Shabba Ranks

Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon, born on 17 January 1966 in a town called Sturgetown, Saint Ann, Jamaica. His family moved to the Kingston ghetto of Trenchtown when he was 8 years old. Shabba is a well renowned Jamaican Dancehall musician whose undeniable rapping abilities shook the ragga and reggae fusion scene to this day. His fame rose drastically due to his toasting strength rather than singing. Shabba was DJ Josey Wales’s protégé. His international stardom began in the late 1980s, where he officially secured a recording contract with Epic Records in 1989. The original style of the genre reggaeton is traced back to the 1990 song “Dem bow.” The song was produced by Bobby “Digital” Dixon, who was a very influential dancehall producer at the time and it made an impact on Puerto-Rican freestyles sessions which became popularly known as Dem Bow riddim. The reggae fusion smash “Mr. Loverman” made waves as his biggest hit single outside of Jamaica. More big tracks such as  “Housecall” with Maxi Priest and “Slow and Sexy” with Johnny Gill made dancehall fans ecstatic all over the world.  In 1992, Shabba won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album “As Raw as Ever” and in 1993 for X-tra Naked. The record label then decided to drop him in 1996 but that didn’t stop him from making music including his greatest hits album Shabba Ranks and Friends in 1999. He has since appeared or featured in different musical projects like Busta Rhymes’s ” Clear The Air” and other artists like Migos and Akon.

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