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Raggamuffin Whiteman Raggamuffin Whiteman was born Miguel Depla in 1976 and raised in De Panne, Belgium with the exception of 1˝ years when he lived in Kingston, Jamaica. He currently resides in Ghent, Belgium. 
He doesn’t only spin the tunes but he deejays on the mic and writes his own lyrics. He’s also starting to build rhythms. His talents don’t stop there. He manages to find time to MC over Jungle music, write for a music magazine (Plastiks), and he’s a member of a DJ-crew that mix Garage (Lisboa 2Step Konexion). He MCs for Future World Funk, a DJ-collective that spins everything from Reggae over Hip Hop to Breaks and Jungle. Raggamuffin Whiteman is a music man with a first love of Reggae music, “but me quite versatile”.Raggamuffin Whiteman has been involved in music for as long as he can remember. “I’ve always done something with music; therefore it’s hard to say what made me become a DJ or deejay. Good music fascinates me, gives me energy”. It wasn’t a conscious decision for him to be around music, “I just rolled into it, having friends in Jamaica that had a sound system, I just naturally started putting on some music I liked whenever we’d be chilling at home and that’s when they started asking me to join them when mixing”. Music has taken him to various areas of Belgium, England, Jamaica, Paris, France, Barcelona and he has conducted a small tour of Spain. In 1994 while on an exchange programme in Jamaica, Innocence Disco introduced Raggamuffin Whiteman to mixing. He realised he was quite good at mixing and really enjoyed it and he made the decision to build a career in it. Back in Belgium he started the Midwest Sound, which he stopped to start up his own Ragga Sound in 1998 when he started mixing as DJ Raggamuffin Whiteman. He mixes solo as DJ Raggamuffin Whiteman and sometimes also as part of Ragga Sound International, which is his sound name, but is a one man sound, therefore he usually uses the tag, DJ Raggamuffin Whiteman. When it comes onto performances he usually works with the singer Sista G, and he sometimes brings a selector, DJ Fella or the Unlisted Fanatics along to run the rhythms and sometimes also a rapper, Horus depending on the type of session. Raggamuffin Whiteman really loves, respects and appreciates Reggae music, but Dancehall Reggae is his favourite. “I think Dancehall might not stay like it is and develop in various subgenres like raggahiphop etc, but Reggae will always exist, it’s good to combine it with different other types of music, that keeps it interesting”. He enjoys being able to move a crowd by playing a selection of songs from his collection, which contains “only songs I really like”. With regards to the industry as a whole he dislikes “the negativity and envy you get to deal with at times and also the fact that because I’m white sometimes I need to prove myself even harder than some other selectors, but then again when I reach a goal I had set for myself it’s even more rewarding. So far the music industry has treated me well, so I don’t really have any big complaints”. Raggamuffin Whiteman says he was not inspired by anyone to get involved in the music but his initial influences were Innocence Disco and as a singer Apache Indian and Gentleman. Right now he cites his main influences as Delano and Jazzy T from Renaissance Disco, Stone Love Sound, Supa Dups and Bobby Chin from Black Chiney, Tony Matterhorn, Ricky Trooper, Massive B, David Rodigan and Earl Gateshead “since a so long dem deh inna di business and really working hard still”. Concerning Belgian sounds he really enjoys sets by people like TLP ’n’ Dors, Bass Culture, Unlisted Fanatics, Jah Zulu, Mate and Exodus. Raggamuffin Whiteman plays on local radio Urgent (www.urgent.fm) between 10 and 11pm (GMT +1), in Ghent, Belgium. The frequency is 107.7FM, “yep: jus like Irie FM” and the name of the show is “Yard Style FM”, the type of music played is Reggae, Dancehall, Ragga Hip Hop and sometimes some Soca and Jungle. However the frequency will change in January when FM-frequencies are re-distributed in Belgium. Raggamuffin Whiteman has mixed at the Reggae Geel Festival and Dour Festival (Belgium), warmed up at after parties for the likes of Jamaican artists, Anthony B, Ward 21 & Mr Vegas at VK (Brussels-Belgium) where he’s played at quite a lot. He’s won two battles on Irie FM (Jamaica), Sprite Jam which he won and he’s played twice at Home (London-UK) and twice at the Old Asian Centre (London-UK). In his DJ capacity he’s performed live in Down Beat Reggae Club (Barcelona-Spain), a Zamac party in Paris (France), Brussels Cologne Reggae Bash (Belgium) and various other parties in Belgium. 
Raggamuffin Whiteman DJ/deejayed at the Red Bull Music Academy in Sao Paulo, Brazil in November 2002. This created around 12 more bookings ranging from mixing at Mood Club (which has 2 rooms) while Cut Chemist was playing in the other room to being headline MC in the Drum ‘n’ Bass tent at Brazil’s biggest rave Megavonts. He also played at some Reggae shows performing and mixing and played on Brazilian radio, “I’m definitely going back there”!In terms of positive feedback Raggamuffin Whiteman mentioned the time when he won that DJ-battle on Irie FM, “it was nice to come outside of the studio and people would come and ask me if I was, that whiteman weh play pon Irie FM, so that was different to a crowd response, but it still was nice response to get”. Another fond memory he mentioned was when he performed live in Barcelona, Spain where the organizers had warned him it was a mainly Roots-Reggae crowd so it would be a challenge for him to play Dancehall. When he dropped the Dancehall, “the crowd soon turned into a frenzy when they heard me deejay me lyrics and the organizers also told me that my performance was much better than they’d ever expected”. With regards to voicing artists for dubplates and creating remixes Raggamuffin Whiteman is lucky that he gets the use of Unlisted Fanatics home studio. He has recorded some of his dubs there and also at his friends, Kwak’s studio in Brussels as well as voicing tunes for the Belgian Dancehall compilation CD he’s working on. Raggamuffin Whiteman feels “that way I get exclusive tunes or at least an exclusive variation to a tune”. He doesn’t really focus on dubplates, but he did mention bashment dub Simpleton’s ‘I spy’ because he said it held “very good memories from meeting Simpleton and recording that dub with him”. Also since his win at the Golden Throne sound system competition in Belgium his favourite dub is now Belgian artist Uman who both wrote and voiced a tune especially for Raggamuffin Whiteman on a Studio One Ska rhythm he gave him, which he played as the last tune in the dub fe dub. Whenever the budget permits and Raggamuffin Whiteman meets “interesting artists (I don’t buy Western Union dubs)”, he records dubplates, “but I don’t want to record your regular dubplate all the while, so I try and voice Belgian and French artists too, or put dem on a riddim one wouldn’t expect or me jus mek me own remixes at times”. In terms of the hottest Belgian artists Raggamuffin Whiteman mentioned, Uman and Reggae Band, Panache Culture. He’s also voiced Sista G, Treaty, Invisible, Manifest, Erick Judah & Calabash, Ragga Yves,… Just to name a few. Raggamuffin Whiteman went onto give respect to the veteran Prince Far Out and the Calabash band with singer Erik Judah and Mr Ragga Yves. Based in Brussels he advised there is a talented crew called ROC, and 3T, one youth that has won the 2 last MC-battles here in Belgium. “So nuff talent deh ya, but it all needs to get more chances from producers”. Raggamuffin Whiteman doesn’t have one favourite artiste or song, due to the vast choice but some of the artists that he mentioned are Ce’Cile, Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Baby Cham, Tenor Saw, Elephant, Lady Saw, Simpleton, Errol Dunkley, Vegas, Lexx etc. Where rhythms are concerned his favourites are Real Rock, Stalag, Pepperseed, Showtime and Corduroy. When he gets chance to listen to other entertainers and sound systems he says, “I really enjoy Matterhorn’s sets, but also Trooper, I have great respect for Renaissance and Stone Love, Massive B, Adonai, Rodigan and much much more”! Raggamuffin Whiteman has achieved a lot and he now feels that he is “finally starting to reap a likkle you know, I’ve accomplished some things up to now, but to me I see it as a nice start. One can’t put his goals to low, so you always haffi have something to work for”. In fact he has recently given up his day job and decided to concentrate on his work as an artist and DJ full-time. With regards to maintaining an innovative image he manages to do this by staying versatile. “I love mixing Dancehall and Reggae, but I also deejay pon di mic, and me like Hip Hop too and me MC pon Jungle music”. Belgium is up and coming where the Dancehall scene is concerned. There’s a Reggae-Dancehall show on national radio and on a lot of local radios the local sounds have their show. “It’s just a pity that there’s so much jealousy and envy, a lot of sounds seem to be afraid another sound could be better than them, so they go round and dis them, but I guess a so it go in a whole leap a places. But a lot of parties are coming up, I think you can go to at least one big dance and several smaller ones every week, a lot of dancehall artists get invited to come and perform here at very regular basis so that’s very good for Dancehall music in Belgium. There’s also a Reggae-Dancehall show on national radio now, since last year, which is hosted by TLP and Dors, two guys that have accomplished a lot already and that did a great lot for Reggae music here in Belgium, well, them and a whole lot people more, like Crucial P and the Boombastic crew and also the Bass Culture crew in the Brussels area have done a lot of great work. There’s like a scene everywhere: every area has their own sounds now, so that wicked”. 
With so many Belgium sounds Daintycrew.com wanted to know who Raggamuffin Whiteman considered to be the reigning sound. “This is a hard one, I tried to make a ‘top ten-poll’ on a Belgian dancehall board, but all it resulted in was people dissing me and each other and being vexed their sound wasn’t in there”. Raggamuffin Whiteman has come to the conclusion that, “I don’t believe anymore in the No1 sound thing, nuff sounds a work hard, each have their own style, some focus on dubs, while others focus on nice music & mixing skills. Nuff man a work hard, no one a number 1”.Raggamuffin Whiteman is currently working on a new demo which will be featuring some international guests. He’s also planning some tours in various countries (check his webiste for more details). In terms of his DJing he plans to take it further and take it to a next level, so that he can go on tours with artists to do their warm-up and afterparty and of course also mix solo at various locations worldwide “like I’ve had the opportunity to do a few times already”. He currently working on the first Belgian Dancehall compilation with fellow deejay Treaty, which should be released somewhere in early 2004. All rhythms and artists will be Belgian. Therefore he will continue to combine DJing, performing as a ragga singer, promoting artists and running his own label. Raggamuffin Whiteman ended on sending out his love and respect to “everyone who supported me up to now, nuff love to my Mom (I’ll never forget you), Dad, Sis & di rest a mi family. Also to my Jamaican Mom & Dad: the McLean family inna Jamaica that hosted me for a year but did much more than that up to now still, Kerrin & Pierce, my Jamaican brothers, the whole a di Johnston family in Jamaica & London, the DST Kru for always supporting me,… Too much people to mention, but, done know, I’ll never For the fans: thanks for representing at dances and for believing in me and supporting me, stay positive zeen! Nuh watch nutn, stay focussed on weh yu wan achieve and that way deh you’re already 2 steps ahead. Nuff respect”. If you want to book Raggamuffin Whiteman’s services for live shows & DJ-sets please contact bookings@raggamuffinwhiteman.be. Alternatively email him direct on info@raggamuffinwhiteman.be. Keep informed of what he’s up to on his website, www.raggamuffinwhiteman.be and to check out his DJing demo by logging onto www.mp3.com/raggamuffinwhiteman. | |
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