Max Romeo

• Genre: Roots Reggae
• Hometown: St D'Acre

About

He's gone through several stylistic changes, but Romeo's incendiary lyrics have always found a way to bother someone. When he started as a singer in the 1960s, his crude, sexual lyrics caused England to ban his singles. When he was reborn in the '70s as a devout Rastafarian, his politicized, socially aware lyrics led the Jamaican government to prohibit "War Ina Babylon" (created with Lee Perry in the Black Ark studios) from being played on the radio. To this day, Romeo's smooth tenor wail can make you sit up and listen, as he powerfully inhabits his heavy Roots tracks.

- Jessy Terry