"Murder She Wrote" by Chaka Demus & Pliers

I don't remember much from my first trip to Jamaica. I was only 8 years old. The year was 1992.

One thing I recall, though vaguely, is the ascent up the slippery rocks of the tourist trap known as Dunns River Falls, hand-in-hand in a chain with my family and the other tourists.

Another thing I remember is, on our way back to the airport in Montego Bay, asking my dad to pull over at a record store so that I could buy some music. Though I had hardly developed any musical sensibilities or awareness at all by the tender age of 8, I was smart enough to know that there was something special about the sound of this place, and I wanted to take some of it home with me. So I asked my dad to pull over and he actually did. But I only had about $180 left, which would be $6 Canadian, and all that could get me was a mixtape simply labelled "New Reggae Mix" by the owner of the store.  With my dad pressing me to hurry up and make a decision so that we could make it to the airport the requisite five hours before our flight, I bought it. "Murder She Wrote" was one of the tracks on that tape.

Ten years later, "Murder She Wrote" was suddenly everywhere. They started playing it on local radio and at our high-school dances. In 2007, Chaka Demus and Pliers even performed it alongside Alicia Keys at the American Music Awards. And most recently, on a Friday night, I heard it played by a band at a Saint-Laurent street nightclub.

How do they do it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRl6tUf8L0k