General Degree touching base
It was cool for deejays to show their lighter side during the 1990s, which was right up General Degree’s street.
His type of toasting may not be hip in Jamaica today, but is still in demand overseas.
The veteran artiste currently has an EP and song on the market. Island Hopping, a four-song collection, is title of the EP, while Touch Me is the Delroy “Phatta” Pottinger-produced single.
Over 30 years since his breakthrough with Granny, General Degree still yearns chart success.
“I still feel di same way before mi bus’, di important thing is to keep doing songs. If a hit song come, it come, but if it don’t come wi still a press di gas,” he stated.
Island Hopping and Touch Me were released in August. They bear the fun-loving vibe of his heyday at Danny Browne’s Mainstreet Records which produced Granny and some of his other big hits like Traffic Blocking and Pianist.
The Mainstreet Records camp was a prominent player in 1990s dancehall. Other acts associated with the label were Junior Tucker, Richie Stephens, Red Rat, Buccaneer, and Hawkeye.
Like several of his contemporaries, the Manchester-born General Degree (real name: Cardiff Butt) retains a following in Central American countries such as Costa Rica, Belize, and Panama where he does many shows. There is also a place for his music in Bermuda and Cayman where 90s dancehall music remains popular.
General Degree has no problem being identified with that era, considered by many to be the genre’s most commercially successful.
“Di songs dem speak for themself, because dem was outstanding. Yuh have to remember, yuh know, even when I put out new things people going to still compare me with what I did then,” he said.