Artist: Ninjaman Genre(s):
Reggae
Other
Discography:
Hardcore Killing Year: 2000
Tracks: 12
Ninja Is A Ninja Year: 1999
Tracks: 11
Hollow Point Bad Boy... Year: 1994
Tracks: 14
Ting A Ling A Ling A School Pickney Sing Ting Year: 1992
Tracks: 12
Setttle All Score Year:
Tracks: 17
One of the to the highest degree democratic dancehall DJs of the late '80s and early '90s, Ninjaman was also possibly the almost controversial, thanks to his often trigger-happy, progun lyrics. His bad-man mental image overshadowed the fact that he was a tremendously talented freestyle lyricist, and the owner of a theatrical, stuttering livery that made him a highly distinctive wassailer. What was more, he did dig into social comment at times, protesting war and the harsh realities of ghetto animation rather than glamorizing their attender violence. By the late '90s, Ninjaman was fashioning far more than headlines imputable to his troubled personal life than his music, merely tied if his recording activities had tailed off, he remained a pop -- and still polarizing -- concert act.Ninjaman was born Desmond John Ballentine on January 20, 1966, in Annotto Bay, in the Jamaican responsibility of St. Mary. His fellowship moved to Kingston when he was 11, and he started DJing a year by and by under the list Double Ugly. Initially playing for the Black Culture sound arrangement, he affected over to the Kilimanjaro organisation in the early '80s, and thither got the probability to con from Super Cat and Early B. He changed his name to Uglyman, so Ninjaman when some other artist of the same list came fore. Kilimanjaro started its have label, and in 1987 Ninjaman got the chance to make -- and self-produce -- his outset single, a pas de deux with Courtney Melody called "Protection." It was a winner, and light-emitting diode to further hit collaborations under producer Lloyd Dennis in 1988, to the highest degree notably "Cover Me" with Tinga Stewart and "Zig It Up" with Flourgon.Over the next few years, Ninjaman recorded prolifically for a variety show of producers, including King Jammy, Philip "Fatis" Burrell, Redman, Ini Kamoze, Bobby Digital, Gussie Clarke, and Steely & Clevie, among others. His hits all over the old age 1989-1992 accomplished his figure of speech as ane of the virtually dangerous yokelish boys around: the controversial "Polish off Dem," the temperature reduction "Permit to Bury," "Border Clash," "Laugh and Grin (Excited Ninja)," "Test the High Power," "My Weapon," "Above the Law," "Reality Yuh Want." He too continued to cut duets with partners like Cocoa Tea, Gregory Isaacs, and Linval Thompson, and teamed up with both Shabba Ranks and Admiral Tibett for "Time Is Serious." As Ninjaman's popularity began to plan of attack that of Ranks -- at least in Jamaica, where all the gunman talk wasn't up to now a liability -- the deuce struck up a spirited rivalry, trading barbs at many a concert clash. At the stature of his notoriety, Ninjaman christened himself with the alternate designation "Original Front Tooth, Gold Tooth, Gun Pon Tooth Don Gorgon," and inspired a legion of imitators with their own ninja-themed names.By 1993, however, Ninjaman's gun-toting rude boy image was beginning to goading a backlash. Criticized as irresponsible, he began to discover it more and more hard to catch recording or performing gigs. He worked with producers Henry "Junjo" Lawes and Junior Reid during this period, merely his life history momentum was fading fast, and by the mid-'90s his recording activity had tailed off considerably. Battling problems with break cocaine, in 1997 Ninjaman became a reborn Christian, and began playacting gospel reggae tunes below the constitute Brother Desmond. The switch wasn't entirely permanent, however, leading to condemnations from some in Jamaica's Christian community.That was only the start of a series of incidents that kept Ninjaman's name in the headlines in cattiness of the decline of his transcription vocation. True to the type he played in the 1999 film
Third World Cop, he had various run-ins with the law during the later '90s; among other allegations, he was accused of raping a womanhood at knifepoint in his domicile, and -- to the highest degree severely -- murdering a cab driver in late 1999. He was acquitted on those charges, merely convicted of unlawfully possessing a small-arm and ammo, and sentenced to a class in pokey (as well in late 1999). While serving his sentence, Ninjaman was reportedly assaulted by prison guards for attempting to shell his cellmate from a whacking. Things didn't cool it down upon his tone ending, either; in July 2001, he was rush to a hospital after hurt several machete wounds, some to the head, from a family fellow trying to fail up a physical dispute between him and his precedent married woman. (He was later charged with domestic assault.) Several months by and by, he was arrested for driving unpredictably. In the summer of 2002, he was arrested once more following a profanity-laced broadside at the Reggae Carifest, which resulted in his existence dropped from subsequent fete engagements.
