Top tune...my little story of Tapper Zukie. I saw him in Brighton in 1976 at a venue I can't remember, it was small, and the 150/200 people packed in there were hot, sweaty and smokey with anticipation. Tapper did about an hour's set, I think backed by the Roots Radics ?, anyway at the end of the set he rushed through the crowd to the exit and stood there and shook everyone's hand as they left...it's a night I'll always remember.
This fellow was actually addressing social stigma associated with the Rastafarian in the mid-70s. As encouragement to those "want-to-be" Rastas, of their duty hygiene repeatedly with encouragement to "neat-up". The message may have been misinterpreted because "M.P.L.A." in the mid-70s was a political movement in Mozambique lead by the late Zamora Machell who died in a plane accident way back them. This artist, as well as Lester Bullocks (a.k.a. Dillinger) are famous with this type of vital-dub style.
A very well made point: the social comment comes over as more acute and urgent than the 'feel good' toasters' output - don't misunderstand: I've been a keen follower of U Roy, I Roy & Big Youth since the early 70s but I think their sound served a different purpose.
