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A disciple of Lee "Scratch" Perry, Mad Professor stands as one of the leading producers in dub reggae's second generation. His Dub Me Crazy albums helped dub make the transition into the digital age, when electronic productions started to take over mainstream reggae in the '80s. His space age tracks not only made use of new digital technology, but often expanded dub's sonic blueprint, adding more elements and layers of sound than his forebears typically did. In the mid-'90s, he returned to the basics, debuting a more retro-sounding style on the Black Liberation Dub series. Additionally, he runs his own studio and label, Ariwa, which has been a home to a stable of vocalists (with an emphasis on lovers' rock and conscious roots reggae) and some top-shelf British reggae productions. As his reputation grew, he became a remixer of choice for adventurous rock and techno acts, most notably revamping Massive Attack's entire second album under the new title No Protection. Mad Professor remained productive as the decades wound on, working in the realm of reggae and beyond, with production credits as wide-reaching as work for Sade, the Orb, Perry Farrell, and many others. Mad Professor's solo output continued as well, with solo sets like 2009's Audio Illusions of Dub, and collaborations like 2019's Mad Professor meets Gaudi or the 2023 soundclash style release Mad Professor Meets Channel One Sound System Round Two.

Mad Professor was born Neal Fraser (or Neil Fraser) circa 1955 in Guyana, a small country in the northern part of South America. He earned his nickname as a preteen, thanks to his intense interest in electronics; he even built his own radio. At age 13, his family moved to London, and around age 20, he started collecting recording equipment: reel-to-reel tape decks, echo and reverb effects, and the like. In 1979, he built his own mixing board and opened a four-track studio in his living room in the south London area of Thornton Heath. Calling it Ariwa, after a Nigerian word for sound or communication, he began recording bands and vocalists for his own label of the same name, mostly in the lovers rock vein: Deborahe Glasgow, Aquizim, Sergeant Pepper, Tony Benjamin, Davina Stone, and Ranking Ann, among others. Amid complaints from his neighbors, he moved the studio to a proper facility in Peckham, South London. In 1982 he recorded his first album, Dub Me Crazy, Pt. 1, and quickly followed it with a second volume, the successful Beyond the Realms of Dub. 1983 brought two more volumes, The African Connection (often acclaimed as one of his best) and the fairly popular Escape to the Asylum of Dub.

The Ariwa studio was moved to a better neighborhood in West Norwood during the mid-'80s, and upgraded for 24-track capability, making it the largest Black-owned studio in the U.K. From there, Mad Professor really started to make an impact on the British reggae scene. He produced major hit singles for Ariwa mainstay Pato Banton and Sandra Cross, and also helmed the breakthrough album for conscious reggae toaster Macka B, 1986's Sign of the Times. At the same time, the ragga era was dawning, and all-digital productions began to take over reggae. As the ragga sound grew more and more dominant, Mad Professor's brand of dub got spacier and weirder; while ragga detractors complained that Mad Professor's work sounded sterile compared to the dub of old, many praised his otherworldly effects and inventive arrangements. The Dub Me Crazy albums reached the height of their experimentalism during the latter part of the '80s, although by the early '90s they were showing signs of creative burnout. The 12th and final volume in the series, Dub Maniacs on the Rampage, was released in 1993.

Meanwhile, Ariwa continued to prosper as a label, with further hits by the likes of Macka B, Pato Banton, Sandra Cross, female singer Kofi, Intense, Jah Shaka, John McLean, the Robotics, Sister Audrey, Peter Culture, Johnny Clark, and others. Additionally, he began to collaborate with some of reggae's better-known figures; most crucially, he teamed up with main influence Lee "Scratch" Perry for the first time on the 1989 set Mystic Warrior. In 1991, he produced the first of several albums for the groundbreaking veteran DJ U-Roy, the acclaimed True Born African; he also went on to work with the likes of Yabby You and Bob Andy. He switched his focus to touring in 1992 and released the 100th album on Ariwa not long after.

With his high-profile collaborators, Mad Professor started to make a name for himself outside of the reggae community, and soon found himself in demand as a remixer for rock, R&B, and electronica acts. Over the course of the '90s and into the new millennium, he would remix tracks by Sade, the Orb, the KLF, the Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, Rancid, Depeche Mode, and Perry Farrell, among others. His best-known project, however -- and the one that truly established his credentials -- was 1995's No Protection, a completely reimagined version of trip-hop collective Massive Attack's second album, Protection. Perhaps creatively refreshed, Mad Professor's own albums started to regain their consistency in the mid-'90s. Mixing electronics with rootsier, more organic sounds indebted to the earliest days of dub, he left behind the Dub Me Crazy moniker to launch a new series, the subtly Afrocentric Black Liberation Dub. The first volume was released in 1994, and others followed steadily into the new millennium, albeit at a less prolific pace than the Dub Me Crazy installments. More collaborations with Perry and U-Roy followed as well. In 2005, Mad Professor celebrated Ariwa's 25th anniversary with a tour of the U.K. alongside Perry and the double-CD retrospective Method to the Madness. In 2009 he released two albums, Times Hard under the moniker Mad Professor vs. Joint Chiefs and the back-to-basics Audio Illusion of Dub. Mad Professor maintained a prolific release schedule through the 2010s, including several albums created in collaboration with his son, who recorded under the alias of Joe Ariwa. In 2017, MP released In the Midst of the Storm, and Electro Clubdubbing!! followed in 2018. Even more collaborative albums ensued, as Mad Professor teamed with Italian dub producer for 2019's Mad Professor meets Gaudi, Brazilian vocalist Marcelinho da Lua for 2020's Tranquilo Dubs the Alternate Takes, and Xan Tyler for 2021's Clarion Call. He continued his solo output with releases like 2022's Covidub Illusion - Dub You Crazy 20-22. ~ Steve Huey

A notoriously eccentric figure whose storied reputation and colorful personality match the sheer strangeness of much of his recorded output, Lee "Scratch" Perry is unquestionably one of reggae's most innovative, influential artists. His recording techniques -- from his early use of samples to hallucinatory echo and reverb effects -- set the stage for generations of musical experimentation, particularly throughout electronic music and alternative/post-punk, and his free association vocal style sets a clear precedent for rap. Active as a producer and vocalist since the early '60s, he helped guide Jamaican music's shift from ska and rocksteady to reggae with singles like "People Funny Boy" (1968). During the '70s, he became a super producer, helming seminal works by Bob Marley & the Wailers, the Congos, and Junior Murvin, in addition to releasing dub albums such as Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle (1973) and Super Ape (1976), often credited to his band the Upsetters. His work became popular in the U.K., and he collaborated with the Clash, broadening his audience. By the end of the '80s, he had begun recording extensively with dub acolytes such as Mad Professor and Adrian Sherwood. Compilations such as 1997's Arkology and acknowledgment from alternative acts like the Beastie Boys confirmed Perry's legendary status during the '90s. He remained highly active during the first two decades of the 21st century, touring often and collaborating with artists ranging from Andrew W.K. (2008's Repentance) to the Orb (2012's The Orbserver in the Star House), in addition to revisiting earlier material on releases like 2017's Super Ape Returns to Conquer. King Perry, a posthumous album containing his final studio recordings, was issued in 2024.

Born in the rural Jamaican village of Kendal in 1936, Perry began his surrealistic musical odyssey in the late '50s, working with ska man Prince Buster selling records for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Downbeat Sound System. Called "Little" Perry because of his diminutive stature (he was 4'11"), he was soon producing and recording at the center of the Jamaican music industry, Studio One. After a falling out with Dodd (throughout his career, Perry had a tendency to burn his bridges after he stopped working with someone), he went to work at Wirl Records with Joe Gibbs. Perry and Gibbs never really saw eye to eye on anything, and in 1968, Perry left to form his own label called Upsetter. Not surprisingly, Perry's first release on the label was a single entitled "People Funny Boy," which was a direct attack upon Gibbs. What is important about the record is that, along with selling extremely well in Jamaica, it was the first Jamaican pop record to use the loping, lazy, bass-driven beat that would soon become identified as the reggae "riddim" and signal the shift from the hyperkinetically upbeat ska to the pulsing, throbbing languor of "roots" reggae.

From this point through the '70s, Perry released an astonishing amount of work under his name and numerous, extremely creative pseudonyms: Jah Lion, Pipecock Jakxon, Super Ape, the Upsetter, and his most famous nom de plume, Scratch. Many of the singles released during this period were significant Jamaican (and U.K.) hits, instrumental tracks like "The Return of Django," "Clint Eastwood," and "The Vampire," which cemented Perry's growing reputation as a major force in reggae music. Becoming more and more outrageous in his pronouncements and personal appearance (when it came to clothing, only Sun Ra could hold a candle to Perry's thrift-store outfits), Perry and his remarkable house band, also named the Upsetters, worked with just about every performer in Jamaica. It was in the early '70s after hearing some of King Tubby's early dub experiments that Perry also became interested in this form of aural manipulation. He quickly released a multitude of dub releases and eventually opened his own studio, Black Ark.

It was at Black Ark that Perry recorded and produced some of the early seminal Bob Marley tracks. Using the Upsetters rhythm section of bassist Aston "Familyman" Barrett and his drummer brother Carlton Barrett, Perry guided the Wailers through some of their finest moments, recording such powerful songs as "Duppy Conqueror" and "Small Axe." The good times, however, didn't last, especially after Perry, unbeknownst to Marley and company, sold the tapes to Trojan Records and pocketed the cash. Island Records head Chris Blackwell quickly moved in and signed the Wailers to an exclusive contract, leaving Perry with virtually nothing. Perry accused Blackwell (a white Englishman) of cultural imperialism and Marley of being an accomplice. For years, Perry referred to Blackwell as a vampire, and accused Marley of having curried favor with politicians in order to make a fast buck. These setbacks did not stem the tide of Perry releases, be they new material or one of a seemingly endless collection of anthologies. Perry was also expanding his range of influence, working with the Clash, who were huge Perry fans, having covered the Perry-produced version of Junior Murvin's classic "Police and Thieves." Perry was brought in to produce some tracks for the Clash, but the results were remixed more to the band's liking.

All this hard work was wreaking havoc with Perry's already fragile mental state, leading to a breakdown. Stories of his mental instability were exacerbated by rumors of massive substance abuse, despite his public stance against all drugs except sacramental ganja. These stories, as with much surrounding Perry, blur fact and fiction, but one story that was true was that Black Ark, and everything in it, burned to the ground. Reports on what started the fire vary, but one account is that Perry burned the studio down in a fit of blind rage, convinced that Satan had made Black Ark his home. Soon after the fire, Perry, increasingly fed up with the music business in Jamaica, decided to leave the country.

Despite the considerable lows in his career, Perry remained busy. Although he was less in demand as a producer, his solo work remained very strong, and his continuing influence could be felt in the contemporary dub music of the Mad Professor and some post-rave electronica music, particularly the jungle/drum'n'bass scene. Even the Beastie Boys gave Perry props in a rhyme on their release Ill Communication and later added him to the bill of performers at a concert for Tibetan freedom, in addition to featuring him on Hello Nasty deep cut "Dr. Lee, PhD." In 1997, Island released Arkology, a well-received three-disc compilation of Perry recordings. That same year, a collaboration with Dieter Meier of the Swiss electronica duo Yello called Technomajikal, arrived on the Roir label. The project was made geographically possible by Scratch's move to Switzerland.

Perry reunited with Trojan in 2002, when the new album Jamaican E.T. was released by the label. Two years later, Panic in Babylon was recorded with the European outfit White Belly Rats, while his legendary Super Ape album would receive a limited-edition reissue on the Hip-O Select label. The 1973 release Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle -- sometimes referred to as Blackboard Jungle Dub -- saw its definitive reissue appear in 2004 when Perry biographer David Katz helmed its release for the Auralux imprint. Also that year, a different mix of the album landed on Sanctuary's two-CD collection Dub-Triptych. The label was also responsible for 2005's I Am the Upsetter, a well-chosen and well-annotated four-CD set. In 2006 George Clinton, DJ Spooky, and TV on the Radio would all contribute remixes when the U.S. label Narnack reissued Panic in Babylon with different artwork and a bonus disc. The 2007 set Ape-ology fit three classic albums -- Super Ape, Return of the Super Ape, and Roast Fish, Collie Weed, and Cornbread -- on two CDs. In 2008, a documentary about Perry titled The Upsetter premiered at the annual SXSW festival in Austin, Texas (it would eventually see a full release three years later). He collaborated with Andrew W.K. for the album Repentance and Adrian Sherwood for The Mighty Upsetter. A dub version of the latter, Dub Setter, followed in 2010.

In 2012 a full-length album, Master Piece, appeared on Born Free Records, built from tracks that first appeared in rougher versions on a 2010 EP titled The Unfinished Master Piece. Perry also collaborated with ambient techno pioneers the Orb for an album titled The Orbserver in the Star House, which was eventually followed by More Tales from the Orbservatory, recorded during the same sessions. Perry was recognized by the Jamaican honors system in 2012 when he was elected to Commander class in the Order of Distinction. The following year, he was awarded a Gold Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica.

Shortly thereafter, Perry began working with producer Daniel Boyle at London's Rolling Lion Studio, aiming to re-create the sound and vibe of Black Ark Studios' rudimentary audio magic. The result was the surprisingly accurate throwback dub album Back on the Controls, which surfaced in 2014 with help from a fan-funded online campaign. The album was subsequently nominated for a Grammy. In 2015, Perry's studio in Switzerland (where he resided with his wife and two children) burned down, this time by accident, destroying numerous unreleased recordings and stage costumes. Fortunately, he was unharmed, and he remained productive, releasing The Super Ape Strikes Again (with Pura Vida) in 2015, followed by Must Be Free in 2016. Also that year, Perry and Brooklyn's Subatomic Sound System, who had regularly collaborated since the late 2000s, toured together in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Perry's classic Super Ape. This preceded the 2017 full-length Super Ape Returns to Conquer, an updated interpretation of the original, featuring guest vocals from Jahdan Blakkamoore and the late Ari Up of the Slits. The Black Album, Perry's second with Boyle, appeared in 2018. He then teamed up with Sherwood once again on the full-length Rainford, released in 2019. A dub version of the album, Heavy Rain, appeared later in the year. Additionally, Perry joined Peaking Lights and Ivan Lee for Life of the Plants, an EP issued by Stones Throw. Lee "Scratch" Perry died in a hospital in Lucea, Jamaica, on August 29, 2021, at the age of 85. Several posthumous albums and compilations appeared, including Lee "Scratch" Perry's Guide to the Universe (with New Age Doom) and 2024's King Perry, with guests including Tricky, Greentea Peng, and Shaun Ryder. ~ John Dougan & David Jeffries