RASTA BUSINESS: ROOTS NATTY DON'T GIVE UP!
Karen Mason for Honor.Respect A Division of the HMG
www.honormusicgroup.blogspot.com
I always knew I wanted to be in the music business. Growing up in Jamaica you are literally surrounded by music. It's as much a part of your daily fabric as the banana and coconut trees. If you’ve ever been to sweet jamdown then you know that while tourism and bauxite rank high as the nations top exports, Jamaica is still, to this day, the largest producer and exporter of music per capita in the world. So after leaving the comforts of my grandmama’s loving arms, I moved to Brooklyn where my Mama had already migrated some years before my arrival. It was there that my Aunt Babs who use to live on Sterling Avenue in Brooklyn and later on 35th and Church Avenue threw regular (almost) weekly parties. No occasion was necessary. The white rum was always flowing, rum punch in the big clear bowl at the center of the table right below the seemingly life size portrait of the last supper , the scent of curry goat in the air, rice and peas with just the right hint of thyme and coconut milk on the stove, Black cake and of course Prince Buster, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Bob Marley or John Holt 7” on the record player. This was my first interaction with heaven. I use to love these parties where we were allowed to roam, with no bedtime limits, amongst the grownups.
As I grew older I started to appreciate other exports from Jamaica and naturally gravitated to the Rastaman who naturally ran Brooklyn where these exports were concerned. Communing regularly with the Rastaman on Linden Avenue and on Utica between Linden and Synder opened up a whole new world for me. Utica Avenue was a hotbed of Black Entrepreneurship in the 80’s. On Linden there was the leather shop and tailor, where the Rastaman dem created the most beautiful crowns of leather. All hand sewn. The next set of bredren made tailor made pants and suits. It was here where the incense flowed, the vibes were copasetic and the food ital, that I (at 13 years old) met the Rastaman (Trevor James) who would later become my business partner, Kingman and father of my daughter Kenya Jordana James.
After graduating from Syracuse University I could have gone to work for any major corporation, which I eventually did, but felt compelled to first return to my old stomping grounds on Utica and Church Avenue to help Trevor build his musical and cultural empire. He was one of the first to take Rastafari livity and translate them on clothing. His dream went worldwide selling millions 0f t- shirts. One of my favorites "Lion Of Judah Shall Break Every Chain" is featured above. Trevor along with his partner, Victor Bloise who was the artistic designer on ...break every chain and so many revolutionary designs, was the first to bring the only surviving Wailer, Bunny Wailer to America. The show and experience of working on the historical performance of Bunny at Madison Square Garden was invaluable.
My dream of being in the music business began right there on Utica Avenue amongst the Rastaman and Jamaican entrepreneurs who would become my first teachers in business.
Once you walked round the corner on Utica, there was Witty’s Music World, who released a slew of boom shot selections in the 80’s including Shelly Thunders “Kuff”, Tenor Saw’s “I Just Love My Woman”, and Sluggy, “Ninety Five Percent Black”. On any given day I could go into Witty and buck up Supercat, Leroy Smart, Pupa Toyan, Johnny Ringo, Cocoa Tea or Little John. The list was endless. These were reggae superstars in my book. I played them regularly on my radio show and now I was reasoning with them on a regular. As marketing director for Trevor’s company, Esthetic Enterprises as well as a dj on the local radio station, every day was heaven on Utica Avenue. As one of the only females in the shop on any given day, Witty would play a father figure next to my inquisitive and excited disposition. He gave me promo records galore and never ceased to pass on a good word about the music business. Up the road on Utica, Percy Chin and Hyman Wright were establishing the Jah Life Record label. If Percy wasn’t behind the counter then Scion Sashay Success a hardcore singer youth would reason with me, encourage me and share their wisdom. I was a sponge. It wasn’t a big shop. Bout the size of my living room. But the life 
that came out of the Jah Life Enterprise would build me up, enough to last a lifetime. It was fuel to my burning desire to succeed in the business. This was about the time that Jah Life released Sister Carol’s “Black Cinderella”, not stop tunes from Scion, and Barrington Levy’s “Murderer”. Bwoy. Those were some beautiful days. Black Entrepreneurship at a peak and being led by the Rastaman dem. Round the corner on Church was Count Shelly, of the Superpower Empire. Tall, Dark, Handsome and Kingly in character, County Shelly was tough love personified. I would come in looking for records to play on my show. He would ignore me for while as if testing my resolve. I would join the other big dj’s at the counter like Karl Anthony, Ken Williams, and so many others and listen and learn. I learned to be humble. This was my early schoolroom and my early imprint of music business 101.I would often venture over to Nostrand Avenue. Esthetics had a lot of clients on Nostrand. There was Opio of Ethiopian Taste, A Rasta business selling Rasta cultural items. And then we would go down to Vital Forward and get a veggie plate. It was here where I first became aware of Tofu, gluten and how to eat to live from Imandi and the Rasta bredren who cooked strictly ital.
On a very practical level. Rastafari was the embodiment of entrepreneurship. We made the hair products (Praises brand was making over $200,000 a year in the 80’s), we drank the spring water long before it popped up on menus, we popularize tofu, gluten, moss, shea butter, red, gold and green belts, shoe laces and tee shirts that reflected our Black African pride. We produced the beats that would resonate worldwide. Even the way we greeted each other, fist to fist or heart to heart was exported. “One Love” became an international statement.
Yes. We did it before. And it is time, particularly in these recessionary days that we do it again. This time for ourselves.
I eventually left Utica Avenue to work for one of the big record companies on 52nd Street. But I brought everything about Utica Avenue with me; the dress, the food and more importantly the mindset and I took it all the way to the top of their system. Selling millions of records as a result of my prowess developed from seeds planted on Utica Avenue. Brooklyn.
And now that my life has come full circle, I am eager to make that trod once again. Only this time as an entrepreneur. Only this time instead of making billions for others. I will succeed for myself, my ancestors, my people and all the bredren on Utica Avenue and all across Brooklyn, NY who gave me my foundation. Give thanks for Rastafari.
This piece was inspired by a radio interview I heard today on WRFG on the program “What Good Is A Song” hosted by Mama Njeri where she interviewed the founder of Praises Natural Products.
