For today’s Irie Wednesday Toker Tune, we bring you music from a multitalented British-Jamaican bloke named Anthony Codrington. If you’re into the English soundsystem scene, you’ll know Tony better as the DJ Top Cat.

Codrington hails from working-class Manchester.  As a teenager, young Tony discovered a talent for rocking the mic while visiting cousins in Jamaica.  He took his new passion home to the UK, where he started working at soundsystems including Sledge Hammer and Viking. By 1989, he was installed at Sir Coxson Sound, a British soundsystem named for legendary reggae producer Coxsone Dodd. Also known as Outernational, the system was known as a trendsetter. It was here that young Brits first heard dub, ragga, dancehall, and jungle music.  Top Cat was in the middle of it all with his mic partner Tenor Fly. The Cat found success, and enjoyed a number of ’80s ragga and dancehall hits such as “Love Me Sess.” By the 1990s, via his own Nine Lives Records, he took the jungle world by storm, releasing popular remixes of his own hits plus new songs.

Top Cat is still out there entertaining the faithful with his own twist on dancehall and ragga jungle music. They don’t call him the champion deejay for nothing: He literally wrote the book on it — you can order his book, How to MC, from his web site. And you can find his music, including duets with Tenor Fly, General Levy, and Poison Chang, on iTunes. And today, we present a classic Codrington soundclash that features a solid reggae bottom along with wicked jungle breakbeats, rudeboy swagger, and big ups for the herb. You’ll dig this: The track comes from the Azra Music compilation disc Skokian in a African Beat. It’s the champion DJ Top Cat and “Pass the Chalice for Me.”

Download audio file (Top Cat – Pass The Chalice For Me.mp3)

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Wow…..two songs for our musical break? Time to pull out some smokin’ Reggae! TOP CAT brings us this righteous reggae puff with the track, “Pass the Chalice for Me”. In Jamaica, any kind of pipe is called a chalice. Top Cat is one of the UK’s most accomplished MC’s. He recorded his first record in 1988 called “Love Mi Sess” (another great toker tune!) earning him a number one spot on the UK Reggae charts. He has held the number one position in dancehall, reggae and live performances over the years as both a performer and a producer.  Coming full circle, Top Cat was again the em….”Top Cat” when a new version of the Love Mi Sess riddim made it to number one on the reggae charts in 2007. So groove on this reggae, Stashers, and please, pass the chalice for me!

Top Cat
“Pass The Chalice For Me” (mp3)
from “Skokian In A African Beat”
(Azra Music Publishing)

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