Louie Culture
Artist. Dancehall, revival
- Active
- 1980s-present
- Also known as
- Lewin Brown, Gangalee
Louie Culture is a deejay and singjay of serious, cultural themes, as his name announces, and the "Gangalee" of one of the biggest dancehall records of the 1990s.
Born Lewin Brown, a country man from Portland, he first recorded in the mid-1980s as half of the duo Wayne and Louie, with a couple of minor dancehall hits for Redman, then kept a low profile. "Gangalee," released in 1994 on the Stone Love sound's Father Pow label, brought him back and remains his biggest record. A gangalee, he said, is a freedom fighter; his method was to give producers what they wanted until they had to take what he wanted to give them, "and that is Culture."
He followed it with "reality" tunes for producers across the island, among them Bobby Digital, Fatis Burrell's Xterminator, John John, Tony Rebel's Flames, Buju Banton's CB 321, Steely and Clevie and Cocoa Tea's Roaring Lion. The Rough Guide set his melodic delivery against the gravel-voiced growl of many better-known deejays and counted him among the most reliable in the business. Other favorites include "Bogus Badge" and "Rudie Don't Fear." His albums include The Uprising (2004) and Cyaah Dead (2020). In 2020 Dexta Daps built "Call Me If" on "Gangalee," bringing the tune to a new generation, and in 2026 Louie Culture was finishing a new album with John John.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Fatis Burrell (producer)
- Bobby Digital (producer)
- Steely & Clevie (producer)
- Buju Banton (producer)
- Tony Rebel (producer)
- Cocoa Tea (producer)
- Wee Pow (producer)
Notes
- Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 370-71.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 371, which gives his birth name. Yasmine Peru, "New Album from the 'Ole Gangalee' Louie Culture," Jamaica Gleaner, September 7, 2026, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260907/new-album-ole-gangalee-louie-culture, on Portland.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 371, which spells the title "Ganga Lee." Stephanie Lyew, "The 'Real Gangalee' Still Standing Firm in Music," Jamaica Gleaner, March 12, 2023, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20230312/real-gangalee-still-standing-firm-music, on the 1994 release. "Louie Hails Dexta Daps," Jamaica Observer, November 20, 2020, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2020/11/20/louie-hails-dexta-daps, which places it on the Corduroy rhythm.
- Karie Russell, "Louie Culture," Reggae Report 12, no. 9 (1994), https://reggaereport.com/?p=917.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 371.
- Ras Achis, "The Return of Louie Culture," United Reggae, June 18, 2010, https://unitedreggae.com/news/n652/061810/the-return-of-louie-culture, which dates The Uprising to 2004 and names "Bogus Badge" and "Rudie Don't Fear" among the crowd favorites. "Louie Hails Dexta Daps," on Cyaah Dead, produced by Devon Bradshaw.
- Lyew, "The 'Real Gangalee.'" Peru, "New Album from the 'Ole Gangalee.'"
