Prince Fatty

British producer Mike Pelanconi worked primarily behind the mixing board sculpting tracks for other artists before taking on the dub persona Prince Fatty in 2005. He used his mixing expertise and loving knowledge of dub’s history to bring a retro quality to albums like his 2007 debut Survival of the Fattest, and other work that melded classic reggae styles with an updated production informed by hip-hop.
Pelanconi began work as a producer in London in the ’90s, working with acid jazz groups, rock bands, hip-hop artists, pop stars, and reggae and dub icons like Gregory Isaacs. He first took the Prince Fatty name in 2005 when he had an unexpected gig writing a one-off reggae song, “Nina’s Dance,” to help the Stussy clothing line celebrate its 25th anniversary. Fatty’s debut album, Survival of the Fattest, followed in 2007 with Slits singer Hollie Cook and reggae vocalist Little Roy among its guests. Supersize followed in 2010 with Dennis Alcapone and Winston Francis joining the returning Cook and Little Roy, while Alcapone would return for Fatty’s 2012 effort, Versus the Drunken Gambler. In 2014 he remixed the club jazz act Nostalgia 77′s back catalog for In the Kingdom of Dub, a release on the Tru Thoughts label. The Clone Theory, a collaboration with Mad Professor came in 2015, mixing digital dub styles with classic roots reggae. In 2019, Prince Fatty released both Understand What Dub Is, a dub-minded reworking of material by the Last Poets, as well as a more formal and eclectic studio album In the Viper's Shadow. ~ David Jeffries