King Fudge
Pittsburgh’s mellowing agent
Writer: MARIA NICOLE SMITH
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Duey Saxton emerged as a deejay -- King Fudge -- just last summer.
When he arrived in Pittsburgh after completing a year at Knox Community College in Jamaica -- that’s Jamaica, West Indies, not New York -- Saxton did not know what to expect. His mother could no longer afford to send him to school, so she saved up to send him to live with his cousin.
“I hated it,” Saxton recalls. “I was working from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., six days a week, for $100.” He turns his head as he remembers his first months in the United States, and then quickly snaps back around. “That’s how it is when you work for family.”
But working for his cousin -- Donsville Savariau, a deejay and former owner of the Jamaica, Jamaica restaurant in East Liberty -- meant more than underpaid and often unappreciated long hours. There was extracurricular work, too: Savariau and a fellow Pittsburgh deejay -- DJ Phinesse -- had recently launched a Web site: www.pittsburghreggae.com.
Saxton would show up at parties where either Savariau or Phinesse would be spinning, and he’d shoot hundreds of pictures for the site. He would stay up until the early hours of the morning to load the pictures, only to be frustrated when the server would periodically go down. And then, shortly after developing the ultra-hip, urban Caribbean television show KaribLink TV, Savariau left Pittsburgh for Florida to continue producing the program during the summer of 2004. As for the state of pittsburghreggae.com? Saxton says the site was “underdeveloped and not updated.”
He shared similar sentiments about the reggae parties he attended in Pittsburgh. He returned from occasional visits to Jamaica only to be disappointed by just how far behind the times reggae music was in Pittsburgh.
“I would bring music back [from Jamaica], give it to deejays to play in the parties, and they still wouldn’t play it,” Saxton crows. “Fuck it! I just did it myself.”
Pittsburgh’s reggae scene hasn’t been the same since.
From the basement of his home in Greenfield, where Fudge warns “anything can happen,” the members of the production team known as Vybz Machine produce music, make CDs and play endless games of Madden Football on their Sony PlayStation. Most importantly, though, they regularly update the site now known as pittsburghreggae.net.
“We had to restart the site and get everyone involved,” Fudge recounts. Who’s everyone? That would be anyone into the local reggae scene, including deejays from crews such as First Class, Gangsta Shack and Greenrose.
Today, pittsburghreggae.net is the place for lovers of reggae to find out about area parties, concerts and events, to see pictures and hear audio from previous parties, and to get news about the reggae-music industry. Clearly, the site would not be complete without the newest music and videos; those are there as well. Also on the site is a directory of Caribbean businesses and various information on local reggae artists.
Looking back on the past few months, Fudge admits, “A lot of people don’t know about reggae. They think it’s just Bob Marley.”
Much progress has been made since Fudge appeared on the scene. “Pittsburgh is much nicer than last year,” he offers. “[All the reggae deejays] are stepping up their games.” But Fudge doesn’t assume his presence is the sole reason for the improvement. “The good thing,” he says, “is that we work together.”
Vybz Machine presents School Almost Done, a night of reggae, soca and hip hop. Thu., April 28. Cozumel, 5505 Walnut St., Shadyside. Women: $3 before midnight. Men: $5 before midnight. 412-621-5100
