First, a note of gratitude to NPR for devoting (at least) two on-air segments and one website story to Jamaican deejay U-Roy, who passed away last week.

U-Roy got his start in the Kingston dancehall scene in the early 1960s. At the time, sound system deejays typically worked with just one turntable, so the music stopped whenever they changed records. To fill the gap, deejays chatted and rhymed, exhorting patrons to join the dance or telling them what record they were about to play. They began to add their patter in the middle of songs, cleverly interacting with the recording as if the singers and players were with the deejay, performing live. Then came dub music, where sound engineers created remixes with most of the vocals removed. Dub provided almost unlimited space to rhyme, or toast, over the record. It wasn't long before deejays were making their own records, commiting their witty boasts and rhymes to vinyl.