When you're at the forefront of a new movement, whether it's politics, religion, or art, people will misunderstand you and may even consider you crazy. They are unfortunately doomed to turn their heads away from something that they don't immediately understand. But in due time, the trailblazers are recognized for their contribution. At the intersection of Reggae and Dance music stood one man, MC Zulu, who embraced the blending of the genres early on, only to be turned down time after time when it came to booking shows. But he stuck to his vision of bringing a newborn sound to the attention of others by working through technological impediments, spreading positive messages with his lyrics, and helping others around the world in similar positions. While he may not be the godfather of Electro Reggae in the sense of being the first to produce and release a song under that genre, he is in the sense of pulling together resources and allowing it to flourish instead of disappearing into the depths of the internet.
When we interviewed D-Rakkas of the South Rakkas Crew, we had a feeling that there had to be more artists out there pushing for the mixture of Dance music and Reggae. And we found one in MC Zulu. Born in the Panama, MC Zulu was ironically introduced to American Top 40s before even coming to the states. He clearly remembers having Steely Dan as the soundtrack to his early years in the Central American country. His father kept it local by playing Salsa and Merengue at home. He and his sister later moved to stay with family in Texas, where strictly Christian morals were upheld. As a result, MC Zulu was taught that Rock N Roll was the devil's music and listening to it on Sunday was a sin. Aside from some House and Pop music, his main escape from the heavy hand of God was the popular radio personality, Dr. Demento. Dr. Demento's satirical humor would form MC Zulu's early "musical foundation" and influence him to "put jokes in many of my songs, although everything sounds really militant."
While in Texas, MC Zulu unwillingly joined the choir at his uncle's church. The inner performer was yet to be found as he felt embarrassed to sing in front of other people and found solace in the fact that he could mask his voice behind others'. From Texas, he would move to Chicago where kids would make fun of him with the name, Zulu. But after hearing Afrika Bambaataa, his self-hate turned into self-acceptance:
"The whole movement called 'Hip-Hop' took the things, people around me (at the time) made fun of, and made them cool. "
Then from this self-acceptance, he moved on to production and then music engineering. He talked about opportunities at places like Chicago Traxx, Smooth Sounds, and Streeterville Studios where he would meet people working on remixes for Madonna. Although he wouldn't receive credit, he could take advantage of $1500 buyouts and learn the in's and out's of putting out new music. Eventually he would stumble across Tiger’s "Ride Pon Riddim," which sparked the inner emcee in him. He wanted to match the energy that Tiger had and impart that feeling to others as well. MC Zulu says that he was "awful" at first but he stuck to it and recognized enough international trends to be a part of the start of something totally foreign to the entire world.
MC Zulu started to notice that there was dubbing and rhythmic skanks on non Reggae tracks. Then he heard post-Jungle productions from regions like the Balkans with Reggae vocals. He would turn to Sly & Robbie & The Taxi Gang album, Electro Reggae, for the name of this new breed of music that he envisioned taking hold. While The New Yorker called it Lazer Bass, Major Lazer was representing the young genre well in the mainstream. MC Zulu believes that the origins of EDM are Reggae so for him it's only natural that they play well with each other. When he started to make his own Electro Reggae, he constantly faced and overcame technological barriers like bandwidth constraints, paid text messages, anti-mp3 piracy campaigns, and 192 bitrate. And to work with Reggae artists in itself was no easy task since "Reggae music was quite the exclusionary genre. [Other artists] would have to go to Jamaica to have a chance of getting it done." Despite all of this, MC Zulu managed to work with producers from Africa, Israel, Portugal, Mexico, and China, sometimes completing tracks in one day.
As MC Zulu started to grow his discography, he was confronted with resistance when trying to book shows. And his kids weren't helping by being "unruly" in school. Consequently, he had the idea to create the Global Music Biz Network. He wanted to create a network for artists that could help them earn money without necessarily touring. Outside of booking shows, it also teaches artists how to brand and market themselves, publishing, and other aspects of the industry. Another part of his philosophy of helping other artists is his belief in releasing free acapellas with a 50/50 ownership license. He sees the power behind a producer to keep his voice alive with the people and that that producer could be a young kid in his bedroom. So he creates a mutually beneficial relationship, leading to surprising wins like Mary Anne Hobbs playing a song with his vocals on BBC Radio.
Part of MC Zulu's artistry is his passion to affect the listener in a deeper way than just through shiny jewelry and disparaging women. One of his biggest gripes is how parents raise their children: "Parents need to place limitations on their children’s DESIRES. Give them everything they need, but make them WORK for what they want. Right now the Earth suffers from people placing their WANTS above all else." What makes it worse is the false representation media portrays of good and bad things: "What can hurt you is misrepresented as good or cool. Things that can help you are ignored or laughed at. Neglected children today are causing tomorrow’s problems."
We don't see MC Zulu hanging up his mic any time soon. As long as there is a struggling artist out there misunderstood by the public, a social wrong taking place, or a Dance track that deserves some Reggae vibes, he won't be too far away. But when it's all said and done, he just wants to be remembers as "the RICH, OLD, FIT, HANDSOME, EDUCATED, Doctor, Kung-Fu master, who takes great care of his family and helps everyone out." We're sure the legacy won't be too far from that."
Keep up with MC Zulu on his Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, website, and Instagram. Be sure to check out all of his music in our record pool by visiting his profile page.