Bogota’s Palenque Records was founded in 1996 by Lucas Silva of Faraon Bantu sound system, alias DJ Champeta-Man, to showcase the diverse sounds of Afro-Colombia, including styles that originated elsewhere in the African diaspora. Thus, after releasing cumbia, salsa, marimba, dancehall and rap by local artists, as well as soukous and Afrobeat, Champeta-Man travelled to Jamaica to record with some of his favourite veteran dancehall performers, launching the Palenque Rockers series to showcase the results.

The first two volumes feature legendary figures of the 1980s and 90s, including King Kong, Super Black, Foxy Brown, Glen Ricks, and Conrad Crystal, as well as the elder Carl Dawkins, and every vocal on these sets comes with a corresponding dub, expertly mixed by the electro-cumbia producer known as Cerrero. The vocal tracks allow the Jamaican veterans to revisit some of their biggest hits, with Dawkins reaching back to his 1969 landmark ‘Satisfaction’ on Vol 1, King Kong licking over his ‘Trouble Again’ anthem and Foxy Brown re-working Tracy Chapman’s iconic ‘Fast Car’ on Vol 2, all the while giving props to Champeta-Man and Palenque, as though delivering their lyrics on the mic at a clash against another sound system. Things reach another level in Cerrero’s deep dubs, which are also delivered soundclash style, with maximal sirens, screeching keyboards, and subsonic keyboard bass, heightening the aspect of musical weaponry.