Ini Kamoze - I Pray Yeah

Fatis Tapes In The Oven Vol 4 OUT NOW XTM Family Record Label Bio With the legendary Phillip ‘Fatis’ Burrell, producer extraordinaire, at its helm, Jamaica’s iconic Xterminator record label started on the road to its legendary status in the early 1980s. The label originally began as Vena Recordings, and later transitioned to Kings & Lions, which then became Exterminator. It wasn’t until later on the Exterminator would rebrand by dropping the E to become known as Xterminator. At the time, there were interesting movements taking place in black music all over the world from Funk to R&B and even Hip Hop, but the golden age of reggae and dancehall would soon follow with Xterminator playing a major role. Fatis’ core philosophy is perhaps what propelled him into the forefront of the music and drew a multitude of talents, who became some of the biggest artists in Jamaican music history, to his label. From names like Luciano, Sizzla, Mikey General, Capleton just to name a few; it was evident that Fatis’ sonic philosophy would go on to make the music of the time. This philosophy, although technical from a musical standpoint, was fairly simple. Fatis wanted to reintroduce some of Jamaica’s native sounds that contain the DNA of its music in a fresh way and while this might have been easy to imagine, it was his technical brilliance in crafting sounds that allowed him to do it. Having come up in an era where great artists like Bob Andy, Marcia Griffiths and Sugar Minott were his mentors, Fatis’ love and concern for the music could be seen in the way he managed releases. The quality was of utmost importance, reintroducing older sounds in a new way but also the content of the music was essential to the philosophy he engendered within the label. All his artists in the early 90s were highly spiritual and many of their biggest hits had a very palpable spiritual and moral ethos. With songs like It’s Me Again Jah by Luciano, and a multitude of others, one can sense the reverence for life in the music. As far as religion goes, the label itself may not be, but the man himself was a very spiritual individual and he was invested in making sure that his music glorified the creator and his creations in some way. In the same way Fatis made Xterminator the go-to for digital reggae dancehall productions, he pioneered the producer-artist-manager model within the label. He saw the business being something that could change and grow to facilitate different types of work and he acted on his vision by managing artists like Sizzla to great effect. A great deal of the quality Xterminator has become known for is due to Fatis’ inclination towards live instrumentation. Although its name was built on the digital era of dancehall music, the label, according to Fatis’ wishes, worked alongside a great deal of musicians who became a part of the Xterminator family. From the likes of Dean Fraser who later became the chief musical arranger, to the legendary drummer Sly Dunbar, Xterminator is all music you can feel, whether its analog or digital. But this attention to detail and love of live music led to the formation of Exterminator’s Firehouse crew, which housed Donald Dennis, the drummer Melbourne Miller and the keyboardist Paul “Wrong Move“ Crossdale. Although Fatis started Xterminator in an effort to expose and give a platform to younger artists like Sanchez, Pinchers and Thriller U, he later went on to work with some iconic veteran artists like Josey Wales, Cocoa Tea, Frankie Paul and Ninjaman, as well as Ini Kamoze. These established artists produced amazing vinyl records to their credit with songs like Hill & Gully Ride, Songs of Freedom, Bruk Down, Nothing So Good, Forever Young and much more. In fact, the legacy of Xterminator is still so vast that although much of it is archived on analog, the list is virtually too exhaustive. The label had worked with Jamaica’s biggest and best artists of the time, amassing a discography that is too vast to list, despite the exhaustive ones that exist online which are incomplete. Much of that rich legacy represents the potential the company has to stay and although the head captain Fatis Burrell passed away on December 3rd 2011, his intentions for the label live on through his son and producer Kareem ‘Remus’ Burrell. Follow XTM Nation online: Instagram - Instagram - Facebook - Twitter - TikTok - @ Youtube -