A political writer and activist who delivered his poetry to dubby, reggae
backbeats, Linton Kwesi Johnson was a proud voice for British-Jamaicans amid
tensions over race riots, Thatcherism and recession in the 1980s. Born in
Chapelton, in rural Jamaica, Johnson moved to London in 1963 and ran poetry
workshops for the Black Panthers whilst still in school, before studying
sociology at Goldsmiths University, London and penning articles for the
socialist paper Race Today and music reviews for NME and Melody Maker magazines.
His debut album Dread Beat An' Blood (1978) captured the in...