VARIOUS ARTISTS “THE HARDER THEY COME: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK” ISLAND (1972)

“As far as the movie goes, it’s just a ‘70s Jamaican movie about life in Kingston—typical reggae movie from 1972. But I’m into the music more than the movie because it has a lot of reggae classics like ‘Pressure Drop’ by Toots and the Maytals and the actual Jimmy Cliff track where the movie got its name. All the songs have been sampled and have a huge influence in reggae and hip-hop. One of them was redone by Special Ed, and the Beastie Boys sampled another for ‘Draw Your Brakes.’ I don’t want to talk about the whole Vanilla Ice thing, but he jacked that, too: he stole it from the Beastie Boys but didn’t even know it was an old reggae song. I found the album for 50 cents at a record store, and once I saw the tracks, I had to take it home. When I did, I fell in love. I’m pretty sure it went platinum at some point. It definitely went gold the year it came out. It’s a knockin’ album, and I’ve been listening to it a lot lately.” // DJ ABEL

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