New documentary celebrates life and legacy of dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry: Watch

A new documentary celebrating the life and legacy of late dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry has been released. 

‘The Upsetter: The Life & Music of Lee “Scratch” Perry is available to watch now on the subscription-based Criterion Channel. Directed by Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough, the movie is narrated by Hollywood A-lister Benicio del Toro, and combines archive footage of the man in question with exclusive interviews between him and the filmmakers. 

The release forms one episode in a wider series, ‘Roots & Revolution: Reggae On Film’, which also includes ‘The Harder The Come’, starring another reggae hero,  Jimmy Cliff, and ‘The Story of Lovers Rock’, which tells the story of the romantic reggae subgenera popularised in the late-1970s and early-1980s.

Rising to attention through his work with landmark reggae acts like Bob Marley & The Wailers, during his 43-year-career Perry worked with artists and bands as diverse as The Orb, The Clash, and Beastie Boys, to name but a handful, alongside labels including Trojan, Pama, Island, Creole, and his own Upsetter, established in 1968 and sharing its name with a record shop he also ran.

In August last year, Perry sadly passed away in hospital in his Jamaican homeland, releasing a final track, the Ral Ston collaboration ‘No Bloody Friends’, just weeks before his death. The song followed shortly after his last album, ‘Lee Scratch Perry’s Guide to the Universe’, made with New Age Doom.