CAPLETON, APACHE INDIAN, GAUDI, DON LETTS – No Other Way
Four names, decades of history, one single. Capleton, Apache Indian, Gaudi, and Don Letts drop “No Other Way” on April 24th through VPAL Music, the VP Records sister label, alongside a Dub Version produced by Gaudi.
Capleton has been one of dancehall’s most commanding voices since the early 1990s, his Rastafari message and sharp lyricism earning him the title “The Prophet”. Apache Indian came up alongside him, reshaping British reggae by threading dancehall, hip-hop, and roots together with South Asian identity, opening space for a generation of artists that followed. Behind the boards, Grammy-nominated dub producer Gaudi brings the basslines and stepper-driven production, drawing on years of work with Steel Pulse, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and Horace Andy. Don Letts, Grammy-winning filmmaker and musician whose work with The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite helped define reggae’s cultural reach, shapes the record’s creative direction.
What I find interesting here is the parallel histories converging: while Capleton and Apache Indian were redefining the genre internationally through the 90s, Gaudi was building the Italian raggamuffin movement in Europe. These weren’t orbiting the same scene and then met, they were doing the same thing in different hemispheres.
The release follows Gaudi’s recent album Jazz Gone Dub, also out on VPAL, which brought the label’s reggae legacy into the dub and jazz worlds. “No Other Way” sits closer to the heavyweight end of that spectrum, rooted in tradition but driven by the kind of modern dub production Gaudi has built his reputation on. Four artists with enough individual history to fill a festival bill, finding common ground here.
