“Half the story has never been told,” Peter Tosh once observed. And so it is with Craig

“Leftside” Parks: The Jamaican drummer, keyboardist, disc jockey, producer, and artist is so

versatile that it can be difficult to grasp the full scope of his accomplishments. Equally at home

performing classical roots reggae or shaping the cutting-edge sounds of 21st century dancehall,

Leftside’s work is heard everywhere, yet he remains an enigma to much of the public.

He’s a man of many talents who goes by many names. Some know him by aliases like

“Leftside” and “Mr. Evil,” other might have seen him playing drums for Bounty Killer on stage or

touring as Sean Paul’s road DJ, but in the beginning he was simply Craig Parks, a young man

born amidst the best of reggae music. As a toddler he accompanied his father, the legendary

bass player Lloyd Parks, to rehearsals with the world-renowned “We The People” Band. “The

foundation drummer was Devon Richards,” recalls Craig Parks. “When he was playing I used to

sit there and watch. And then I went around back and I used to make my own drum set out of

supermarket boxes and stuff like that. At that time I was about like 6, 7… That’s when it all

started.”

While he was still a student at Ardenne High School in Kingston, Jamaica, Parks played in

a band called Duplicate with his brothers and sisters. “We even did a couple recordings at that

time,” he says. “But because of school, we really couldn’t do much.” By the age of 18, Craig was

playing drums in his father’s band, for reggae legends like Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, and

John Holt, as well as visiting R&B acts like Main Ingredient. “Yeah man, the resume is very

good,” he observes with a confident chuckle. “Trust me”.

But long before he began providing musical accompaniment for vintage Jamaican stars,

Parks had begun exploring the future of Jamaican music. Starting around 1995 he began

working as a selector (or disk jockey) on Syndicate Disco, a well-known sound system in

Kingston whose reputation was established by selectors like Zachary Harding (brother of

dancehall producer and future Sean Paul manager Jeremy Harding) and Arif Cooper (son ofThird World bassist Ibo Cooper). Harding and Cooper noticed that Parks always cut and

scratched with his left hand. They called him Leftside, because, he explains, “My left hand does

everything, and I was better at scratching on the left side”.

After a few years, Parks and his high school friend Matthew “Esco” Thompson (the son

of sound engineer Erroll “E.T.” Thompson) moved on to start their own sound under the name

Leftside & Esco. They soon distinguished by the strength of their innovative “dubplate specials,”

exclusive self-produced recordings that could be heard only on their sound. “We built riddims

for the sound, and then would write the dub for the artist,” Leftside explains. “That created a

huge difference in the sound system era. We got a lot of recognition for that, until we started

just recording our own songs.”

Leftside & Esco released their first 45 single with producer Richard Birch of Shaggy’s Big

Yard camp. The song was called “Passa Thing,” a scandalous cut that featured Esco as gossipmongering entertainment journalist interviewing a wide range of dancehall artists —all

flawlessly imitated by Leftside. “I like impersonating people like Bounty Killer, Baby Cham, and

Bling Dawg,” he says. “When we did the video for that it got crazy play.” Fortunately, the artists

involved all took the song in good humor. “They loved it,” Leftside recalls. “When Bounty was

performing, he would call us up to do that song with him. That kind of put us out there.”

Meanwhile Parks was such a prolific beat-builder that he sought other outlets for his

innovative dancehall riddims. He caught the production bug in 1996 when his eldest brother,

keyboardist Noel Parks, gave 16-year-old Craig his first drum machine. “It was a Roland, and

that’s all I remember—it was very old,” Craig recalls with a laugh. “I was always a fan of the oldschool dancehall like Dave Kelly era and Steely & Clevie and Sly & Robbie. So I used to build

tracks like theirs. I was just messing around, and my brother told me that I had the talent to

build riddims.”The following year, Craig linked with veteran producer Cordell “Scatta” Burrell and

began releasing riddims on a label called Kings of Kings. The earliest releases were immediate

hits, starting with the “Chiney Gal” riddim (including Cecile’s breakthrough hit “Changez” and

Sizzla’s “Blaze Up the Chalwah”), and the “Double Jeopardy” riddim. But none of his early

productions hit harder than the massive “Martial Arts” riddim (including Sizzla’s massive

“Karate,” Beenie Man’s “Bad Man Chi Chi,” and Bounty Killer’s “Look Good”). “I’m really really

proud of ‘Martial Arts’,” says Parks, “cause that gave me a lot of street cred in Jamaica and in

England and places like that. Everybody knew that I did that track. Everybody.” (Both Leftside

and Esco went on to play in a band called Martial Arts which backed dancehall stars Wayne

Marshall and Bounty Killer.)

Leftside & Esco established their own Pacemakers label in 2001, and began cranking out

hit songs as both producers and artists. But Leftside continued working with other labels as

well. He produced a full Sizzla album with Kings of Kings, as well as building riddims (sometimes

without credit) for Stone Love label and Q45, Elephant Man’s manager. Leftside played the

music for stand-out tracks like “Tall Up Tall Up” and “Bad Man A Bad Man.” When Elephant

began working with Don Corleon, Leftside stepped in to play keyboards on Elly’s biggest

international hits, “Pon Di River Pon Di Bank” and “Signal Di Plane.” Propelling him to a

household name where Leftside’s extensive productions and track work on Bounty Killer’s 2002

double disc Ghetto Dictionary, Wayne Wonder’s internationally successful 2003 No Holding

Back album, Sean Paul’s multiplatinum album The Trinity (Atlantic 2005). By 2005, Leftside &

Esco began focusing on performance. Songs like “Stay Far” and “Wine Up Pon Haar” became

dancehall favorites. Their biggest hit to date, a humorous sexy single called “Tuck Een Yuh

Belly,” topped the Jamaican charts for 9 weeks as well as cracking the charts in Trinidad,

England, and Canada. “That ‘Throwback Giggy’ riddim was our production,” says Leftside of the

smash track—also featuring hits by Buju Banton and Vybz Kartel—that was widely credited with

reviving the raw energy of ’90s dancehall.Leftside is just old enough know about vintage reggae, just young enough to keep up

with the latest dancehall, and wise enough to avoid the confusion that can come with hip hop

fusion. Where so many Jamaican producers water down their sound with “hip hop remixes,”

he’s determined to win international attention without changing his style. “What I realize with

the hip hop market, they don’t try to change their formula,” Leftside observes. “The only thing

that’s different is new equipment, so you’re getting new sounds. But the groove is still the

same. So they’re able to flow and keep that level of music for the people. That’s what I try to do

with dancehall… Keep that formula that drew people from other countries to our music. I try to

change the sound a little bit, and you done know it’s a bit more lyrical, but I still try to keep it

simple, and as bare-knuckle as possible. That’s the real hardcore dancehall. And it works, cause

all of my riddims still play in parties, where others fade away.”

As accomplished as he is as a producer, Leftside says he could never give up the thrill of

being performing. “I love it 50/50, you know I mean?” he says. “Me being an artist helps me to

develop myself as well as my production, and I can deliver an album on my own. I love

developing other artists, but I love being an artist too.” With Esco going his own way in recent

years, Leftside’s now rocking as a solo artist. But he does have a new sidekick of sorts in his

demented alter-ego “Mr. Evil”—a spontaneous idea that took on a life of its own.

“I was in the studio doing dubplates for Renaissance Disco, and Austin Powers the movie

was on,” Leftside recalls with amusement. “I just started freestyling in that Dr. Evil voice, and

the guys from Renaissance loved it. They played it on dub at Bounty Killer’s birthday bash, and

it was the tune for the night.” By the next day he was getting calls from as far away as Italy and

Germany requesting “Evil” dubs. But Mr. Evil’s biggest break came with the brilliant 2007 track

“More Punany,” a song that sums up Leftside’s many gifts in one 3-minute track. The riddim

blends a futuristic digital beat, a chopped and screwed vocal loop, and a sample from a classic

“Real Rock” version—“my father played the bassline on it,” he says, “so that’s why I took it.”

Then comes Mr. Evil’s bugged-out flow with its distinctively syncopated stutter and rhymes like“punany” and “tsunami.” The song was not only a smash in Jamaica but also hit the top of

Italy’s dancehall chart as well as breaking into rotation on Hot 97FM New York, America’s

leading hip hop station. On the strength of that record’s impact, Leftside signed a deal with NYbased Sequence Records to release his debut album in 2008.

With his newly established Keep Left Records label, Leftside is setting his sights on the

next level—and developing other artists like Keida and Syon — without losing touch with the

source of his inspiration. His latest riddims, like “Hot Winter,” “Dem Time Deh,” and “Drop

Drawers” are winning a strong reception across the Caribbean. He says he’s being “very

selective” about working with other producers although he did record two singles for producer

Steven McGregor, an anti-haters song called “See Dem A Pree” on the “Dark Again” riddim, and

“Stamina Man” on the “Two Thousand Seventies” riddim. Leftside likes the idea of joining

forces with the son of reggae legend Freddie McGregor. “I’ve actually played drums for Freddie

live,” Leftside explains. “So he’s very happy that I’m doing work with his son. It’s like a dream

for him, for his kids and his band mate’s (Lloyd Parks) kids to link up and do work together.”

Whatever you call him, one things for sure: you’re going to be hearing a lot more from

Craig Parks as he takes his rightful place as one of the biggest talents in Jamaican music.