Bobby Digital

ROBERT DIXON forged a reputation for himself as an engineer with King Jammy’s organisation during the mid 1980s. Dixon’s fondness for digital rhythms and his enthusiastic embrace of  the alogarithmetical approach to recording led Jammy to re-christen him Bobby Digital. Dixon embraced the characterisation with a passion; so, by the time he had left Jammy’s to launch his own imprint, Digital B records, in 1988 Dixon’s alter ego was already firmly ensconced in the front seat of his professional vehicle.

By the early 1990s, Dixon’s star had risen as one of the foremost auteurs of the dancehall era, having notched up hits with the likes of Shabba Ranks, Super Cat, Garnet Silk, Cocoa Tea and many others benefiting from his ear for a hook, his utility with a sample and his facility with an old school rhythm.

Although renowned for his ability to forge a singalong melody out of a computer-ised rhythm, some of the finest moments of Digital’s career have come by way of his work with conventional instrumentation. Dixon is a top-of-the-list first choice producer for the likes of Morgan Heritage, one of the few successful band ensembles of the modern era. Bobby Digital has also regularly provided crucial input into works which many observers categorise as career-defining albums; notably Garnet Silk’s stunning and epochal 1992 debut, ‘It’s Growing’, also, Shabba Ranks’ 1990 sophomore album, ‘Just Reality’ (which included prime and timeless bashment anthems, such as ‘Gal Yu Good’, ‘Wicked Inna Bed’, ‘Dem Bow’ and others), as well as two highly acclaimed albums with Sizzla Kalonji, ‘Black Woman and Child’ (1996) and ‘Da Real Thing’ (2005),  which each set benchmarks that some observers claim could have placed them alongside some of the classic offerings made during Jamaican popular music’s 1970s golden age. Digital’s creative élan also contributed crucial components to influential collections, such as Buju Banton’s ‘Til Shiloh’ (1995), Shabba’s (1993) Grammy-garnering ‘X-tra Naked’ and Mavado’s incendiary 2007 debut, ‘Gangster For Life: Symphony of David Brook’s.

Bobby Digital is also credited as the inventor of the core beat which provides the foundation for reggaeton, Jamaican pop music’s de-facto Latin-American nephew.