Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An entrepreneur who created Reggae Reggae Sauce and won investment on Dragon's Den after singing and playing guitar to pitch his business.
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
The book
Not recorded.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:13What are the store cupboard essentials for you at home that you must have?
Well, I call it my sunshine kit and I I always used to have that around me. Even in my early days, when I used to go on my music tours, I always had this little thing and one thing that was always in there was scotch bunny chilies.
Presenter asks
6:17You spend a good chunk of your time visiting schools and prisons. What's the purpose of that and what are you saying to the people in the schools and prisons?
I found it difficult to find one of these kind of, you know, Levi Roots type fellows who used to come around Brixton when I was growing up. Because I've always said that I wasn't really a bad lad, but I never had the motivation and I never had these people to come around to Lovely Brixton to speak to us as young people. And I think kids nowadays need to see people that they can identify with. And I was lucky enough to sort of find, well, you've got to be in the right place at the right time.
Presenter asks
7:12What does it mean to you today to live a Rastafarian life?
It was about finding myself. You know, I was a bit lost before Rastafari came into my life. My father gave me the name of Keith Graham, and I really struggled in school at the time when you're sort of 15, 16, and you're trying to find out who you are and where do you fit into this new country which I found myself in. And I looked up the name and saw that the name Keith Graham was Scottish. And I just felt like I didn't really feel Scottish. Where did this come from? Where do I fit into this world? And it was the music of Bob Marley that I started to listen to his albums. And I got the sort of drift of what Rasta was saying: that you're not Scottish after all, that you are African and you should have a name that identifies with who you are. And that's how I started to sort of dig a bit deep into what Rastafari was about and found that you could pray anywhere, you could pray to anybody, with anyone. But as long as you know who you are, then yourself is fulfilled. And I wanted to be Levi Roots, not Keith Graham, and that's how I managed to make that change.
The luxury
I don't think I could leave that behind.
Presenter asks
20:06When you found out you were going to be a father, how did you cope at the time?
Well, I caught by having fun. For me it was about being about myself. It wasn't about anyone else. I was now having a great time that I was free from my father's sort of clutches. I'd now left home. I was involved in the music. I had met the great Lloyd Coxon from the sound system, Sir Coxon, and he heard me sing and said, You know, you're an 18-year-old kid, come along and I'll produce you. And for me, that was it.
Presenter asks
21:34You yourself, as a young Rastafarian British man living in Brixton in the 80s, what do you remember?
Oh, I remember terrible housing. I remember lack of jobs. I remember a police state.
Presenter asks
24:10You were convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. I've read you say that you were a good prisoner. What is a good prisoner?
A good prisoner, I think, is one that finds himself or herself. Being incarcerated gives you that opportunity to to find that elusive self. I I don't think I turned to be good overnight. You know, it was having the time to become good'cause you went in bad,'cause that's why you're there in the first place.
“And I wanted to be Levi Roots, not Keith Graham, and that's how I managed to make that change.”
“I never saw her again. She she died maybe four or five years after me coming to the UK.”
“Oh, I remember terrible housing. I remember lack of jobs. I remember a police state.”
“A good prisoner, I think, is one that finds himself or herself. Being incarcerated gives you that opportunity to to find that elusive self.”
“I am the best of me. I do think I've got to that point where I am able to focus. I I know what I can give. So uh in my skin at the moment I I I do feel fulfilled.”