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Childhood friends with Augustus Pablo, teenage apprentice to King Tubbys, “Prince” Philip Smart would later move from Kington to New York and establish the most important reggae recording studio in the USA. The very first song produced at HC&F Studios was a crossover hit for the band Monyaka, who’d invested sweat equity into their recording time by helping to construct the Freeport, Long Island studio with their own hands. Over the years, numerous historic recording sessions went down at Smart’s soundlab that helped to spread reggae music into the American pop charts and around the world, as did his weekly radio show on WNYU FM, Get Smart! As friends, family and music lovers mourn the man—who passed away last week—what better time to take a deep dive into the music and reflect on all the works one man in his late 50s could accomplish on earth. Many of Philip Smart’s hardest selections, including Scion Sashay Success futuristic digi-dancehall cut “The Trainer,” are includied on the hard-to-find compilation Five Borough Fire, which is well worth the effort of hunting down on eBay. In one of many tributes that appeared following the tragic news, Clinton Lindsay quotes Sting International saying, Father Phil was “a man who gave so much and asked for nothing.” Make sure to tune into the next episode of the Strictly Boomshots show on RadioLily.com for a musical celebration of the man known affectionately by so many as “Father Phil.” Click Through The Gallery Above To Start The Countdown
