Big Youth

Manley Buchanan worked as a diesel mechanic at Kingston's Sheraton Hotel before turning to music, developing his toasting style informally while on the job, which is where co-workers nicknamed him "Big Youth." Initially inspired by U-Roy, he began performing at local dances and by 1970 had become the resident deejay for Lord Tippertone's sound system.

His 1973 debut album, Screaming Target, is regarded as a classic of the deejay era, mixing rapid-fire chatting with explicitly Rastafarian themes of Black consciousness and spirituality at a time when the style was still closely associated with U-Roy's more playful, dance-oriented toasting. Through the mid-1970s he dominated Jamaican charts, recording with leading producers including Bunny Wailer, Joe Gibbs, and Yabby You.

Big Youth's work carried influence well beyond Jamaica: his chanting style and rebel imagery were cited as an inspiration by figures in the emerging British punk scene, including members of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, who drew on reggae's outsider stance and rhythmic vocal delivery.

He remained an active recording and touring artist in the decades that followed, continuing to perform at reggae festivals internationally, and is remembered as one of the genre's most important early voices for linking toasting to Rastafarian cultural and political expression.