Hit the Jump if you want to read Leonard Smalls final encounter with Lee Perry. Hint: it includes a stripper pole, space make-up, some questionable towels, a BBQ and the Jamaican Souljah Boy. OH, and Lee “Fucking” Perry dancing in videos, smiling like a madman. What more in holy hell could you ask for…?
Final Dispatch:
It’s Sunday afternoon and myself, Lee’s publicist at Narnack Records and the video producer are rolling to the Platinum Elite, a Kingston strip club that today will double as a nightclub for the video. Upstairs are the requisite poles and velour couches you’d see at any strip club. Downstairs has been designated a staging area where Lee will get his make-up applied, shots will be worked out, etc. I walk upstairs. There are about 15 gorgeous Caribbean women wearing essentially handkerchiefs and dental floss writhing around the club.
Today will be fun.
Let me backtrack a bit. The video is for “Pum Pum,” a song off Lee’s album Repentance out this August on Narnack. “Pum Pum,” as I find out today, is Jamaican slang for, um, a part of the female body that also starts with “Pu…,” so the video director decided to set the scene in a nightclub with women dancing all around Lee. I do not disagree with this interpretation.
Lee arrives a bit later with a plastic bag of “special” towels that he insists be in the video. Expecting ornate, traditional Jamaican towels, I’m both amused and disappointed to see Lee pull out what may be the three most touristy towels on the planet. I’m not really sure what Harley Davidson has to do with Jamaica, but apparently their logo is represented here, at the very least, in towel form
So my day consists of shadowing Lee on set and trying not to be too obvious staring at the dancers. Today’s shoot goes seven hours and I can’t complain about a single minute of it. Lee looks like he’s having a blast (check the videos below) and the whole experience becomes this strange, surreal blur.
After talking about the kitty kat for the whole song, the track ends, “Pum pum comes/Pum pum goes/but Jesus Christ remains.” That’s Lee in a nutshell. Able to praise Jesus while dental floss and handkerchiefs dance in caramel chaos around him.
And it all makes sense.
Your Man In Jamaica,
Leonard Smalls
Sure, it’s a little (lot) blurry, but it’s Lee Perry clapping…with strippers!
His Greatness makes an appearance at the end…
Check out that smile…
Lee’s Magic Shoes…
…and Magic Hat…
Some of the entertainment…
Lee finding some magic of his own…
Jamaican Souljah Boy #1-3…
Jamaican Souljah Boy #4-7…
Applying his Space Make-Up…
…and finally, where Lee deserves to be: surrounded by beautiful women, donned in Magic Footwear and matching Hat…
Click HERE to read Dispatches From the Edge, vol I
Click HERE to read Dispatches From the Edge, vol II: Leonard Lands in Jamaica
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