K-JAH West is a radio station in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It is filled with reggae, dub and dancehall music from various decades. The DJs are Marshall Peters and Johnny Lawton (voiced by Lowell Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare respectively) both of whom are of Jamaican descent.
Description[]
K-JAH West takes a relaxed, laid-back attitude, a reflection of the reggae music it airs. It tells its listeners to get out of their cars or stop working, and just go out in the sun and "cool out". It criticizes gangsters telling them "the guns don't make them look tough" and that "they ain't got base". Although K-JAH West is ok with marihuana, it says "winners don't take hard drugs". They also think of themselves as "pilgrims sent from the east bringing a message to the west".
The 2 hosts, Marshall Peters and Johnny Lawton, speak in a thick Jamaican accent, something that can make them hard to understand to players not familiar with the Jamaican dialect. They smoke a lot on air.
They seem to be a sort of "vitriolic best buds" as they have some bickers on air: as we find out through their dialogue Johnny convinced Marshall to get the pair moved to the west coast to get their music heard on a wider audience; however, Marshall soon found out that the real reason why Johnny wanted to come to San Andreas was to be an actor, and even took acting lessons. This is a recurrent in their dialogue as Marshall frequently taunts Johnny for wanting to become an actor, calling him "Mr. Vinewood" and even tells him "he's no rasta". Johnny replies that Marshall "won't be fighting for revolution if the only thing he does is sitting in the ground, smoking and not making any music". Johnny took acting so seriously that he even went to the extent of quitting smoking, but Marshall soon makes him return to the habit. Although Johnny wants to be more widely known, he still loves reggae, as he says "so you want to be a rudeboy? you don't get it on CSR".
They criticize the Grove Street Families and the Ballas for going into a war and because crack is an inferior drug. They also comment about the supposed lights in the desert, to which they say everyone was just high.
DJ Gringo and Pat McKay are also featured on this station as the imaging voices.
This station is a West Coast counterpart to the other K-JAH station in Liberty City that is featured in GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories, which we know co-existed with K-JAH West because one of the idents say "the best in reggae from Kingston, Brixton and Liberty City all the way to San Andreas".
Tracklist[]
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Deleted Songs[]
The following songs were requested and approved to be in the game; however, they didn't make the cut for unknown reasons:
- Tenor Saw – Ring The Alarm (1985)[1]
- Sister Nancy - Bam Bam (1982)[2]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the favorite station for the San Fierro Rifa, Pizzaboy courier and Jamaican Taxi Drivers.
- Curiously, in GTA Liberty City Stories the Uptown Yardies have on their outfits the logo of K-JAH West, instead of the logo of Liberty City's K-JAH.
- Max Romeo's "Chase The Devil" was sampled in Lee "Scratch" Perry's "Disco Devil", which is featured in Blue Ark in GTA V. Both songs featured The Upsetters.
- In Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, GTA III's radio wheel erroneously displays K-Jah West instead of K-Jah.
See Also[]
- Bush Sounds - an early reggae station in Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 that plays more songs from The Upsetters.
- Heavy Heavy Monster Sound - an early reggae and ska station in GTA London 1969 and GTA London 1961.
- K-JAH - Liberty City's version of K-JAH West, in GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories.
- Tuff Gong Radio - a classic reggae station in GTA IV.
- Massive B Soundsystem 96.9 - a contemporary dancehall station in GTA IV that plays another song from Buju Banton.
- RamJam FM - a reggae and dancehall station in Episodes from Liberty City which plays more songs from Barrington Levy and Toots & The Maytals.
- Ticklah - a dub and reggae instrumentals station in GTA Chinatown Wars.
- Blue Ark - a reggae station in GTA V which plays more songs from Dennis Brown and The Upsetters, and also hosted by its leader Lee "Scratch" Perry.
References[]
- ↑ The Royality Network Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20081012055343/http://www.roynet.com/archive_current_events/010104.cfm
- ↑ The Royality Network Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20081012055701/http://www.roynet.com/archive_current_events/080104.cfm