"KING SALIM"
THE BIO
SCENE 1 - "SCHOOL DAZE"
Salim's journey into music began as a young child. He was raised in a household full of music, as many Jamaican homes are. From the age of 4, his father would record him singing the words of his favorite songs, "Every mornin' she wake up an a put on di makeup...an di dread don't like it!..." He moved to New York and then to Miami, where he got into hip-hop dancing. During middle school days, he became one of Miami's top dancers, winning competitions and performing at many shows. He started dancing for a rap group called "School Daze" that was managed by Max Gousse, who later went on to manage and produce Adina Howard. It was Max who planted the seed by asking Salim, "Do you think you write a reggae verse for one of the School Daze songs?" Immediately, Salim began to write what would be his first original song. By the time he reached high school, his songwriting skills had almost caught up to his dancing skills when his life took a major turn. His mother, concerned that his school work was suffering because he was putting to much energy into the entertainment industry, sent him back to his father in Jamaica to finish school. Salim headed back home to Jamaica that summer.
SCENE 2 - "SUMMER 92'"
Summer of 92' Salim got familiar with all the sessions and clubs that he could. "Top Line" tuesdays, "Mingles" wednesdays, "House Of Leo" Thursdays, "Godfather's" fridays, "Mirage" saturdays, and "Supa D" sundays! During this time Salim met Craigy Dread. Craigy knew all the new dances from Jamaica and Salim had the hip-hop dances down packed so they traded moves. When they hit the dance floor everyone would stop dancing a gather around to see the show! As the summer ended and school started, Salim got ready for school at Priory.
SCENE 3 - "DUBS, DUBS, AND MORE DUBS"
Scene opens with Salim, Dino, Lugo and crew in the Priory bathroom deejaying. Students would gather every day at lunch for the show! The reality that there really wasn't a market for hip-hop dancing in Jamaica had finally began to sink in, and Salim's focus turned towards songwriting. That year, they skulled school as much as possible just to make it down to Arrows Dub Studio. It took a while, but finally they made it past the first door into the studio, where they would vibe with many artists like Roundhead, Ghost & Culture, PowerMan, and crew. Salim and Dino would save any money they could to record dub plates for different sounds. Then they would take the dubs to the selectors at the dances and hope to hear them play. Most big sounds in Jamaica have a "King Salim & Dino" dub somewhere in their box!
SCENE 4 - "BIG SHIP SAILIN' ON THE OCEAN"
It was summer of 93' and the next obvious step was to record a 45. Salim linked up with Freddy McGreggor's Big Ship Studios, where he made his first official recording called "No Dog" on a riddim produced by Aswad's son, Jermaine Forde. "No Dog" was a counteraction to Beenie Man's song "Old Dog". The lyrics were very clever "Mi a no dog mi a MAN!...Mi afi wonda whe some bway born from!..." Salim wasn't completely happy with the final product but learned allot from the experience. It was then that he realized that he wanted to know more about the studio and production.
SCENE 5 - "TO COLLEGE FOR KNOWLEDGE"
It was off to school again! Salim applied for college at University of Miami, and was accepted. Despite all the skulling of school, Salim had good grades and a high S.A.T. score. Math and Science were his strongest subjects so he chose to major in medicine. It seemed like a logical choice at the time. He kept on writing though and made a good link in Miami with Luther McKenzie, who worked with Shang Records. Through him Salim got on many big shows in like Shabba's World Unity Concert and many others. Luther is one of the most successful promoters in Miami, so Salim got many opportunities to take the stage. During this time he also was able to meet most of Shang's artists like Mad Cobra & Patra. Being around Shang made it clear to Salim that he definitely wanted to produce as well as perform. The plan was to produce a riddim with some major artists as well as himself and Dino. He wanted to kick off the project with Cobra. Salim got a price from him and immediately started preparing to hit Jamaica for spring break to record.
SCENE 6 - "BETRAYALS"
So Salim finds an executive producer, he and Dino write the song for Cobra, and they fly to Jamaica to start the project. They record Cobra, Spragga, Flourgan, and Gringo. Salim decides to give "No Dog" to Gringo because he had a couple big counteractions out. "Bway, mi a try ease off di counteraction ting this year!", said Gringo after Salim let him hear the song. So he recorded a different song called "Cradle Robber" The executive producer backed out at the last minute and the project went on the shelf! Salim & Dino returned to Miami feeling defeated. Next thing you know, Salim hears "No Dog" at a club on the Beach. As soon as he left Jamaica, Gringo records "No Dog" for Stone Love's label. On the next trip Salim hits the Record Factory where he meets Kentucky Kid, who was at that time an unknown artist. Salim couldn't figure out why Kentucky loved his song "Clap Yu Hands" so much! "Sing it again fi mi nuh?", Kentucky kept asking. So Salim kept singing it. Low and behold, as he flies back to Miami and hits the clubs, what does he hear? "Clap Yu Hands", by Kentucky Kid! Big things! Kentucky buss! The anger swelled inside as Salim contemplated what he really wanted to do to Kentucky. But good prevailed and Salim decided to take the whole experience as a validation of his writing ability. And he moves on.
SCENE 7 - "GETTIN' SERIOUS!"
At this point, Salim is tired of all the bull! He decides to change his major to Audio Engineering & Production. U.M. didn't have the best program for that so he looked around for the best and found FULL SAIL CENTER FOR THE RECORDING ARTS. A 32 Studio facility with the best equipment and staff in the world! He wasted no time and enrolled. At Full Sail, Salim learned how to use everything in the studio from digital to analog. He graduated in the top 10% of his class. The plan was to go back to Jamaica right after graduation, but he ended up getting an internship at Miami's top studio "Criteria" He interned for a couple months, but was unhappy with the situation so he started sending out resumes. He almost immediately got a call from Ikus Studios, owned by one of Bob Marley's close friends Gilly Dread. Their Engineer/Producer had disappeared and they needed someone ASAP. It was at Ikus where Salim began to gain real-world experience working with the likes of Erika Badu, Stephen Marley, Willie Lindo, and many major record labels.
SCENE 8 - "THE RE-EDUCATION"
It's now year 2000 and Salim is at home one day relaxing when the phone rings. "Hi, Salim this is Lauryn Hill and I'm looking for an engineer/programmer that knows Pro Tools and the MPC REAL WELL!" He had never spoken to her before and didn't even know how she got his number! Turns out that they had a friend in common, Rohan Marley. He had heard that Salim went to Full Sail and was doing well. So he found his number and Salim was off to New Jersey the next day. Lauryn had just been through a law suit and had gotten rid of her whole back-stabbing staff so Salim had do many different functions, which Full Sail had prepared him for. He went on the road with her throughout the US and Europe. When she go pregnant, she decided to relax for a while so Salim started freelancing in NY. He worked with many Hip-hop acts like WuTang, Rockefeller, and The Beatnuts, who he recorded a collaboration "Sweet Dreams" with on High Times Record's THC album. Salim was now ready for the next level!
SCENE 9 - "SIRENS WAILING!"
After the whole 911 experience that Salim watched from 10 blocks away, he decided to head south back to Miami in 2003 where TrackHouse Entertainment was born. He began making riddims like crazy. Mostly dancehall and one-drop, but occasionally a hip-hop or r&b riddim. By 2004, he built up his catalog to hundreds of riddims and songs. Back at Ikus studios he met Ellis, a producer who had been instrumental in the careers of artists like Super Cat, Cutty Ranks, and the r&b group Liberty City. Ellis wanted to start a project. The plan was to pick 2 riddims. One made by his son's production Diggas Beats and another from Salim's TrackHouse, then record the top artists from each camp in Jamaica on them. Digga picked the "Symphony" riddim and Salim picked the "Tantrum" riddim. Ellis flew Salim down to Jamaica to produce the project. As soon as he touched down Salim started handing out the riddims. Sizzla, Turbulence, Bounty, Kartel, Elephant, Capleton, & Spragga all got both riddims. When it was time to record, Ellis decided to only program 1 riddim instead of 2. So the Tantrum got put on the back burner and they started recording the Symphony. When Salim was getting the Kartel song recorded, his road manager Roach asked him about the other riddim that was on the CD. "Yu nah work with it?" he asked Salim. Salim explained that Ellis wasn't going to use it again so Roach asked for it. He said he wanted to use it for his first project on his Time Travel label. Salim agreed to what he had no idea would change everything! He finished the recordings and flew back to Miami to mix the Symphony. About a month later Salim gets a call in Miami from Dino in Jamaica. "Yo Salim! Mi hear yu riddim a TEAR UP the radio down here! Them a call it the SIREN!" Right away Salim called Roach. He flew down for a meeting to go over all the details with the addition of Sean Paul to the riddim. Sean loved the song so much he wanted on his album. Since then Salim has been producing a writing more than ever as he prepares for the future TrackHouse releases as well as his own debut album.