#raller

- Madman

Curtis Grant, 1992. By the time Curtis Grant came to my studio, he'd already been working hard as a DJ and toaster at parties.  He'd been chosen, along with three other acts, for the debut EP from Kiskidee Records. What we would later call a label sampler featured, along with Grant, who'd earned a field promotion to General for the hit song Shot Call.  Also on the EP and in the studio  that day were Josanne Leonard, corrallingThe Ghettorians, a forceripe trio of young rowdies determined to screw up their part of the shoot, the painfully shy Sista Ron and a quiet pair of young men who pointedly waited to be last. They were known as Kindred and I'd photograph them again a few years later for a compilation release for Rituals records.  This print would be made a couple of hundred times as giveaways for the pop-up performances that eventually became known as the Kiskidee Karavan.  At that point I rather foolishly pointed out that it made more sense to take the photos they were giving away to a commercial printer.  There were a lot of people hanging around the Amar Brothers' Caribbean Sound Basin vaccuming up the loose change and I wasn't comfortable with that career positioning.  I'd photograph him one more time at Maracas Bay on a private publicity photocall with Big Daddy Kane, but by then the arc of Kiskidee and my career path would intersect less frequently.  Grant would enjoy some success with Pure Hate, Mr Energizer and Chunkalunks, by being identified as a dance hall artist and he would go on to do some moderately popular collaborations with Denise Belfon and Sonny Mann among others.  General Grant would land on the Billboard charts and his early example provided both inspiration and path for a new generation of local rappers/toasters/chantwells like Ataklan and Bunji Garlin.  #archive #lyndersaydigital  #trinidad #singer #raller #dancehall #trinidadandtobago #kiskideekaravan #filmphotography #photography #publicity #caribbeansoundbasin #performance #thelyndersayarchive  (at Saint James, Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad And Tobago) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2cKLSLpswm/?igshid=uu8wxu8scgds