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Dancehall Reggae dee-jay Mad Cobra was only 26 years old when he became the first reggae artist to score a number one hit on the US Billboard pop charts. He was the first Dancehall artist to do so and only the second in all of Reggae to have that distinction as of 2000. Born Ewart Everton Brown in Kingston, he was raised in St. Mary's Parish until returning to Kingston in his teens.
After seeing his first live Dancehall show in 1987, Cobra decided to follow his hobby of toasting (otherwise known to Americans as "rapping") to fame, despite his father's declarations for a career in his childhood love of electronics, woodwork and plumbing. Taking a stage |
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name from the G.I. Joe cartoon villain, which he drew on his schoolbooks as a youth, Ewart emerged as Mad Cobra and represented his culture strongly into American and beyond with his debut album Hard To Wet, Easy To Dry. During 1991-1992, Mad Cobra had no less than five Number One hits on the UK Reggae charts andin one particular week, and nine tunes on the Top 20. It was in 1992 when the song Flex was released and became one of the hottest Slow Jams of all time. To date, Flex is the only Reggae song played on Sunday Nite Slow Jams. On the strength of that song, he was signed to Columbia Records in the US and within months, he'd set new standards by topping the American National Charts.
Mad Cobra had several albums out including Milkman, the follow up to Hard To Wet Easy To Dry as well as Cobra on AO! Records. Of course, throughout his career, VP Records has licensed tracks and also released several Mad Cobra albums including Mr. Pleasure (1994), Beenie Man Meets Mad Cobra (1995) and Exclusive Decision (1996).
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