Joseph Hoo Kim

Joseph 'Jo Jo' Hoo Kim (1942?-) is a Jamaican reggae record producer.

Born into a Chinese Jamaican family, Joseph Hoo Kim was the oldest of four brothers (to Ernest, Paul and Kenneth), who during the 1960s were involved in the jukebox and slot machine industry. In 1970, after the Jamaican government declared the gambling games illegal, Joseph and Ernest decided to turn to the music business and launched a sound-system named Channel One. In 1972, impressed by the Dynamic Sound studio of producer Bunny Lee, Joseph decided to set up the Channel One Studios on Maxfield Avenue (West Kingston). Working on a four-track machine, Syd Bucknor became Lee's first sound engineer. One year later he was replaced by Joseph's brother Ernest. By this time they also had their own pressing plant and label-printing workshop. To gain experience, Hoo Kim decided to give every volunteer producer a free try.

Though they produced some strong records ("Don't Give Up the Fight" by Stranger & Gladdy--their first production, "I Dig You, Baby" by Alton Ellis, and Leroy Smart's "Blackman"), they did not meet with success until the mid-1970s. Beginning with his house band, The Revolutionaries, created in 1975 and featuring Sly and Robbie, rhythmic variations brought about by a harder beat led to the roots-heavy sound soon to be called "rockers".

Their biggest commercial success, "Right Time", by The Mighty Diamonds, was released in 1975, but many other big names came to record in the studio: Leroy Smart, Delroy Wilson, Black Uhuru, Horace Andy, John Holt, Junior Byles, The Wailing Souls, and Dillinger, were a few of them. Among the many labels they created were Well Charge, Channel One, and Hitbound. Greensleeves, Island and Virgin Records have all published their productions at one time or another.

Hoo Kim was the first producer to introduce the re-use of old Studio One rhythms for new productions. Though a very controversial practice in the beginning, it eventually became widespread. In 1976, he brought out the first mix combining versions sung and DJed on the same single with "Truly" by The Jays and Ranking Trevor, a standard for the dancehall culture in the 80s. This record was also the first Jamaican 12-inch single.

Entering a depression after his brother Paul was shot to death during a robbery in 1977, Joseph Hoo Kim's productions became less numerous. At this time, he left Jamaica to escape the violence on the island and established himself professionally in New York. Then in 1979, he renovated his Jamaican studio and began returning there every month to supervise new productions. With Ernest, he opened a subsidiary studio in New York in the early 1980s where many DJs recorded. Among them were Barrington Levy and Barry Brown. In the early 1980s, he launched the "Showdown series" with "clash" albums where each face of an LP was dedicated to one of two dueling DJs. When the dancehall entered the digital era, he withdrew from the Jamaican music business, shut down both studios and settled in New York permanently.

He currently operates a pressing plant in Brooklyn.

Discography

*Various Artists - 1983 - General For All General: Dance Hall Style - Hitbound
*Various Artists - 1984 - Hypocrite Inna Dance Hall Style - Hitbound
*Various Artists - 1984 - Sly & Robbie Presents The Unmetered Taxi - Channel One
*Various Artists - Special Request To All Bad Boys - Hitbound
*Various Artists - Special Request To All Lovers Boys & Girls - Hitbound
*Various Artists - 1976-1979 - Hit Bound: The Revolutionary Sound Of Channel One - Heartbeat Records (1989)
*Various Artists - 1974-1978 - Channel One Well Charged - Pressure Sounds (1997)
*Various Artists - When The Dances Were Changing (Hitbound Selection) - Pressure Sounds (1998)
*Various Artists - Channel One Story (Reggae Anthology)I Shot The Deputy - VP Records (2004)

References

*cite book | author=Larkin, Colin (ed.) | title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae | publisher=Virgin | year= 1998| id=ISBN 0-7535-0242-9
*cite book | author=Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter | title=The Rough Guide to Reggae | publisher=Rough Guides | year=2004 for the 3rd edition | id=ISBN 1-84353-329-4
*cite book | author=Katz, David | title=Solid Foundation - An Oral history of Reggae | publisher=Bloomsburry, UK | year=2003 | id=ISBN 1-58234-143-5