Latest Release
- 9 FEB 2024
- 4 Songs
- Riding the Roots Chariot · 1972
- Natty Cultural Dread · 1976
- Screaming Target · 1972
- Big Youth Special · 1978
- Screaming Target · 1972
- The Chanting Dread Inna Fine Style · 1983
- Screaming Target · 1972
- Isaiah First Prophet of Old · 1978
- Beyond the Blue · 2021
- Original Rockers · 1979
Essential Albums
- Screaming Target found Big Youth’s gritty voice placed atop immaculately produced rhythms by a fledgling Gussie Clarke. “One of These Fine Days” mines a kind of Smokey Robinson Detroit soul, while “Be Careful” mixes in a sparse, ragged-edged dub that hits right in the gut. Not only does the album showcase Youth’s forward-thinking themes, such as literacy, honesty to self and existential sorrow, but its stepping basslines had a huge influence on groups like The Clash, and later, American hip-hop.
- 2021
- 2012
- 2005
- 1997
- 1995
Music Videos
- 2024
- 2023
Artist Playlists
- He helped define the sound and politics of Rasta reggae.
- 2024
- 2023
- 2023
- 2022
Compilations
- 2014
- 2009
- 1972
- Upper Cut Band
- The 32 Golden Souls
- Dean Fraser & Ernie Ranglin
- Zion Sounds, Jahcaman & Hempfyah
About Big Youth
Bringing cheerful singsong vocals with chant-down-Babylon fervor, Big Youth arrived hot on the heels of early-’70s reggae toasters U-Roy and Dennis Alcapone. Born Manley Augustus Buchanan in a poor neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1949, he was nicknamed “Big Youth” by fellow staff at the Sheraton Hotel where he worked as a diesel mechanic. By 1970, he was helming Tippatone’s sound system; soon after, he began working with rising teenage producer Augustus “Gussie” Clarke, charting high with “The Killer,” a version of Horace Andy’s “Skylarking” rhythm. The sound of a revving motorbike kicked off “S.90 Skank,” his first chart-topper. Youth’s Gussie-produced 1972 debut album, Screaming Target, helped him chart seven singles simultaneously and remains a classic of the subgenre. While Youth thrived during the ’70s, the next decade’s digital dancehall sound didn’t particularly suit him. After a few sporadic releases, Youth re-emerged alongside French producer Brain Damage on 2021’s dub-heavy Beyond the Blue, his first proper album in a decade.
- HOMETOWN
- Kingston, Jamaica
- BORN
- 19. April 1949
- GENRE
- Reggae