ArtistInfo

Lord Sassafrass

voc, *1963 JM, Kingston Parish
of Reggae
A.k.a. Michael Orlando Johnson Michael Johnson (45)

Jamaican recording artist Lord Sassafrass is best known as a dancehall Reggae DJ with the Black Scorpio Sound System. On Black Scorpio Sound, Lord Sassafrass introduced the world to General Trees, and the entire Horseman Crew. Prior to his career in music Sassafras was employed at the riding stables at the Caymans Park racecourse in Jamaica. A regular visitor to the course was the entrepreneurial Jack Scorpio who built his own popular sound system in the early 70s and ventured into record production in the 80s. His first production was Sassafras performing ‘Pocomania Jump’, a reference to the religious culture that has survived in Jamaica since the days of slavery. The tune was an instant hit. Much of Sassafrass’ musical history is seen in the live dance. Similar to the career of Brigadier Jerry, Sassafrass was entertaining in an era of live djs, where recorded music was secondary to the live dance. In 1985 he went to New York where he performed on heavy weight soundsystems like Third World or GT Hi Power, just to name a few. His work today carries out the tradition he started almost forty years ago – a sound that is completely unique and his own.

Genres

• Reggae
• Dance
• Hip-Hop/Rap