Baddis Crew was formed out of five single DJs:
Herbal Q, Minista, 3 Star, Trini-T and Rap-E are household
names in the Swiss Reggae and Dancehall scene. Herbal Q, an
avid Reggae and Dancehall record collector, used his first
visit to Jamaica in 1988 as a springboard to be a founding
member of the Ganglords, a Reggae/Dancehall Backing Band which
recorded two well respected albums and dozens of 7”s in Kingston
in the early 90’s. In 1994 Minista decided to invest some money in
two MK II and a mixing console. Influenced initially by old school
Hip Hop and British HC he has developed into one of the best booked
club DJ in Switzerland, rocking the crowd with his Hip Hop, R&B and
Dancehall style. 3 Star’s affection for Dancehall and Soca started
on a trip to Trinidad & Tobago in 1999. Dancehall classics from the
90’s are his specialtity.
Trin-T’s aquaintance and well grounded knowlege of Soca and Calypo is
surely no coincidence due to dual Swiss and Trinidadian Citizenship.
Starting out his carreer with Hip Hop Rap-E’s fascination with Reggae
and Dancehall has led to his accompaning Herbal Q as a sideman before
the Baddis Crew times.
Everthing started off with 3 Star and Trin-T promoting an evening at the
legendary Bar 57, called Caribbean Splash. On the turntables: Minista,
Herbal Q and Trin-T. Herbal’s suggestion to found a soundsystem and including
Rap-E as a member was promptly accepted. After finding the appropiate name
Baddis there has been no looking back. June 2001 finds Minista promoting
the first Baddis Dance at Schüür together with the mighty Pow Pow Movement
from Cologne, Germany. The night was a monster success and due to popular
demand Minista’s promotion of Dancehall Xplosion is still a very well
attended regular event. A trip to Trinidad & Tobago Carnival 2002 was a
memorable time and served with Trin-T’s warm family connections helped
to enrich the wide musical Baddis repertoire. Once in the caribbean Baddis
took the opportunuity to profit from Herbal’s previous experience in Jamaica
to go over and get their first dubplates voiced. Once Back in Switzerland the
need to promote the realivtely unknown Reggae, Dancehall and Soca scene became
quite clear. Untiringly they begin to play all over Switzerland and also in
Germany to spread the positive vibes. The universal appeal of Baddis Crew’s
music transcends political and social agendas while spreading good music
and promoting peace and righteousness on earth. Baddis has big respect
for Rastafari and readily acknowledge their influence on the whole Reggae
Music. That’s why Baddis Crew is playing not only Bashment and Jump Up
(like most of the new sounds do) but also Reggae and Roots in the tradition
of jamaican soundsystems. As Jimmy London would sing: Baddis is the sound
that slowly grows and grows…
A highlight in their musical career was the victory at their first sound
clash called >Guns Out 45 Shoot Out< in Zurich in march 2005 when they
eliminated the current Swiss Clash 04 winner Ruffpack, Fred & Barney
from Germany and One Blood Selector from Bern.
