ENTITY · PERSON
Peter Metro
Well supported
Peter Clarke, born in Kingston around 1960 and billed Peter Metro, took his name from the sound he worked for: he began as Peter Ranking, found another deejay using it, and switched to the sound where he was resident deejay — Metromedia. He is acknowledged as the first multilingual reggae toaster, chatting in Spanish as well as English, which made him a genuine star across Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean at a point when Jamaican music was assumed to travel only as far as English did. He released five albums through the 1980s, and kept his profile through joint records with Yellowman and Fathead — Yellowman, Fathead and the one Peter Metro (1982) and Live With Yellowman and Sassafrass (1984). He appeared at Reggae Sunsplash in 1987 alongside the English deejay Dominic, captured on the Dancehall X '87 video.
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debate
Fast style: Jamaican invention or a South London refinement?
A documented discussion about the origins of the rapid fast-chat deejay style, stated neutrally: one account roots it firmly in Jamaica's dancehalls with deejays such as Ranking Joe and Peter Metro; another emphasises that it was crystallised and popularised at London's Saxon Studio by Papa Levi and Smiley Culture before returning to the island. Neutral framing; no verdict. Sources: Lloyd Bradley, Bass Culture; Rough Guide to Reggae; United Reggae.
Stance: born in Jamaica's dancehalls vs crystallised in South London and re-exported