Ska Quotes

I'm definitely nostalgic about the music of my youth; The Clash and Fishbone and that whole music scene. I still have all that music to this day. There was some great music going on in the late 70s and 80s.

I usually listen to surf music, not much instrumental music, and when I was younger I listened to jazz.

For me, growing up in New York, it started with Elvis Costello and the Clash and then got into louder things like Bad Brains and Stimulators, because those were, like, the local bands. Then I started getting into bands from England like the Slits. I remember seeing Gang of Four at Irving Plaza; that was a really big show for me.

One of my favourite songs is 'A Message to You, Rudy,' which was done by the Specials.

Reggae is vile.

So many of the bands that influenced me growing up were English, even if I didn't realise it. English pop ruled the world in the '80s!

Reggae is definitely a natural influence. Even living in Southern California, near the water, you get that reggae feel.

The song 'Gave It All Away' has a reggae sound.

Reggae was always a passion of mine. I used to say in interviews that I would love to do a reggae album. But it consumed my life being a hip-hop artist and being Heavy D, which I'm happy and proud of.

People know the Marley family for music.

Dropkick Murphys get me going, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana... plus, all the regular hip-hop stuff.

Fifth grade was when I first heard 'Smells Like Teen Spirit;' it was the energy, and his voice. I liked 311 and Sublime, too, though that might have been a little after that.

When I lived in the U.K., I recorded a lot of ska and rock-steady styles of Jamaican music. But people there weren't accepting it. So I began using a faster reggae beat.

I grew up in a house full of music. Everything from reggae and afro-beat to Zook and pop.

I listen to a lot of reggae.

I love punk rock, but I also love metal.

I'm gonna bring Bad Brains vibes 'cos that's what I do.

In Jamaica, the music is recorded for the sound system, not the iPod. It's about experiencing music together, with other people.

I don't know nothing about no jungle and bass.

Before I even started listening to rap music, I was really into metal and punk.

The music that I represent and helped to create and establish was born in Jamaica.

The early music I heard was Top of the Pops. But in bedrooms, around the house with my brother playing the Sex Pistols, Sham 69 and the Ham and all these groups then going into that sort of mod turnover scene and then going into the New Romantics scene the coming of age myself in the mid-eighties and into the noughties, it was changing.

Music was always heavily involved with my spirit. My entire family is Jamaican. It's nothing but reggae music and those kinds of vibes.

My parents are from Jamaica, and I love reggae music.

In the early part of the '70s, we had glam rock, but we also had reggae and ska happening at the same time. I just took all those influences I had as a kid and threw them together, and somehow it works.