Heds and Dreds: The Flatbush Flavors of Special Ed

Words by Jesse Serwer

When Odd Future burst onto the scene last year, journalists and bloggers seemed amazed that kids not yet old enough to get into a club could make sophisticated rap records that were actually impressive to people significantly older than them. Back when Special Ed first emerged, in the late ’80s, teenage rap prodigies were the norm, not the exception. Still, the 16-year-old MC was definitely the “youngest in charge,” as he positioned himself with the title of his debut LP. Backed by beats from UTFO/Chubb Rock producer Hitman Howie Tee, Flatbush, Brooklyn native Special Ed made an instant splash with 1989’s Youngest in Charge, and its classic singles “I Got It Made” and the Desmond Dekker-sampling “I’m the Magnificent.”

Far lesser known was “Heds and Dreds,” a straight-up dancehall tune featuring the Jamaican-American MC chatting convincingly on a bare-bones riddim. When I was searching for a name to fit a column that would spotlight the connections between hip-hop and Caribbean music, that song found its way into my headspace, even though I hadn’t heard it in years. After spotlighting the reggae flavors of Smif N Wessun, A Tribe Called Quest and even DJ Quik, it’s time to give the “Heds and Dreads” treatment to the guy who inspired this column.

“I’m the Magnificent”

Special Ed’s breezy 1990 hit sampled two Jamaican music classics: Desmond Dekker’s “(007) Shanty Town” and Dave and Ansel Collins’ “Double Barrel”—good enough for No. 4 on our Toppa Top 10 reggae samples in rap songs list. In a nod to this classic tune, Rick Ross featured Ed on a remix of his unrelated 2009 single “Magnificent,” and Ed even makes a cameo in the single’s video.

“Heds and Dreds”

Buried at the end of Youngest in Charge‘s side B, “Heds and Dreds” isn’t one of Ed’s best or better known songs but it marked one of the first times that an American rapper ripped it on a reggae track without sounding like an ass. This might also have been Hitman Howie Tee’s first stab at a riddim—he would go on to produce Patra’s “Romantic Call,” among other yard raptunes.

“See it Ya'”

On his sophomore LP Legal, Ed recruited his brother Drew Archer—AKA “Coolie Man,” an apparent reference to the Archers’ Indian blood and features—to collaborate with him on “See It Ya,'” a bass-heavy tune in the vein of “Heds and Dreds”—and one that has not yet been uploaded to Youtube.

“Just A Killa” feat. Bounty Killer

After four years away from the mic, Ed made a triumphant return in 1994 with “Crooklyn Dodgers,” alongside Buckshot and Masta Ace, on the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s Crooklyn. Nonetheless, his third LP, Revelations, was released on Profile Records a year later without much notice. The  album did offer this notable combination tune, with Ed and the Grung Gaad chatting over a standard issue, mid ’90s horn-sample beat. A decade later, on his 2004 comeback album Still Got It Made, Ed would later collaborate with another reggae heavy hitter in Sizzla Kalonji.