DID YOU KNOW? THE CONTROVERSY OVER LITTLE LENNY’S “GUN INNA BAGGY?”

Did You Know?

By Marlon Burrell—

Marlon Burrell

Did you know that as a result of the controversy surrounding his 1989 mega hit “Gun Inna Baggy,” DJ Little Lenny, who was seventeen years old at the time, was subsequently expelled from Kingston College? The story is that Lenny (born Nigel Grandison) was a brilliant straight A student with aspirations of attending law school. He had previously recorded for producer Donavan Germain. It was at Germain’s Penthouse studio that Lenny was introduced to the song’s producer Patrick Roberts.
In his book “Who Am I, The Story Of Beenie Man,” author Milton Wray details how Roberts booked time at Penthouse studio for his stable of young artists which included: Beenie Man, Little Kirk (now uses his real name Kirk Davis), and Tanto Metro. Tony Kelly was the engineer and introduced Roberts to Lenny. Roberts decided to record the young artist and Kelly went through some riddims and Lenny chose the one he liked, and voiced the controversial tune. Roberts had the foresight that the song would not be played on the radio and had Lenny recorded a radio friendly version called “Healthy Body,” which was also a massive hit in Jamaica and both sides of the Atlantic.

This is similar to Admiral Bailey’s saga with the also controversial “Punanny” in1987, when he recorded a radio friendly version incidentally called “Healthy Body” and his too was a hit, albeit two years earlier.The controversy surroumding Little Lenny’s hit did not sit well with the brass at Kingston College and they decided to suspend the honor student and ultimately expelled him from the institution. Lenny for his part, rode the success of the song and toured various countries with Roberts’ other artists as the star of The Shocking Vibes Crew. He also recorded a few more hits before completely dissapearing from the music scene. The last I heard about the artist was about ten years ago, that he operated a successful funeral home. Guess he did put his brilliant mind to good use after all, though not as an attorney. One reggae artist from that period did succeed at becoming a lawyer, Hugo Barrington. Maybe I’ll share his story sometime.