Strong Island

one of the first tunes I heard on pirate radio - way way before ardkore - in the late '80s, when the fare on the air was soul and reggae and a bit of hip hop

i'm not sure if I heard it first there, though - might have actually bought it as an import... may even reviewed it

perhaps that's why i didn't catch the pirate bug then -  there wasn't the same sense of "you can only hear this music through these illegal channels" or "these stations are already broadcasting from the future"





the stabby sample-riff is quite hardcore .... you can hear the transition from UK b-boyism to breakbeat house as a pregnant potential already

in fact there's a H-core tune or two that always remind me of "Strong Island"

is this it?



no actually i think it's this one - the riff-blare that comes in at about 1.40



much more manic though, obviously



going back to the mid-late 80s rap  - lots of odd little one-offs in those days



ah never realised that was a Marley Marl production