Guy Lochhead, 01/01/11
Jamaican toaster who achieved huge crossover success in the late ’80s and early ’90s with hip hop-tinged, sexed-up dancehall/reggaeton fusion delivered in his unique deep, gravelly, “slack” style. Before his 1988 single ‘Needle Eye Poonani’, Ranks was a pretty standard young toaster. The new explicitness on that single garnered him huge attention in Jamaica and, later, the rest of the world. His lyrics are frequently sexist and he’s explicitly homphobic, both on- and off-record. In an interview with Mark Lamarr on The Word in 1992 he called for the crucifixion of homosexuals. He released his last album in 1998. He currently lives in New York City. Dangerous moron.