Wild Apache I Productions presents
Reggaematic
Diamond AllStar
Vol 1-3

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES …

"While there is life, there is hope," says dancehall reggae star Super Cat, "but the struggle will always continue, because life is a struggle. We have to struggle day to day to make ends meet. And in whatsoever you are doing, you, you have to put forth great effort to see success."

Super Cat had already seen success in Jamaica and beyond with a string of dancehall hits when he released his first Columbia album, Don Dada, in 1992. With it's dynamic mix of hardcore DJ reggae with hip-hop and roots reggae, that album set the dancehall scene on its ear and ruled the reggae charts for more than a year, introducing Super Cat to new fans around the world. Don Dada was a tough act to follow, and Super Cat devoted over a year in the studios of Kingston, Jamaica, New York City, and Los Angeles, California to the production of The Struggle Continues, an album that packs as hard a punch as its predecessor while breaking new stylistic ground. "When you're talking' 'bout Super Cat," he says, "you're talking about an artist who likes to create different patterns and sounds, not following' other people. "

The Struggle Continues ranges from the tender sentiments of "Turn" to the fierce anti-gun lyrics of "Warning". From the vintage dub-reggae sound of " 'A' Class Rub-A-Dub " to the classic New Orleans R&B of "My Girl Josephine", a 1960 Fats Domino hit reproduced with amazing fidelity by singer Jack Radics with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare's Taxi Production crew.

Tackling topics from race to romance to religion to the Los Angeles gang scene, the album delivers potent messages to a variety of crunching beats. "It's got reggae, it's got R&B reggae; it's got rock 'n' roll reggae; it's got hip-hop reggae, and I would say pop reggae, too," explains Super Cat. "While I was out there touring', I attracted different audiences, so I realized I have to start thinking' on a broader scale, entertaining' all the fans that I have collected over the years."

The Struggle Continues begins on a pulsating power note with "Dance", where Super Cat chants over rhythms laid down at the H. C. & F. Recording studios in Freeport, New York, by Norris Webb and Paul Sutton, the keyboardist and drummer of Cat's then regular live back-up group, City Heat. "I see the whole world is dancing", he says, "so I'm gonna start my album dancing." The party continues with "GirlsTown" , produced by Erick Sermon at The Music Palace in Hempstead, New York. "'GirlsTown' is about a youth from the ghetto finding himself in a sophisticated place and tryin' to pick up a girl,"explains Cat. The video for GirlsTown was filmed on location at the newly opened Fashion Café in New York City and based on a script written by Super Cat.

Produced by Super Cat at Kingston's Mixing Lab studios, the love song "Turn" displays Super Cat's gentler side. But then comes "Warning", a ferocious anti-gun song, recorded at L.A. 's Amercayan Studio, that throws down a metaphorical threat to rival deejays over a hammering hip-hop beat supplied by DJ Muggs of the rap group Cypress Hill. The mood swings abrubtly, this time to penitence, on "Forgive Me Jah". "No man is perfect on the face of the earth," says Cat, "so I could never complete this album without giving praises to the most high God, Jah Rastafari."

"My Girl Josephine", the album's most surprising track, also appears on the soundtrack of the movie Ready To Wear "Growing up in Jamaica, Fats Domino was a popular star" says Super Cat.

"So when I said to Jack Radics, 'What you think 'bout this song?,' Jack said, 'Yo, right now this is the thing.' While Radics sings the original lyrics in pure New Orleans style, Super Cat improvises his own mocking commentary. "He's singing about a girl he knew way back when," Cat explains, "and we get to realize that both of us is seein' this girl." " 'A' Class Rub-A-Dub", recorded by Philip Smart and Produced by Super Cat in New York, features two reggae legends, singer Sugar Minott and Deejay U-Roy.

"Daddy U-Roy is one of the greatest dancehall reggae DJs, " says Super Cat, "so I said, why shouldn't I bring the man to the rostrum, to show the new generation that this is where it's coming from?' Over the echoing, dub-style rhythm track, Sugar Minott croons to the melody of the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," while U-Roy and Super Cat scatter barbed taunts, recreating the explosive atmosphere of a sound system clash.

"Too Greedy" is Super Cat's bitter reflection on the crack epidemic. "I see it roaming all over the four corners of the Earth as an agent of destruction," he says. The song was recorded at the H. C. & F. Studios over a new version of Studio One's classic "Real Rock" rhythm, the instrumental backbone of dozens of reggae hits. "South Central", Super Cat's mordant take on the L.A. gang scene is the original un-adulterated reggae version . "I'm just sending a message that it is we who are destroying our own dream," says Cat.

On "Ready Back," Super Cat freestyles the lyrics over an original rhythm track by the City Heat Band. "In Jamaica," he says, "the culture come back , and the people who lost dem faith find it again. Most of the people who used to deejay about guns just a couple of months ago, they are now turning forward to the positiveness."

"Every Nigger Is A Star" is affirmation of pan-African pride. "It was stereotyping in the early days to call a black man a nigger," says Cat, "but now it has become accepted by the youth. So we just turn it around and make it positive, to show them that no weapon that rise against us shall prosper." The album concludes with "Settlement," an anguished cry of the heart. "There's a lot of people who will give you encouragement while you make your way up the ladder," Cat says, but as you take your eye off them, they are trying to fix you a plot. So "Settlement" is just a man letting off his wrath."

From the flash of the dancehall to the grit of the mean ghetto streets, The Struggle Continues cuts to the throbbing heart of the groove. Super Cat's deep, powerful voice lasers through pulsating layers of rhythm, flipping quick-witted rhymes with the nimble ease of a verbal acrobat. For those who can't follow his lilting patois, he's provided a transcription of lyrics, an unprecedented innovation in dancehall reggae. "I have to take it a step higher," he says, "because a lot of people really want to get into the music but have problems overstanding the words."

Now, with The Struggle Continues, Super Cat has made his strongest effort yet, a milestone of dancehall reggae that will , to quote "Dance" "keep people moving-keep people dancing" and stimulate your mind as in "South Central"'s "Come mek we deal with some education". But though the rhythms are contemporary, the message is timeless. "The roots is always there," he says. "Time changes things, but it's the people who demand what they want. And I would say the people are just gaining forward their faith , 'cause roots-rock and rub-a-dub-reggae never go nowhere. Reggae is African-Jamaican music; one of the only real music with cultural substance. It's the only music in the world that's got something to teach a nation that was scattered abroad in slavery. You see, other music sing about love, love, love -What is real love? Who is looking at the progress of life, especially for the people who are living in bondage, the underprivileged? And while there is life, there is a struggle."

In The Studio-On the Charts-In Concert-On The Net-On The Set

Presently, The Don Dada is in the process of creating the Wild Apache Production facility, a recording and rehearsal studio in New York.

Super Cat has self produced on his foundation label (Wild Apache) a string of singles – "Jah is Real" (WAPACHE-007), "De Man Is Alive" (WAPACHE 009) , "Word Sound And Power" (WAPACHE-008),"Long Longi La La" (WAPACHE-011), "Sexxy Go Check It"(WAPACHE-012) and the hip hop reggae "Sweet Argument" (WAPACHE-014).

The dynamic teaming of Super Cat with the rock group Sugar Ray soared to the top of the charts worldwide with the smash hit "Fly". Perpetually on the road, the Super Cat live concert has touched down across America, Europe, Japan, Central America and the Caribbean.

Now fans can access the Official Super Cat / Wild Apache Productions, Inc. web-site on the internet at www.super-cat.com.

As a dancehall reggae DJ from groundation, The Wild Apache is now assembling his own sound system 

The Struggle Itinually – Super Cat moving forward !