BLACK JUDAH

The streets are buzzing with talk of Black Judah's latest single, 'Mercy Please', a well-produced solid roots rock song that makes an ardent appeal to halt the murderous gun violence that plagues the country's slums and inner city communities.

The song features the syrupy-sweet vocal stylings of Warrior King, who is known for the monster hit, 'Virtuous Woman', and the voices of Dylan Judah and Sugar Black.

Warrior King is so confident that the song is a hit, he has vowed to take a sabbatical from reggae music if the song does not become a hit on local and international reggae charts because of its strong message and chemistry.

“If this is not a hit, I plan to take a break from the business,” a confident-sounding Warrior King told Xtratainment during a break in the shoot at Water Lane in downtown Kingston. “This is the next Shuba-Shuba, I have no doubt about it.”

The entertainment team that was on location in downtown Kingston saw the filming of a scene where a man badly beats a Rastafarian man who sells fruits in the city, envious of him. Sugar Black explains the concept of the ‘righteous man being taken down by the jealous man.’

“This scene reflects the mentality of people who have been oppressed for centuries and where the society has not evolved beyond a situation where the strong preys on the weak, so that’s why we’re saying ‘Mercy Please’,” said Sugar Black, who once scored the monster hit, ‘Oh Jah’ in 1997.

Sugar Black was also impressed by the graphic nature of the scene.

“The shoot felt really authentic, it was like Hollywood, the Rasta man with the makeup and all that, crowd even start draw when dem see what a gwaan because the man face black and blue and cut up, really dramatic,” he said.

Dylan Judah, the other half of Black Judah, was also ecstatic about the shoot, reveling in an authentic Jamaican video shoot.

“I am very pleased with the song so far. Asher [the director] has taken the whole thing to another level, and just from the playback of the footage that I have seen so far, I am impressed with the camera and crew. We were up early and did scenes at Gunboat Beach with a beautiful sunrise shot,” Dylan told a reporter.

“I could not get this sort of video experience anywhere else but Jamaica, it is real and authentic.”

In the meantime, the ‘Mercy Please’ combination single is getting crazy love on local FM radio stations.

“People are telling me that the song is getting mad love, it is easily in the top five of reggae tunes being played now on IRIE, ZIP, Hitz, Fame and RJR. It is real roots, everybody ah feel it,” Sugar Black said. - X-NEWS Xtratainment

Black Judah, the singer/deejay duo, has issued a warning that they are coming with a new sound to rock the world. “We’ve rocked the House of Blues like no one ever rocked it before. We rocked the Key Club, and we rocked Santa Barbara,” bragged Dylan Judah, the deejay half of the group.

“I think in the near future we really going to spring some surprises in a phenomenal way. We can alternate and we can come into one,” the California born artiste asserted. Then his Jamaican partner Sugar Black, formerly of the Flames Crew, and at one point the other half of Lehbanchuleh and Sugar Black chimed in.

“I’ve been around professionally since 1995. Among the Penthouse Crew, Flames Crew, did a album with Lehbanchuleh for Beres Hammond, then things never really turn out the way we wanted it. So we kinda hit the road to do what we know best.

“And I met some ones out there and they showed me love,” he told Splash, adding that he and his partner got signed to LA-based record company called Teflon Blood and are working on an album.

The two artists from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, have come together and combined their extraordinary talents to create more than just a new image for themselves, but a symbol of racial harmony with a fresh new sound for reggae/dancehall fans.

For many years both, before and after they met each other, sported dreadlocks until recent times, decided to prune their ancient hair style without denying their Rastafari calling. Such is the synergy, musically and culturally between Dylan Judah, the native Californian who wore his locks for approximately 17 years, and Jamaica’s Patrick Hall, aka, Sugar Black who flashed his locks for more than seven years.

Combining the moniker Black with the name Judah, the fast rising duo, since 2004, has been impressing reggae/dancehall fans across continents, least of whom is Dylan Waier, the owner of Teflon Blood, the Los Angeles-based recording label to which Black Judah has been signed for the past four years.

“Teflon Blood stands for impenetrable family ties,” explained Dylan Judah, “So it’s like the connection between us is like that of blood brothers.” The deejay who has been visiting Jamaica since he was a teenager, like his partner (Sugar Black), had experience of an earlier phase in music.

“I started a reggae group called Cannons, and we released an album called Thanks and Praise. So when we released that album, somehow, Ras Shiloh got a copy…… So him played the album for Sugar Black, and eventually me and Sugar Black met and we started working together.”

The defining moment for the duo came when they sang together on a show in Santa Barbara in Los Angeles, and a review which came out in a magazine (The Independent) suggested that they would do well performing together. “They wrote and say these guys sound so great together, they should really try and do something together. So we started thinking about it, and it was at that point Black Judah was formed.”

Their first performance together was at a Philippine Expo at the LA Convention Centre, and from that point on, they have been progressing steadily. They headlined one of the largest festivals in the United States, the Raggamuffin Festival in February of last year.

They have signed a four-album deal with Teflon Blood Records out of Los Angeles, but have so far released only singles, which they say are doing well. - The Daily Observer www.jamaicaobserver.com

It is rare when you find two individuals who can set aside their egos and forge a partnership that can survive the challenges of the music industry. Black Judah is such a duo, comprising Sugar Black and Dylan Judah, who are on the verge of creating a new revolutionary roots dancehall sound that could be the future of reggae music, a new Roots World Order.

Sugar Black, who used to be one-half of the duo Sugar Black and Lebanchuleh, has now found another musical partner, Dylan Judah, who shares his zeal for reggae.

“We’ve been working together since 2004, we do whole heap of shows together, we’ve performed many times at the Dub Club on Wednesday nights in LA, we’re putting in the work,” Sugar Black said.

The duo has also performed at the Ragamuffin Festival, the largest reggae festival in the US, as well as the House of Blues, and the Key Club on the Sunset Strip. The duo also performed at the Asylum Nightclub last year during their Friday night After Work Jam.

“Our music is a mixture of hardcore dancehall, and roots rock. We do songs of truth, hope and righteousness, that’s the stable where we are coming from, we no have locks but we ah rasta,” Dylan told Xtratainment.

Jamaicans may well remember Sugar Black, who worked with Tony Rebel’s Flames Production and released a series of hit singles including the classic 1997 effort, ‘Oh Jah’. However, it may be the fertile collaboration and friendship with Dylan Judah, creating Black Judah, that has done the most to secure his musical legacy.

Dylan Judah, a Los Angeles local, has also been involved in music since a young age. In 1995, he formed Cannons (1995 to 2003) who released two independently produced albums, one of which was voted Best Independent Album of the Year from Borders Books.

“I have been coming to Jamaica almost 17 years now, and I have spent time in the Orange Hill area of Westmoreland,” he said.

Dylan Judah also has a self-titled solo album and a dub album he co-produced with famed Jamaican engineer and producer, Scientist. He is an accomplished drummer, and also plays the piano and guitar.

“I played drums with Bunny Wailer’s band for a time,” he said.

Currently signed to Los Angeles’ Teflon Blood Records, Black Judah has been hard at work on their debut album, ‘Roots World Order’. The album will contain 14 tracks with collaborations with Elephant Man, Anthony B (‘Stress In The Ghetto), Warrior King, Ms. Triniti, E Dee and rapper Ize from L.A.

The lead single, “Mercy Please’, will be supported by a Teflon Blood International tour featuring Black Judah and today’s top reggae artistes.

“We also plan to shoot a music video with Asher next week in and around Kingston to promote ‘Mercy Please’. We also did a single called ‘Say Yeah’ with Elephant Man last year but we never followed up on it, but it got a lot of airplay,” Dylan said.

The duo is also aware of the needs of the community and is setting up a programme to provide musical instruments to children in Jamaica.

You can check out their music at www.myspace.com/blackjudah or at www.teflonblood.com - X-NEWS Xtratainment

When you hear of a musical duo that is part Jamaican and part American, you probably think that the Jamaican will be the deejay while the American sings. This is not the case for Black Judah.

The duo comprises a Jamaican singer, Sugar Black, whose birth name is Patrick Hall, and Caucasian deejay Dylan Judah, whose birth name is Dylan Hyde.

Each had an interesting story before they formed the duo in 2004. Sugar Black was a recording artiste who worked with Penthouse Records. He was also signed to Tony Rebel’s Flames Production since 1995. During this time he formed linkages with artistes like Ras Shiloh, Tony Rebel, Garnett Silk, Lebanchuleh and Jah Mason. He was also part of the Jah By My Side Tour, which ended prematurely in 2000.

Mixed Feelings
He left Rebel’s camp and removed the locks he once adored as a result of his feelings following an incident involving Rebel and another artiste. He left the Jamaican music scene to get a fresh start.

Dylan Judah was also a Rastafarian but decided to cut his locks as well. He was a musician since age 16. He was part of a popular ska band in California called CIA (Caught In The Act) in which he played the drums and produced. The band opened for Bunny Wailer and the Skatalites. They even worked alongside fellow band No Doubt. He was also part of a reggae group called Cannons, in which he was a singer.

Dylan Judah might not fit the image of a typical Caucasian male but he is happy with himself. “As a Rastafarian, it doesn’t matter if you wear designer clothes or a robe ‘cause I still have the same Rastafarian mind frame and heart,” he said.

“Most people said that I thought I was black. They used to say ‘Why I think I was Jamaican?’ But I continued doing my music despite what people thought,” he said.

It was the love that Dylan had for Jamaica that really brought the duo together. Dylan Judah says that before he met Sugar Black he like his song, Heavens Declare. Ras Shiloh who is a good friend of Sugar Black also performed an a capella version of Dylan Judah’s Jah Glory at the Ojai Reggae Festival that caught Sugar Black’s attention, they were eventually introduced to each other by Ras Shiloh.

After the introduction and Sugar Black began living and working in the United States, they started performing together on various shows in California. It was later suggested that they start the duo.

They say it has been going great since then as they complement each other. This is evident in the songs they have done together, like Mercy Please, which has received airplay in Jamaica. They have also done Seh Yeah which features Elephant Man.

The duo also performed at numerous events in the United States of America and are determined to make their mark on the Jamaican market. “Jamaica is the hub for everything. We get good reception in California but I have the hunger to come back and conquer yard,” said a passionate Sugar Black.

They believe this will be possible through the promotion of their album Roots World Order, which is almost complete and will be released soon. They say the album is a combination of cultural, hard-core, dancehall, reggae, and ‘girl friendly’ tracks. They have signed with a record label in Japan for the distribution of their album. - The Weekend Star www.jamaica-star.com