Brooklyn Talks with Max Glazer, Red Fox & Screechy Dan - A Night That Took Us Back to the Foundation

AskBlondieTV Exclusive – Written by Keisha Martin

Featuring: @maxglazer • @originalredfox • @screechydan • @stinginternational

From the moment I stepped into the Dweck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library, I knew the night was going to be special but I didn’t realize just how much. What unfolded wasn’t just a conversation; it was a journey. A doorway back into the era that shaped us. One of those rare moments where you sit in a room and feel the weight, the pride, and the magic of our culture rising up in real time.

Max Glazer (@maxglazer) — DJ, producer, and co-founder of Federation Sound opened the evening. And when he brought Red Fox (@originalredfox) and Screechy Dan (@screechydan) onstage, the room shifted immediately. Their presence wasn’t loud, it wasn’t forced, it was solid. These two men helped build the foundation of Brooklyn’s dancehall movement, and the respect for them was instant.

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Migration, Memories & A Whole Lot of Laughter

Max started at the beginning, their journey to America.

And trust me… the stories were not just informative, they were genuinely funny.

Red Fox talked about performing back in Jamaica as a youth, nothing formal, just him discovering his voice before he even realized music was calling him. When he migrated to Brooklyn as a teenager, he had no clue the city would shape the rest of his life.

Then, Screechy Dan began his story, and the audience was laughing from the second sentence. He explained how he was supposed to migrate a year earlier, and how his mother bought him a suit for the trip. When the actual day finally came, one whole year later, she insisted he wear that same suit. Picture it: sleeves short, shoes tight, and New York greeting him with one of the worst blizzards. It was hilarious and deeply relatable.

That is the immigrant experience, you show up with what you have and make it work.

Screechy then spoke about the artists who inspired him when he arrived, how he found his footing, and how his path eventually aligned with Red Fox. Their chemistry, their timing, their respect for each other, it all made sense.

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The Photo Slides: A Time Capsule Only Brooklyn Could Hold

Behind them, a slideshow played… and it honestly felt like someone cracked open the archives of Brooklyn dancehall.

We saw:

A young Shaggy

A young Rayvon

James Bond

Lloydy Stiff

A young Dahved Levy

Bajja Jedd

Early shots of Red Fox and Screechy Dan

And a young Busta Rhymes, from the era when their paths crossed inside the Brooklyn creative scene

These photos weren’t staged or curated for nostalgia.

They were pure documentation, real rooms, real energy, real life.

You could feel the audience reacting to each slide.

People whispering “Wow…”

People nodding.

People remembering.

For some, this was brand-new history.

For others like me, it was stepping back into a world we lived.

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Giving Credit Where It’s Due - The Ones Who Helped Build the Ecosystem

What made the conversation even more meaningful was how the artists honored the people behind the scenes who helped build the movement.

Peter McKenzie — a pillar. Responsible for countless first recordings, including my own first song recorded as a teen.

Philip Smart — legendary engineer, gone but never forgotten, whose sound shaped the era.

Puma of LP International — the man whose sound system became a training ground where artists could “work out” and sharpen their craft long before they reached any stage.

This era wasn’t built on talent alone.

It was built on community, mentorship, support, and opportunity.

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And Then — Sting International (@stinginternational) Stepped Onstage

This is where the night shifted into something historic.

Sitting quietly in the audience was Shaun “Sting International” Pizzonia (@stinginternational) —2x Grammy Award–winning producer, composer, engineer, publisher, DJ…and the architect behind the early careers of Red Fox, Screechy Dan, Shaggy, Rayvon, Bajja Jedd, and so many others.

When Max invited Sting to join the conversation, the room felt the shift. This wasn’t planned, but it was necessary. Hearing him speak completed the puzzle. He shared the early sessions, the risks, the vision, the commitment. Sting believed in these artists before the industry ever did — and because of him, Brooklyn proved something people swore was impossible:

You CAN buss as a dancehall artist from New York City.

And they did.

Sitting in that room with him felt like sitting with the blueprint itself.

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The Clubs — The Culture, The Grit, The Reality

The conversation eventually turned to the clubs that shaped their journey:

Starlight Ballroom

Biltmore Ballroom

Club Warehouse

These rooms weren’t glamorous.

They were raw, gritty, unpredictable — and alive.

Red Fox talked about being snuck out to parties as a teen, and how — because of his past experiences with gunfire in Jamaica — he always knew where the exits were.

Screechy even reminded Fox about the night shots rang out in one of those spaces, and how a voice shouted from behind the bar to check if he was okay — making a light-hearted joke about Fox being known for taking cover first, because in those days, the sound of gunfire kept everyone alert.

These clubs carried bad man energy, the real kind — not gimmicks, not pretend. A lot of youths from that era didn’t survive.

But the love for the music kept them coming back.

Those clubs became classrooms.

Stages.

Battlefields.

Home.

If you wanted to buss an artist in New York,

this was the room you needed to be in.

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Warehouse ‘98 — The Moment That Brought It All Together

Then came the moment that tied the whole night together.

Max played a timestamped video clip from February 1998, recorded in Club Warehouse, showing Red Fox and Naturally performing “Jamaica Nice.”

When that footage hit the screen, the auditorium transformed.

People started singing.

People reacted with pride.

Some remembered being there in 1998.

For me, that moment hit hard.

With everything happening in Jamaica right now — the pain, the challenges, the uncertainty — watching that clip brought back the pride, the strength, the resilience of who we are as Jamaicans and as immigrants.

Brooklyn became a second home for dancehall because WE carried the culture with us.

We built it here.

We shaped it here.

We watched the world receive us — and then follow us.

That moment reminded me exactly why this conversation was necessary.

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A Night That Took Us Back to the Foundation

Walking out of the Dweck Center that night, I felt full.

Full of history.

Full of pride.

Full of the reminder that we have always been bigger than the boxes people place us in.

This was an AskBlondieTV Exclusive, and I am grateful I was in the room to witness it, feel it, and now share it.

For years, people said you couldn’t buss as a dancehall artist from New York.

But the truth sat right there on that stage:

Brooklyn shaped dancehall.

Brooklyn launched careers.

Brooklyn built legends.

And the legacy continues.

— Keisha Martin, AskBlondieTV (@askblondietv)