World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Dennis Alcapone

Artist. Reggae

Active
1970-present
Sunrise
August 6, 1947, Clarendon, Jamaica
Also known as
The Master Blaster

Dennis Smith, who deejays as Dennis Alcapone, was, in Bradley's words, "the second toaster to enjoy sustained recorded success," after U-Roy, and the Rough Guide calls him U-Roy's main rival.

He built his El Paso Hi-Fi sound system in Waterhouse in 1969 with friends, and by the following year was recording. Duke Reid brought him to Treasure Isle and put him over the rocksteady catalog Reid already owned, which produced "DJ's Choice," "Wake Up Jamaica," and a run of others. Playing instrumentals on the sound system, he said, "is how we developed our toasting deejaying skills." Reid was his favorite producer: unlike Coxsone, "He was always around."

Where U-Roy had "excitable jive talk," the Rough Guide hears in Alcapone a "half-sung, rhyming style that was peppered with sudden high-pitched whoops and imitations of crowing cockerels"; Bradley calls it "melodic, almost sing-jay." He recorded for Coxsone Dodd, Bunny Lee, Keith Hudson, and Lee Perry as well as Reid, and Forever Version (1971) and Guns Don't Argue (1971) collected the results.

He moved to England in 1973, which reduced his output considerably, gave up music for his family, and came back in the late 1980s, encouraged by Steve Barrow, to tour Europe.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Bradley calls him "the second toaster to enjoy sustained recorded success," after U-Roy, and says each could sell "around 70,000 copies of a release." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 296, 302. The Rough Guide calls him "U-Roy's main rival" and says he cut "more than 130 tracks" between 1970 and 1973. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 124.
  2. Bradley places Alcapone in 1969 "deejaying his own El Paso sound system in Waltham Park Road." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 296. Alcapone told Angus Taylor that he and his friends named the sound after Marty Robbins's "El Paso," since another sound in the area was called El Toro. Angus Taylor, "Dennis Alcapone Interview Part 1," United Reggae, November 17, 2009, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n295/111709/dennis-alcapone-interview-part-1. Katz says the sound took its name from Marty Robbins's "El Paso," and places it on Brotherton Avenue in one piece and "further west at Waltham Park Road" in another. David Katz, "Country Music in Jamaica," Red Bull Music Academy Daily, May 25, 2015, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/05/reggae-country-feature; David Katz, "'Original Raggamuffin' Jah Stitch, Pioneering Reggae Vocalist, Dies Aged 69," Guardian, May 2, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/02/original-raggamuffin-jah-stitch-pioneering-reggae-vocalist-dies-aged-69.
  3. Bradley says he had "a few underachieving releases for small labels in 1970" before his run of hits. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 299. Alcapone says his first records were "about 10 songs" for Keith Hudson, followed by Studio One, where his first record was "Nanny Version." Taylor, "Alcapone Interview Part 1."
  4. The Rough Guide says Reid "soon found another distinguished deejay to repeat the success of U-Roy." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 124. Its Treasure Isle deejay set includes Alcapone's "DJ's Choice" and "Wake Up Jamaica"; "Guns Don't Argue" and "Ripe Cherry" were Bunny Lee productions. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 125. Alcapone says his Treasure Isle connection began through Reid's engineer Byron Smith, and that Reid had him version John Holt's "Sister Big Stuff" as "Teach the Children," which "was number one on both radio stations"; he names "Guns Don't Argue" and "Ripe Cherry" (on the "Cherry Oh Baby" rhythm) among his Bunny Lee records. Taylor, "Alcapone Interview Part 1."
  5. Angus Taylor, "Dennis Alcapone Interview Part 1," United Reggae, November 17, 2009, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n295/111709/dennis-alcapone-interview-part-1.
  6. The Rough Guide contrasts U-Roy's "excitable jive talk" with Alcapone's "half-sung, rhyming style that was peppered with sudden high-pitched whoops and imitations of crowing cockerels." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 124. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 299.
  7. The Rough Guide lists Reid, Dodd, Bunny Lee, and Keith Hudson as his main producers, and Lee Perry, Joe Gibbs, Prince Buster, Alvin Ranglin, Prince Tony Robinson, J.J. Johnson, and Phil Pratt among the others. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 124. See also Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 299.
  8. The Rough Guide calls Forever Version "Clement Dodd's answer to U-Roy's classic Version Galore" and dates the original album to 1971; Guns Don't Argue was his first album for Bunny Lee. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 125.
  9. Alcapone told Taylor that he first came to Britain in 1973, overstayed a six-week visit, and returned to stay in 1974 with the Jamaican Showcase tour; Taylor calls him "a resident of the United Kingdom since 1974." Angus Taylor, "Dennis Alcapone Interview Part 2," United Reggae, November 23, 2009, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n297/112309/dennis-alcapone-interview-part-2; Taylor, "Alcapone Interview Part 1." Bradley says he was among the artists who "settled in England on the back of their success." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 249.
  10. Alcapone says he gave up music for his family until the late 1980s, when Steve Barrow, then compiling reissues for Trojan, encouraged his return; he played WOMAD in 1989 and then toured Europe, including with Mad Professor. Taylor, "Alcapone Interview Part 2."

World of Jamaican Music: the whole map