"King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown" is a
dub instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
track by reggae musician
Augustus Pablo, first released under the title "King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown" as a single in 1974 on
Island Records sublabel Mango Records. It was a dub version of the
Jacob Miller song "Baby I Love You So", also
produced by Pablo.
Island issued it as a single again in 1975 in the US, Canada, UK and Netherlands. As "King Tubby's Meet Rockers Up-Town", it was also released in Jamaica in 1975 as the
B-side of "Baby I Love You So".
With the title "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown", it was later included on the 1976 album ''
King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown
''King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown'' is a dub studio album by Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, released in 1976. It features Carlton Barrett on drums, Robbie Shakespeare and Aston Barrett on bass guitar, and Earl "Chinna" Smith on guitar. Pablo ...
''.
''
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
'' claimed that the song is "widely regarded as the finest example of dub ever recorded", and it was listed as the third best song ever recorded by ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
''.
The track was featured on the
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
radio station
K-Jah West in the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
of the popular
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
''
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', released in October 2004.
In 2021, it was listed at No. 266 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
References
Dub songs
Jamaican reggae songs
1974 singles
Island Records singles
1974 songs
{{1970s-single-stub