Part of Bed-Stuy's Musical History - Charlie's Records

When we passed this music store on Fulton Street, I was entranced by the window, and my gut told me that there was more to this place than met the eye. As any Caribbean and/or hip hop music lover could probably tell you, turns out this famous record shop was started by the music producer Rawlston Charles. From Caribbean Beat:

Charles was born in Tobago, moving to Trinidad when he was 15. Shortly after that, he migrated to the United States, where he got involved in the automobile business, repairing, buying and selling cars. The transition from this lucrative enterprise to the shaky ground of the music arena came gradually and quite by chance. Nowhere in his plans did Charles ever intend to become involved with the recording industry—the closest he had ever come to musical activities had been as a member of the church choir during his teens.

“I arrived in New York on December 12, 1967, and got into the auto business, which was going very well. I ended up in this music thing after going out to parties in the 1960s and hardly hearing any calypso. In fact you weren’t hearing any of it at all, and I became disturbed and very annoyed over this, because I could not understand how Trinis could be socialising and we are not hearing our music being played. The Jamaicans would walk with their own music and give to the DJ to play, but it was very hard to even get calypso in those times.”

Charles had travelled to the US with his copy of Kitchener’s 1967 album. He began to add to his calypso collection, and would take his records with him whenever he went liming or partying on weekends. Eventually he started to DJ at these events and things just took off.

“I don’t even know why I walked onto the plane with that Kitchener album under my arm. I was young at the time and did not really listen to much calypso, but I took up that album and brought it to America with me, not knowing at the time that it was probably a symbol of what my calling would be.”

It was very hard to get calypso records, but as a DJ Charles would not play any other music. Calypso records also cost more, as they had to be imported into the US.So Charles opened his own record store, on July 4,1972, and the next year he began to travel back to Trinidad to make contact with calypsonians and bandleaders, get their music and take it back to the States. Next he became an executive producer and started Charlie’s Records. The first production on the label was an album entitled Labor Day in Brooklyn with Mano Marcellin—which didn’t even sell 100 copies. This did not stop Charles, who admitted that at the time he knew nothing of the music business, so he set out to get it right by connecting with the right people.

Not only is Rawlston a music producer but he housed up and coming musicians - not unlike George Whitman of the English bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, has been doing for young writers in Paris since the 1950's:

“I fixed up a building I owned and put in rooms with all amenities, calling the place Calypso House and inviting the calypsonians to stay there at no charge—not only those who recorded on the label, but any calypsonian seeking lodging.”
Charles built and opened his recording studio in 1984. It was used not only by calypso and soca artistes, but also some of the biggest names in the East Coast hip-hop fraternity, such as Dougie Fresh, Slick Rick, and RUN-DMC.

He continued to do what he could for his community, in 1995 the NY Daily News reported that Rawlston asked "Caribbean singers and musicans to cut a benefit album called "We are the Caribbean," to "help their (Caribbean) countrymen recover from the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Luis." And there are more articles too numerous to mention about Rawlston's continued patronage and generosity. Next time we pass by I'll have to pop in and take a look inside, and maybe even be lucky enough to have a chat with the famous Rawlston Charles.