Scientist (musician)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Second generation Jamaican dub mixer and a rival to Prince Jammy. Notable for his theme albums (with lurid cover art) on which he would meet and vanquish protagonists from off-world regions: ie Scientist Meets The Space Invaders, Scientist Encounters Pac Man. Such meetings, derived from the rivalry of the sound clash, are central to the mythology of dub. For origins, seek out King Tubby Meets The Upsetter At The Grass Roots Of Dub." --"The A to Z of Dub", David Toop |
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Scientist, born Overton Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, 1960 (and also known as Hopeton Brown), was a protégé of King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock), one of the originators of dub music. He left King Tubby’s studio at the end of the 1970s and became the principal engineer for Channel One Studio when hired by the Hoo Kim brothers.
He came to prominence in the early 1980s and produced many albums, his mixes featuring on many releases in the first part of the decade. In particular, he was the favourite engineer of Henry "Junjo" Lawes, for whom he mixed several albums released on Greensleeves Records. He also did a lot of work for Linval Thompson and Jah Thomas. In 1982 he left for Tuff Gong to assist Errol Brown. He then emigrated to the Washington, D.C. area in 1985, again to work in studios as a sound engineer.
Many fans came to know his music due to half of his album 'Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires' being used on the soundtrack for the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto III. The tracks on the fictitious radio station 'K-Jah' are composed entirely of songs from this album. However, Scientist received no royalties for this and sued Rockstar Games unsuccessfully in a US court. The court ruled that according to precedent a recording mixer was not considered the author of a musical work, and so Rockstar were correct to treat the producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes as the copyright holder of the album. This ruling could be argued to neglect the fundamental difference between dub-reggae and other kinds of music - after all, the album is marketed as 'Scientist rids the world of the evil curse of the vampires': so the publishers and self identified licensors are prepared to attribute authorship to Hopeton Brown when it suits them, but not when it comes to paying him royalties. It can, however, be argued that Scientist was introduced to a much larger audience as a result of the licensing of his album to Rockstar, in which case he may have sold more albums as a result.
Scientist also tours from time to time as a band engineer and producer for the reggae acts that he is currently promoting. His wildly creative artistic style has resulted in the destruction of loudspeakers in the venues where he was controlling the sound balance. As a result, Scientist has been banned from touching the sound equipment in several San Francisco and New York City clubs and studios.
Partial discography
- Introducing Scientist: The Best Dub Album in the World (1980)
- Allied Dub Selection (1980) – with Papa Tad's
- Heavyweight Dub Champion (1980)
- Big Showdown at King Tubby's (1980) – with Prince Jammy
- Scientist Meets the Space Invaders (1981)
- Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (1981)
- Scientist Meets the Roots Radics (1981)
- Scientist in the Kingdom of Dub (1981)
- Scientific Dub (1981)
- Dub Landing Vol. 1 (1981)
- Jabby You & Michael Prophet Meets Scientist at the Dub Station (1981)
- First, Second and Third Generation (1981) – with King Tubby and Prince Jammy
- Dub War (1981)
- World at War (1981)
- Dub Landing Vol. 2 (1982) – with Prince Jammy
- High Priest of Dub (1982)
- Dub Duel (1982) – with Crucial Bunny
- Scientist Encounters Pac-Man (1982)
- Seducer Dub Wise (1982)
- Scientist Wins the World Cup (1983)
- Dub Duel at King Tubby's (1983) – The Professor
- Scientist & Jammy Strike Back (1983) – with Prince Jammy
- The People's Choice (1983)
- Crucial Cuts Vol. 1 (1984)
- Crucial Cuts Vol. 2 (1984)
- 1999 Dub (1984)
- King of Dub (1987)
- International Heroes Dub (1989)
- Tribute to King Tubby (1990)
- Freedom Fighters Dub (1995)
- Dub in the Roots Tradition (1996)
- Repatriation Dub (1996)
- King Tubby Meets Scientist in a World of Dub (1996) – with King Tubby
- King Tubby's Meets Scientist at Dub Station (1996) – with King Tubby
- Dubbin With Horns (1995)
- Dub Science (1997)
- Dub Science, Dub For Daze, Volume 2 (1997)
- Scientist Meets the Crazy Mad Professor at Channel One Studio (1997)
- Respect Due (Joseph I Meets the Scientist in Tribute to Jackie Mittoo) (1999)
- Mach 1 Beyond Sound Barrier (1999)
- Scientist Dubs Culture Into a Parallel Universe (2000)
- All Hail the Dub Head (2001)
- Ras Portrait (2003)
- Pockets of Resistance (2003)
- Nightshade Meets Scientist (2005) - featuring Wadi Gad
- Dub From the Ghetto (2006) (compilation)
