Impressions: Super Cat Returns

Words by Desmond Alphonso, Photos by Martei Korley—

Super Cat is the Don Dada.

As a young artist in the ’80s dancehall era, he brought unprecedented lyrical depth and infinite swagger to the sound taking over Jamaica. In the ’90s, he brought undiluted badman lyrics to the mainstream, influencing hip-hop and even pop music. But then, he was gone. Though the Wild Apache has re-emerged occasionally for shows, he’d been an elusive spectre more than an actual presence for just about decade.

Dancehall’s most elusive—and, some might say, greatest—emerged from the shadows last month, headlining a performance at Club Amazura in Queens, NYC, ahead of his triumphant return to Jamaica for Sting, and LargeUp was in the mix. Editorial director Jesse Serwer caught up with the Don Dada at New York’s Milford Plaza, profiling him for RollingStone.com, while creative director Martei Korley captured some iconic portraits, showing the Don of All Dons in a light in which you’ve never before seen him. We caught back up with Cat at Amazura, capturing candid shots of the artist backstage with Junior Demus and friends, before documenting his first NYC performance in over a half-decade.

Click here for the gallery of photos, and highlights from LargeUp’s “i-terview” with the Don of all Dons, Super Cat.

On where he’s been the last decade…and why he doesn’t do dubplates:

Well I never been [anywhere], enuh… We disappear cause di youth dem haffi come and do their ting. We used to do performance live. In the party, on the microphone. You would go to the party and the people would be standing outside, and you have to bring the crowd inside. That time was over, it was the selectors coming into the dance, playing dubplates. You see the Dada don’t do dubplates. They’re not gonna use those tings to put the food on him plate, so him haffi go away for a minute. Now I return [because] reggae haffi go up there.

On The Bible:

You see I write over the entire Bible and I write in it, because the Bible is subject for correction. Some people just read it, and take it as what it is. It’s a comprehension book. So you can’t just follow what the Bible says, I have to find correct it.

On comfort, stone beds, and why he won’t sit on a sofa:

Where we’re coming from, we sleep inna stone bed. In Jamaica. We don’t have soft bed and ting like that, coming up in the music, from where we come to survive in this ting. So you sleep inna stone. Keep[s] you firm. From the head straight down to the toe. It’s like going to the chiropractor and not going to the chiropractor, it’s like going to the masseuse and you don’t go to the masseuse. You’re still working on the structure. And it is a ting that work these bones, so they stay alive. Never get soft.

On leaving Jamaica for New York:

Well, I never plan, enuh. I live inna every country til I come slow down. I live inna Canada when I am in it, I live up ah England when I am in it. I live down in a part of Miami when I am in it, I live down ah Texas, ah California, Washington. So I come settle in New York yah now. Di music tek I out. I never have no plan fi come out fi a hear a daughter say run come live in a foreign cold freezer. Still the most high say, ‘No !’ You haffi go round yah.’

On reggae vs. dancehall:

There is no dancehall [music]. Ah reggae music I and I sing. Dancehall is venues. If you’re going to rent a dancehall to keep a reggae show, don’t let dem tek you and trick you and tell you that this ting is dancehall. A dancehall is a venue. Reggae music is a great sound that never die[s], never drown, keeping the people jumping up and down, and jumping around, as I pronounce sound. It doh even have a compound. I pronoun sound.

On why he stayed away from Jamaica for so many years:

Well I deyah go through judgment for the longest time, having problem with the law, going in and out of the jailhouse, having cases that pursue. I have to fight with officers. I and dem have a war from long time. Officer hate me and I hate the officer. We get over it now because Dada is an iron claw and you gonna have to kill him if you want to dictate [to] him or disrespect him. We haffi keep di youth dem strong. So we die for ourselves, we never let anyone die for us. So now me and di officers dem cool, we went through it and we went at it. And you don’t try and disrespect I when I don’t do anything. I don’t care if you have a state of martial law, you gonna have to kill us.

On performing and recording:

I only in the studio rehearsing, not recording… preparing for these gigs. I just don’t like to run in the studio. I have to tune the soprano first. I have a soprano you have to keep tuned. When I sit down this thing need a lot of work to tune because Dada is like a diesel engine. [It] take a turbine before it kicks in.

On Nas:

Nas is one of my favorite hip-hop artists. And the reason for that is Nas is the first hip-hop artist I hear talk about Africa. Great in light within himself within his music. If you want to listen to some culture in hip-hop, you can listen to Nas. And something is in him that is not unconscious. Even in the movie [Belly] they did, he says, ‘Let’s get out of here, let’s go to Africa.’ I like when a man have root inside of him. Nas have a root within him that will help sustain him to the next lifetime.

On signing to The Neptunes’ Star Trak label in the 2000s:

So mi seh, the late great Fred Donner, my manager, God bless his soul, we were doing some work with the Arista label. We worked for a long time. Pharrell give me a deal. We went out in California and start doing some things with Pharrell. And in the middle of doing this, my manager, Mr. Fred Donner, die.

On returning his advance to Pharrell and Arista Records:

I said, ‘Listen, captain. My manager die, and I can’t find a manager in 15 minutes.’ You can’t find people you can work with, and can trust, in one day. This business is a funny business. You haffi know di people you’re working with, you haffi leave tings in people’s hands to get done, and you haffi be careful of who you’re doing these tings with. I explained to the gentleman that I am not going to be able to move forward with any project because Fred Donner passed away and, with respect, I want to return your money, not out of disrespect… I’m a team player. And, if you don’t have a team, I’m like the thoroughbred you take to a thoroughbred race without a team. How are you even going to get him in the gate, much less to get him in the race.

On the late Nicodemus and his brother, Junior Demus (above):

…I walk with the late, great Nicodemus the great. There’s only one Nicodemus. The one you read about in the Bible. Nicodemus the great, the likkle short black man. So we went through a great journey. Now I am recalling his great influence from him and Junior Demus, cah I pull people and make tings happen.

On his single, “Reggae Matic”:

At the same time [as the Neptunes project] I was promoting something called ‘Reggae Matic’ in the reggae underground, [for] the underground so the people don’t feel left out. I just livicated the project to Fred and it didn’t want out. I pressed up 1,000 copies of the CD, 1,000 of vinyl, I give it away to the reggae underground. So now I return to sing the song ‘Reggae Matic,’ which I was doing from them times, and now I get to sing the song.

On the response to his comeback:

I never have any doubt in the people and the people never let me down.