Vinyl Record
Born Jamericans - Kids From Foreign
Born Jamericans - Kids From Foreign on LP vinyl. A 1994 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.
LP · 1994
Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Buyer notes: 1994 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.
Kids From Foreign is a vivid mid-1990s document of Caribbean-American crossover before the idea became an easy marketing category. Born Jamericans, the Washington, D.C. duo of Notch and Edley Shine, brought together dancehall phrasing, hip-hop drums, reggae bass pressure and R&B-adjacent melody with a chemistry built on contrast: one voice smoother and more melodic, the other rougher, more percussive and rooted in toasting. Released in 1994, the album is best remembered for Boom Shak A-Tack, but the full record has a broader shape. Warning Sign, So Ladies, Sweet Honey, Informa Fe Dead, Cease & Seckle and Ain't No Stoppin' show how naturally the duo could move between party command, romantic ease and streetwise rhythm. The record belongs to an era when reggae, rap and dancehall were in intense conversation across clubs, radio, remixes and sound-system culture. Kids From Foreign does not sound like a fusion experiment pasted together after the fact; it sounds like bilingual musical life moving at street level.
The album matters because it captures a less frequently centered branch of 1990s hip-hop and reggae exchange: American-born Jamaican identity expressed through dancehall cadence and rap-era production. Born Jamericans helped make that hybrid feel immediate, not academic. Their debut is a reminder that the decade's crossover story was not only about major pop hooks; it was also about voices moving between neighborhoods, accents, riddims and formats.
For collectors, Kids From Foreign is a strong pick when building beyond the obvious 1990s hip-hop canon into reggae-rap and dancehall crossover. It offers the recognizable pull of Boom Shak A-Tack, but the deeper value is the duo's vocal interplay and the way the album preserves a short, fertile moment when Delicious Vinyl's hip-hop ecosystem met Caribbean rhythm language with real fluency.
Dancehall reggae crossed with 1990s hip-hop production Contrasting smooth and rough vocal interplay Sound-system energy, sampled grooves and street-level swing Party tracks balanced with melodic and roots-conscious moments
Recommended for: 90s reggae-hip-hop collectors; listeners exploring dancehall’s US crossover moment; collections that connect reggae, rap, and club culture.
Who were Born Jamericans? Born Jamericans were the duo of Notch and Edley Shine, artists associated with a reggae, dancehall and hip-hop blend in the 1990s. What is the best-known song from Kids From Foreign? Boom Shak A-Tack is the signature track, with Cease & Seckle and Warning Sign also important to the album's identity. Why is the album collectible now? It documents a specific and under-celebrated 1990s crossover lane where dancehall, reggae, hip-hop and Caribbean-American identity met with unusual confidence.