Musicians around the world are mourning the loss of legendary Jamaican producer and a dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry, who died Sunday at the age of 85.
Artists like the Beastie Boys’ Mike D, Flying Lotus, Lupe Fiasco and many others took to social media to pay their respects to Perry, whose pioneering accomplishments made him of of reggae’s most eccentric producer-vocalist.
Rapper Fiasco also remembered Perry, tweeting, “AFRICAN BLOOD IS FLOWING THROUGH I VEINS SO I AND I SHALL NEVER FADE AWAY!!!!”
During his decades-long career, Perry built his legendary Black Ark studio in Kingston, which became the birthplace for many classic reggae and dub recordings by Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Congos, Max Romeo and Junior Murvin. Perry’s work on Romeo’s War Ina Babylon, The Heptones’ Party Time, The Congos’ Heart of the Congos and Murvin’s Police & Thieves helped push reggae to new international levels in the late 1970s.
Mad Professor, a longtime collaborator of Perry, also remembered him in a lengthy tribute on Facebook.
