Monster Shack Crew

A popular fad in the late 90s led individual Jamaican DJs to perform as part of a crew. Red Rat, Goofy and Hawkeye were part of the Main Street Crew, while Elephant Man, Harry Toddler, Boom Dandimite and Nitty Kutchie performed as the Scare Dem Crew. The Monster Shack Crew was comprised of Ghost, General B and Roundhead, all of whom had enjoyed prosperous solo careers. The DJ veterans joined forces in 1996, performing on the sound system circuit. Ghost was noted for his sing-jay style, originally conceived in 1993 when he recorded ‘Gal Pickney’ for Clifton ‘Specialist’ Dillon. His solo hits include ‘Program For Your Body’, ‘Arms Of Love’, ‘Roses Are Red’, and the duet ‘Whine’ with Tony Curtis. General B began his career performing in a rapid-fire style, as displayed on ‘Look Work’, ‘Ziggy Ziggy’, ‘Who La La La’ and ‘Bad Inna New Clothes’. Roundhead was renowned for extolling the virtues of marijuana, clearly illustrated on his raspy-styled hit ‘High Every Day’. He also enjoyed hits with ‘Flavour’, ‘High Grade Hip Hop’ and ‘Cruise Control’. Although revered on the Jamaican sound system circuit, it was not until 1998 that the threesome released a compilation of their collective efforts. With producer Colin ‘Fatta’ Waters, they performed ‘Make Money’, ‘Body Guard’ and a quaint rendering of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’. The compilation received favourable reviews internationally and was a subsequent album chart-topper.