ENTITY · RIDDIM

Poco Man Jam / Fish Market

Well supported

The Steely & Clevie digital rhythm of 1989, known by two names for the same track: "Fish Market" as the instrumental, "Poco Man Jam" after Gregory Peck's signature cut. Built at the height of the pair's run as the most prolific rhythm-makers in dancehall, it would have been one riddim among hundreds except for what happened next -- Shabba Ranks voiced "Dem Bow" over it in 1990, a Panamanian version followed, and the pattern underneath ended up as the pulse of reggaeton.

It is now the specific work at issue in Steely & Clevie's copyright case in the United States, where it is litigated under the Fish Market name.

No photograph yet — add one you hold the rights toOpenly licensed or your own work. We publish the credit and the licence beside it.

At a glance

Type: Riddim →
Era: Dancehall and the digital turn →
Confidence: Well supported
Sources: Riddimsworld / WhoSampled.

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Connections

Media & sources

Footage

Gregory Peck - Poco Man Jam (Steely & Clevie LP, 1990)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · documents

Youtube upload; embedded as a discovery-only reference pending editorial review.

Source link ↗

Shabba Ranks — "Dem Bow" (Digital B, 1990)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · example

The voicing that carried the rhythm out of Jamaica. Community upload (channel: OldSkoolMusic100); no rights-holder upload of this record was located, and ShabbaRanksVEVO does not carry it. Discovery-only.

Source link ↗

Steely & Clevie — "Fish Market" (1989)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · recording

The instrumental at the centre of the copyright case, under the name the court uses. Community upload (channel: jaramillo507); no rights-holder upload of this track was located. Discovery-only.

Source link ↗

Clevie on where reggaeton came from (Jamaica, 2017)

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · documents

Clevie Browne himself, on camera in 2017, saying reggaeton was born from the Poco Man Jam riddim -- the plaintiff's own account of the claim, given years before the case reached summary judgment. Community upload (channel: Steph Live Up Program). Discovery-only.

Source link ↗

In stories

Story · Well supportedWho owns the riddim?

A rhythm built in a Kingston studio in 1989 travelled to Panama, through New York, into San Juan, and became the pulse of the biggest Spanish-language pop music on earth. A Los Angeles court is now preparing to put the question of who owns it to a jury.