While he was engineer and producer for several major dancehall-reggae hit songs, Phillip Smart is not known to the average fan. Eleven years after his death at age 60, some of his colleagues are re-releasing his catalogue to reintroduce him and his work.

Hotta This Year, a compilation album released on April 18 by C&I Jah Bless Records, is the second project revisiting Smart’s output from HC&F Recording Studio in Long Island, New York. Ian Clough, co-producer of the eight-song set, said Smart does not get his due despite his impressive resume.

“No, I don’t think Phillip is as recognised as he should be. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, early 2000s, his studio was actually a must-stop, a must-record for almost every artiste. My role as a producer, as his friend and guardian of his work, is to make sure that his good music doesn’t disappear into the oblivion of music dungeons,” he told Observer Online.

Phillip Smart

Biggest of those artistes is Shaggy, who was a regular at Smart’s studio before he hit the big time. Oh Carolina, his 1993 breakthrough hit, was recorded at HC&F Recording Studio.

Hotta This Year is based on Hot This Year, the robust 1991 hit single by Dirtsman, Papa San’s older brother who was killed two years later. It was released during a golden run for Smart, who was born in Kingston but migrated to the United States in 1976.

Smart was the engineer for songs like Kuff by Shelly Thunder, Murderer by Barrington Levy and Audrey Hall’s One Dance, which were done at HC&F, which he started in 1982 with Michael McDonald, his brother-in-law.

McDonald, along with Shane Hoosong and Dwayne Johnson are also co-producers of Hotta This Year which contains songs like Call On Me by Shaggy, Crissin, Olaf Blackwood and Kartel Monttana; Back it Up by Charly Black, If I Had A Wish by Maxi Priest and Hotta This Year by American rapper, Maino.

Smart was raised in Havendale, where his neighbours included Augustus Pablo, a creative musician whose exotic 1973 instrumental, Java, pushed the boundaries of reggae. Pablo introduced Smart to legendary engineer Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock, who became the aspiring engineer’s mentor.

Smart’s time with King Tubby is recaptured on Prince Phillip Presents: Dubplates and Raw Rhythm From King Tubby’s Studio 1973-1976, a vinyl-only album released in 2024 by C&I Jah Bless Records.

Shortly after settling in the US, Smart became a disc jockey on WNYU. He hosted the reggae-based Get Smart show on that radio station from 1979 to 2004.