is so involved with reggae music that he has earned the title ‘Honorary Jamaican’. “I mixed the song the way I learned to mix in the ‘90s, so it’s authentic. With Cat being who he is, you just have to let the music do the talking,” Salaam said.
And once he started down that road, there was no stopping his passion from flowing over. “Early ‘90s reggae is the biggest sound in the world. This is the real music that comes up from underneath the ground like the yam and the sweet potato. Reggae became hip hop and hip hop is the youth culture of the world,” the creator who is known for his cool remixes said.
It is no secret that Salaam has a mission to “do it for the culture”. Last November last year, when the Red Bull Culture Clash touched down in Jamaica, Salaam was part of the ‘Do It For The Culture’ team, which eventually took home the winner’s trophy and well-deserved bragging rights.
“I have been inspired by the culture and so I have been investing time in doing things right. Take a little time with our stars, our legends and the great people around us. Give them their flowers while they are here,” he advised.