Tarrus Riley is now refusing to voice any more dubplates because of the prevalence of imposters in the industry.
Describing himself as an avid sound clash lover, Riley now believes that the sound system culture is losing its authenticity because of ‘spliced dubs’.
“When I was growing up, it used to be called ‘specials’, but nowadays, it’s no longer special because some people a splice up we voice. The worst thing as an artiste is to hear someone trying to impersonate you and it sound bad, it off-key, and the lyrics are wrong. Dat hurt me heart,” he said in a recent interview.
According to Riley, it is not about the money but the preservation of craft and livelihood.
“Me grow up pon sound clash, so when me hear splice dub, I cannot be a part of that. I don’t want people to be using my voice or my name to rob and scam people. So I’m not voicing any more dubs right now, so anybody who say dem have a recent Tarrus dub a tell lie,” he stated.
To make matters worse, Riley believes that some of the culprits associated with splicing dubs are close associates of artistes.
“Di man dem all a splice dub from songs weh nuh release yet. So you realise say people weh eat and drink wid you a try bring you down. No man caan put a price pon my voice, so it’s not about money; it’s about having pride in our culture. We are losing our authentic music, and then we turn ’round and quarrel say white reggae bands a run the place. We are not even willing to invest in original dubplates but we wanna find fault when other races do.”
Riley also has harsh words for selectors who knowingly play spliced dubs.
“Unuh a hypocrite. It is a bad representation of our music. Me tek music serious. Unuh fi stop it! I am proud to be original and me love all original sounds and selectors. If we don’t respect our music, others won’t. So, any man weh say dem get a dub from me right about now, is a washover Tarrus voice it, not me. I’m not saying I’ll never voice another dub ever again, but for now, I’m done with it,” he stated.