ZULU aka MC ZULU (born Dominique Rowland) is a Chicago-based Panamanian dancehall reggae singer.[1]
Rowland was born in Panama to parents who were in the U.S. military, and moved to Chicago in the 1980s, where his schoolmates gave him the nickname 'Zulu'.[1] Zulu began his career as a producer of house music, and underground hip hop during the late 1990s in Chicago. After a contractual dispute with former partners, Zulu embraced his Panamanian-Jamaican roots and choose to pursue a career singing reggae.
Zulu's early songs were mixes of English and Spanish lyrics, but subsequent releases were English Patois style. As a baritone, the singer has a vocal range of four octaves. Like many dancehall vocalists, he has been known to employ the use of various catch phrases; such as "Spread The Word" and "You Know The Business". He has released several independent projects which are punctuated with distinct three to five part harmonies. He describes his style as "electro-reggae".[2]
His more notable musical collaborations have employed Kool Keith, Earatik Statik, Aceyalone, The Drastics, Ghislain Poirier,[2] and Kush Arora.
In 2003, he was hired as a producer and engineer by the Jamaican record label, [Manatee Records. His 2005 release, "Riddim Killah" was released throughout the Orient by the Hawaiian label Sharlene Oshiro & Assoc., and Zulu won a 2007 Hawaii Music Award.
Apart from those mentioned above, other pseudonyms he has used include Zulu Riddim Killah, Bad Man Zulu, Zulu Man, Digital Screw, Whitelabel Menace, Zulu Star, Zulu Massive, and Zulu D. Rowland.