Fast chat: Kingston to South London and back

British reggae deejay (David Emmanuel, 1963 to 2011) of the Saxon Studio International sound, whose fast-chat "Cockney Translation" and "Police Officer" carried UK dancehall onto the pop charts and made him a foundation deejay of the British scene. He died on 15 March 2011, aged 48, of a stab wound sustained during a police raid at his home in Surrey, where officers of the Serious and Organised Crime Command were executing an arrest warrant; he had been due to stand trial the following week accused of conspiracy to supply cocaine. He had recently appeared in the BBC Four documentary Reggae Britannia. His death became a cause in Black British politics and remains contested.

Saxon Studio International is a British reggae sound system that began operating in Lewisham, South London, in 1976 and came to prominence for the "fast chat" MC style pioneered by deejay Peter King. Its roster of microphone talent, including Smiley Culture, Tippa Irie, Papa Levi and Asher Senator, went on to chart success, and the sound itself won the UK Cup Clash in 1992 and became the first UK sound to win the World Clash in 1994.

London-born deejay Philip Williams, a leading voice of the Saxon Studio International sound, credited with sharpening the fast-chat style. His "Mi God Mi King" (1984) is often cited as the first British-produced record to top the Jamaican chart.

A rapid-fire deejay delivery in which lyrics are chatted at double or triple time. Crystallised in Jamaica by deejays such as Ranking Joe and Peter Metro and, in the mid-1980s, sharpened at London's Saxon Studio by Papa Levi and Smiley Culture.

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.

Jamaican dancehall deejay Amos Edwards, one of the most popular fast-chat voices of the late 1980s. He rose on Maurice Johnson's Black Scorpio sound and later worked with King Stur-Gav, delivering hits in a rapid, multi-voiced style.

Ranking Joe (born Joseph Jackson, 1959), early on billed as Little Joe, is a Jamaican deejay who rose to prominence in the 1970s with a fast, fluid toasting style influenced by U-Roy. He first recorded 'Gun Court' for Studio One in 1974, worked King Sturgav and Ray Symbolic sound systems, and reached international audiences when 'Weakheart Fadeaway' became a strong seller for Greensleeves around 1980. His live-in-the-dancehall album 'Dubbing with the Observer' and other LPs typify his prolific late-1970s output.