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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Eek-A-Mouse

Artist. Dancehall

Active
1979-present
Sunrise
November 19, 1957, Kingston, Jamaica
Also known as
The Mouse

Ripton Joseph Hilton took the name Eek-A-Mouse from a racehorse he used to bet on, which lost consistently until he stopped backing it and then won.

He stands six foot six and took scatting, Bradley says, "way beyond any logical conclusion as he beng beng, biddy beng beng, skiddy beng biddy beng-ed through tales of love, life and sufferation." The sounds came to him around 1978, walking down the road; friends liked them, so he developed them. "I sing in a style that's my own style," he says. One reviewer speaks of "his nasal delivery and goofy ad-libs." With "Wa-Do-Dem," the Rough Guide says, "was born 'singjay,'" though it traces the "abstract and oriental-sounding utterances" to Ranking Joe.

He recorded for Henry "Junjo" Lawes with the Roots Radics behind him and Scientist mixing. "Wa-Do-Dem" (1981), which Lawes cut after hearing him ad-lib on a sound system, spent seven weeks atop the Jamaican chart, and "Ganja Smuggling," "Assassinator," and "Terrorists in the City" followed. On the serious roots tracks, the same reviewer writes, he "tones down the falsetto and gets real."

He has recorded intermittently since, appeared in films including New Jersey Drive, and continues to tour.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide and Bradley both give his name as Ripton Hilton; the Rough Guide gives his birth as 1957, Kingston, and says he first recorded under that name in the late 1970s as "a conventional roots singer in the reflective Pablo Moses mould." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 266; Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 506. Wikipedia spells it Ripton Joseph Hylton. "Eek-A-Mouse," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eek-A-Mouse.
  2. The Rough Guide says he changed his name "reputedly after a racehorse he had followed and lost money on." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 266. Wikipedia says he took the name in 1979 after betting on the horse and that friends had already used it as a nickname. "Eek-A-Mouse," Wikipedia.
  3. Bradley says he "took scatting way beyond any logical conclusion as he beng beng, biddy beng beng, skiddy beng biddy beng-ed through tales of love, life and sufferation." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 506. "The Mouse That Roars," Westword, accessed November 5, 2026, https://www.westword.com/music/the-mouse-that-roars-5055769/; Patrick Taylor, "Eek-A-Mouse: Reggae Anthology: Eek-Ology," RapReviews, December 17, 2013, https://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2013_12_eek-ology.html.
  4. The Rough Guide says that with "Wa Do Dem" "was born 'singjay'," "a style that was not quite straight singing or deejaying," but credits the "abstract and oriental-sounding utterances" to a style "originated by Ranking Joe" on Stur-Gav. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 266-67. Wikipedia calls him "one of the earliest artists to be described as a singjay." "Eek-A-Mouse," Wikipedia.
  5. The Rough Guide says Junjo used the Roots Radics and then Chinna Smith's High Times Band, usually at Channel One. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 266.
  6. The Rough Guide says Joe Gibbs held back the original cut of "Wa Do Dem" and that Eek-A-Mouse's second recording of the lyric became a hit for Junjo. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 267, 283. Wikipedia dates the first version to 1979, for Douglas Boothe, and the recut to 1981. "Eek-A-Mouse," Wikipedia. On the chart run, "The Mouse That Roars."
  7. The Rough Guide places "Terrorist in the City" on his second album for Linval Thompson, not Junjo. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 287. Wikipedia dates "Ganja Smuggling" to 1982 and "Assassinator" to 1985, produced by Anthony and Ronald Welch. "Eek-A-Mouse," Wikipedia.
  8. Wikipedia lists his roles in New Jack City (1991) and Out for Justice (1991); it does not mention New Jersey Drive. "Eek-A-Mouse," Wikipedia.

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