HC
& F. has been in operation since 1982. Designed and constructed by family
and friends in mid 1981, and completed in early January 1982. Our first
project after opening was with a band named MONYAKA. They helped in the
construction and shaping of the HC & F. sound, recorded their entire album
for a few months; during that time they got a contract with an indie label.
Monyaka first single, GO DEY YAKA, went tot the top of the New York radio charts, almost hitting gold.
In Europe it was a huge hit.
HC
& F. recording studio developed market in reggae recording, and opened its
doors to many of the most famous know Ned producers, artists, musicians and
engineers. The studio became the number one reggae studio in America and a quality sound to compete with.
JAH
LIFE records
international, a major reggae independent label made a deal with us for
consistent weekly bookings from 1982 thru 1988. In that period such artist as SISTER CAROL recorded BLACK CINDERELLA the album, WILD
THING soundtrack from the movie. SCION SUCCESS did hits like CAN'T
LEAVE JAH ALONE, PAIN A BACK PUT IT ON all on his first album of the same
name. BARRINGTON LEVY did the singles MURDERER and BLACK ROSES
to name a few. The producer HYMAN WRIGHT used the studio for his
production exclusively and released some of our materials also. Most recently
instrumental tracks produced by Jah Life and recorded by us in the eighties has
been sampled and used for reggae and hip-hop tracks. ISLAND IN THE SUN
records with owner, producer BYRON WHITELY did many outstanding projects
including three albums with artist HORACE ANDY, an album with JUNIOR
DELGAGO, also the last great instrumentalist AUGUSTUS PABLO. Byron
has been working with HC & F. from 1982 and is presently compiling
volumes of classic material for licensing in Europe and Asia.
In
the mid eighties WHITFIELD HENRY opened his record store on Utica Avenue and started a label called WITTY.
He originally started out licensing songs from other producers then quickly
shifted into his own productions after speaking with us and also seeing the
success of JAH LIFE, ISLAND IN THE SUN and others that were recording with us.
His first recording included infamous studio and concert back up band THE A
TEAM. We recorded over sixteen tracks to be used for voicing. The musicians
were ANASTAS HACKETT, drums; VAL DOUGLAS, bass; ERROL MOORE, guitar and
engineering; RAPHAEL ALLEN, keyboards; KEVIN BACHELOR, trumpet; JERRY
JOHNSON, saxophone. Witty's first voicing session created two local hits
titled: I JUST LOVE MY WOMAN by TENOR SAW, DANCE IN ATLETHIC CLUB
done by CHARLIE CHAPLIAN. Associate producer and rapper ALTON IRIE did a
number of tracks with said musicians but featured SYDNEY MILLS on keys. DOWN
BY THE BROADWALK, SHE NO READY and more was created by COCOA TEA. LITTLE JOHN did READY BABY. LEROY SMART,
TOYAN, JOHNNY RINGO, LONE RANGER, AL CAMPBELL, they all voiced songs for
both producers. The drum machine era then came along and the task of
understanding how to program it became the engineers. We programmed hundreds of
drum tracks for producers at the time. Just one musician and an engineer did
most of the tracking sessions. Economically the producers loved it. H.C &
F. lead the way and that brought a lot of new clients. Aspiring new producers
came to us and we gave our support to each and every on. The name of the studio
spread to Jamaica, the West Indies, Europe and Japan. Artist was sent to the studio from
everywhere seeking producers to record them. From Japan came NAKI, a rapper who loved the
sound and lived in New York for a while just to be recorded by
us. Reporters and photographers from Japan came to interview and to see what
the new sensation was about.
Then
came the nineties, WITTY'S label was releasing about ten new records
12" every month. We were booked seven days a week 24 hours a day for a
month and a half in advanced. This was the era that unfolded such hits as
"KUFF" with SHELLY THUNDER, "sometimes a man
fe get fuff fe get kuff feget fuff". ROCK AND ROLL by CHAKADEMUS
AND TONTO IRIE, NEW YORK CITY by MICHIGAN, A GAL A WATCH ME by ALTON BLACK and BLACKA RANKS. NINTY FIVE
PERCENT BLACK by SLUGGY became an anthem for all who got
incarcerated at that time.
MR.
DOO records started
out his productions with H.C.&F. in that era of the nineties also
with Witty's musicians, JOHN "RAF" ALLEN who already had
numerous hits under his belt. Mr. DOO began by laying tracks for album
projects for NINJAMAN, GEORGE NOOKS.COCOA TEA and GREGORY
ISAACS. Singles that did well from those albums included MORE THAN YOU
BARGAIN FOR by NINJA and GEORGE NOOKS, COCOA TEA'S RIKERSISLAND and
the remix featuring NARDO RANKS. Mixing engineer SOLDGIE HAMILTON who
mixed some of Mr. DOO's projects produced and mixed hit single "BURRUP" by NARDO RANKS in H.C.&F.
studio A.
SUPER
POWER records
entered the producing market round about 91...92 after having one of the most
successful distribution outlets for reggae. The first single that they produced
entitled TYPEWRITER by artist LOUIE RANKING was a major hit for SUPER
POWER. Again this innovation was whipped up by JOHN "RAF"
ALLEN and started a new branch of reggae called Hip Hop Reggae. The head of
SUPER POWERrecords SHELLY was extremely excited and wanted more
so our crew started turning out projects for him. Many compilations were made
because that’s what they wanted as a distributor.
Club
DJ STING INTERNATIONAL, started producing records for SIGNET label and
turned out hits like OH CAROLINA by SHAGGY. BEDWORK SENSATION by BAJA
JED, BIG UP by SHAGGY & RAYVON, BERES HAMMOND'S SWEETNESS and then
after teaming up with ROBERT LIVINGSTON produced BOOMBASTIC, SHAGGY'S
VIRGIN RECORDS platinum hit. Most of the BOOMBASTIC, MIDNIGHT LOVER
and some of HOT SHOT CDS including hit single ANGEL was recorded here.
In
the New Millennium dancehall production has taken on a new face in the style of
one rhythm track with twenty or more artists, computer base recording and
mixing in programs like PROTOOLS is now essential and a major part of
what we do. RIDDIMS like HEADACHE; HURRICANE; BLUE DRAWERS; HIGH
FEVER; BIGGA JUDGEMENT; and HARD DRIVE is a few that came out of
the studio.
CURRENT PROJECTS:PHILIP SMART has two current one riddim projects about to drop. dancehall riddim titled R TEST with SHABBARANKS, VYBEZ KARTEL, WARD 21,MR LEXX and more. THE NEW BEGINNING is the next rub a dub riddim soon to be released in jamaica through In the streets distribution featuring artist JAH MASON,CHRISINTI, BASCOMX, SASHA, TURBULANCE and more.
Our hip hop division is always working on something just finished album project with artist DESPORADO produced by our in house
producer DWAYNE 'DNUCKA' JOHNSON. Currently working on BOBO SMIFF
project with cuts on dj whokids mix tape thats out now.Artist that we are working
with include RMANNI formerly of
the group VOICEMAIL,SHERESE on the new beginning riddim, KERRY on the same, new beginning riddim she lives in jamaica sings and deejays,GADGET lyrics dj on the r test riddim and performing on irie jamboree this sept 3rd.