Here’s an interview I did with Gappy Ranks and David Rodigan for Toast magazine before they played Sheffield in April. Watch this space for more interviews with these two British legends…
Today you’ll find regular nights like Big People Business serving up traditional roots and lovers, bludgeoning bass at Dub Central, and local sound systems including Uni Tone, Sequoia and Riddimtion. Throw in the national success of dancehall-influenced producer Toddla T and everything reggaewise is ticking over nicely, thanks.
But, needed or not, Sheffield runnings will get a boost when Uni Tone bring veteran DJ David Rodigan and rising vocalist Gappy Ranks to the O2 Academy on April 9th. Superficially, Rodigan and Ranks are very different: a middle-aged actor-turned-broadcaster from Oxford and a young prodigy from one of London’s poorest boroughs. Rodigan is a “DJ” in that he spins discs; Gappy is a “deejay” in the Jamaican sense that he talks over them. Yet both represent British reggae at its most passionate, versatile and internationally accessible, right now.