Its kind of weird that with all the new releases that I get and spin through which take up so much of my time, it seems like its getting harder and harder to really get my attention. I find myself getting more and more towards the point where an artist literally has to jump through hoops to get my hopes up and, passed that, in order to KEEP my attention once you have it, you have to be REALLY good (or REALLY bad actually). However, there are some exceptions to this rule for me as for certain artists, I’m still quite an easy puzzle to solve. For example, there is a certain level I get for almost ANY release marked ‘Sizzla’ and that’s been the case for quite awhile. Its rather interesting that with all of those very overactive artists releasing album after album a few years back, even though I was a fan of most of them, I never applied the level of attention that I gave to that ‘new’ Sizzla album, if it were not even a full month following the last ‘new’ Sizzla album. Didn’t matter the level of quality actually (and I would generally overrate them for quite awhile anyway) of the album, as long at was his work and while that’s changed as far as a critical approach from me (now I call em, like I see em), I still get a kind of a slightly over-enthused feeling to listen to his material. I could probably say the same thing for a Beenie Man album although to a definitely different degree. As is sometimes the case with Sizzla, I’ve generally heard quite a few tunes from any given Beenie Man album these days, however, that’s the most interesting part. Its in acquiring and just hearing the singles in the first place which gets to me. Beenie Man’s songs, almost always, on the first spin are potentially LETHALLY addictive. Getting past that, on any album there may be at least a handful of new tunes and those new tunes. . . Yep, potentially addictive also. I would also draw for names like Batch, who simply seems to get better and better in one way or another on each and every album he pushes, of course people like Machel Montano and Destra as Soca artists but that’s inevitably dealing more with singles which become albums and others still like Mad Cobra and General Degree who are artists who aren’t particularly active at all and happened to be amongst my very favourite, two very nice conditions which will almost certainly ‘earn’ an artist my attentions (not to mention that they’re WICKED!).
Apparently to force me to elaborate a bit on the concept of favourite artists and the bit of ‘red carpet treatment’ I give to their releases in several respects is Lutan Fyah . I had my schedule relatively clear for quite awhile as far as potentially BIG Reggae releases for awhile now, looking forward to the next big album, Tarrus Riley’s Contagious, up until about two weeks ago when this golden covered piece rather annoyingly popped up on my radars, frustratingly forcing me to change my plans. These days, a Lutan Fyah album is liable to get just as much of my attention (if not more so than) as a Sizzla album and frankly, Its something that almost DEMANDS a great deal of my attention. So how dare someone named Philadub Records being from out of Philadelphia (of all places) in the States, decide to release an album from said Lutan Fyah, wonderfully covered and named Justice? How dare they put such an appetizing project right in my face as if they’re almost baiting me? I frankly didn’t feel like getting emotionally involved and for what its worth, there was a rather ecstatic ten seconds or so of time where I said, I simply would ignore Justice and wait for the next album. Well obviously that didn’t last very long. Having very little knowledge in what exactly or who exactly Philadub was and what qualified them to work with such an AMAZING talent as Spanish Town’s finest but having full faith in the artist, I readily scooped up Lutan Fyah’s Justice about a minute or two after it was released (shamefully, literally). Justice follows what was, for me, quite a letdown, as back in April Rastar Records released what was quite easily Lutan Fyah’s most polarizing of his albums to date, African Be Proud. That album had the fortunate situation of following December’s OUTSTANDING Africa double album from 2B1 which has since become Fyah’s most popular and recognizable album to date and definitely brought quite a few new pairs of eyes and ears. What was ‘wrong’ with African Be Proud was that it opened itself up to different types of vibes, predominately Hip-Hop, which, to me, just wasn’t very good and quite a few people apparently agreed with me (never mind the fact that it was delayed for about a year or more). Justice, fortunately, doesn’t have ANY of the same complications exhibited on African Be Proud and although its not the BEST album he’s done to date, it certainly serves as a very welcome ‘comeback’ for Lutan Fyah (comeback, ONLY in the sense of albums, between these two releases, to my ears, Fyah has dropped NOTHING but what his name would indicate) but it kind of has a bit of an familiar vibes to it to my opinion (more on that in a minute). Who knows how and when the link between Lutan Fyah and Philadub occurred (apparently they also have a space in California also, where Fyah just happens to be quite active also) and you really don’t care either but I’m loving that fact that, like Sizzla a few years back, it seems as if any and everyone is lining up to release an album for the artist with his now eight studio albums (by my count and one EXCELLENT live album, also for 2B1) all being released by different labels. And while certainly Philadub now becomes the most unknown (at least to this point), they’ve arguably done a better job than a couple of FAR more well known imprints. No. Justice isn’t the strongest of the eight (and something tells me I may be forgetting one) but, as it ranks in that same earlier line of characteristics of Lutan Fyah albums: It is WELL solid. And sometimes solid throughout with no big mistakes proves to be simply better than spectacular sometimes but frankly flawed at others. Justice also, thankfully, proves to be easily worth the emotional investment I just paid to it.
Apparently Philadub is, at least in part, headed by the one name Gardian. An artist himself, Gardian released his very own debut album on the label in 2008, Words And Sounds, which (I haven’t heard) was apparently their first full length release. However, what they’ve done here is COMPLETELY outdo themselves and raise their own profile as they’ve now linked with arguably on of the greatest Roots Reggae wordsmiths of all time. First to attempt to grab your attentions (and succeeding) on Lutan Fyah’s new album Justice, following a pretty nice intro, is rather easily one of the best tunes on the album, Show Me Some Love. This tune is PURE Lutan Fyah and relatively close to his best as he builds on what is initially a clichéd and tired topic in Reggae music to turn it into his own personal work of art. Coming across a one-drop which is downright ANGRY at times, Show Me Some Love is a tune on educational level of epic proportions. Brain food and a WONDERFUL start. Gardian takes no time getting himself involved in front of the mic as he chimes in on the first of three official combinations on Justice, Cryin’ Out. I kind of struggled with this one for a spin or two because its power isn’t IMMEDIATELY palpable as the song, itself, despite being very slow is probably one of the most ‘entertaining’ on the album altogether. But about the fourth or so time I got through it, I FINALLY picked it up. Cryin’ Out isn’t the best tune on Justice and if you played through it sequentially, it isn’t even as strong as the first tune you heard but its VERY well done and biggup to Gardian for not trying to take over the tune as he basically only makes his presence known on the chorus, standing as a nice bit of support to Lutan Fyah’s typically FLAWLESS verses. Completing the opening for Justice is definitely the best tune of the three and, in my opinion, the best tune you’ll find on Justice altogether, Selassie I Within. This is also the only tune I know from the album going in as I think I heard it as early as sometime last year maybe. Regardless of the logistics, Selassie I Within is MASSIVE! I’ve been playing the tune for however long I’ve had it quite consistently playing over another HEAVY riddim. The tune gets one of the more energetic ‘versions’ of Fyah on Justice and, of course, its what he’s saying that is most important as he urges the masses to maybe take our time and be more careful because His Majesty is there and it is He who takes our troubles. Big beautiful message, EPIC vibe and definitely the tune here which rises to the top. Great opening.
Its interesting to me that I initially (because of Philadub being from Philadelphia and the African Be Proud album) thought Justice would be more Hip-Hop infused but its quite the opposite. As I said its very familiar sounding, it sounds like the Lutan Fyah from two or three years ago in that then he has almost tunnel vision in getting the message out there and not necessarily making the tune sound so catchy, which, for him, is the right thing to do. Another interesting and potentially right thing to do was calling up Fyah’s good friend Spectacular who surprisingly joins him on two tunes on Justice, Coming Home and Eye Pon Me. I find I can take the BRUTAL voiced Spectacular more in moderation and he absolutely shines on both of his efforts here. Coming Home is a repatriation anthem over a HUGE drum while Eye Pon Me borders into the Dancehall/Hip Hop (in a GOOD way) and both are upper echelon tunes for the album as the duo have shown themselves to make a nice pair (also with Frenchie label Irie Ites) and, who knows, maybe Spectacular stuck around long enough to make an album of his own for Philadub. That isn’t AT ALL, of course, to say things improve with ‘the help’ on Justice, that just isn’t the case. The Fyah definitely excels on his own. Check Draw Me Out, another of the best tunes on the album. Fyah is the reward right now for all deep and conscientious listeners and on this tune he is at his crafting best as he drops the line of the entire album, “Yes man siddung inna di heavens and a laugh. THE WICKED CATCH THE FLU WHEN BABYLON COUGH!”. And that’s standard fare for the man, absolutely brilliant! Because I know you’re interested, check Killsome City which (like a couple of songs here) took a minute or two to grow on me and its still not one of my favourites but, like everything here, it definitely has its moment (especially later in the tune). The tune True Love Is All is actually aided by the very nice interlude which precedes it (also which I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere before) and it doesn’t really need the help because it is VERY strong. The same could be said for the very COOL title track which is another which might take a few spins to grow on you before you decide to give up on it. I’m still kind of miffed as to why they decided to make it the name for the album although if you were going to name it after a tune, it appears the CLEAR choice (I guess I just answered my own question). Don’t Cry has a different type of sound to it definitely even before the actual tune gets going and is one of the big lovers tunes here. The final stretch of Justice features tunes like the obligatory herbalist tune Plant The Herbs and the downright SPECIAL Battlefield. Battlefield is SERIOUS! The tune comes in just, like the title track, with a nice cool vibes but it is so packed with information and just wisdom in the song. Definitely one of the major attractions. Head Over Heels is charged with maintaining said high vibes from Battlefield and it does an excellent job in its own way, offering one of the more colourful vibes on Justice before turning things over to the aforementioned Eye Pon Me which sets the stage for the albums closer, Inna Trouble. Inna Trouble is BIG. Its the type of BIG that you recognize IMMEDIATELY too. I heard the first bounce on the tune and I exhaustedly sighed as if I were just ready for the end and didn’t want to have to keep paying attention. Failure to do so would have maid me miss another of Justice’s undeniable highlights as Lutan Fyah delivers a HUGE vibes on the tune which forecasts the crumbling of corrupt and oppressive society the world over.
Overall, I have to say that I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Lutan Fyah and Philadub recorded the lion’s share of the material for Justice a few years back. Earlier in his career the only real thing Fyah was criticized for was the lack of melody in his music (my retort to that was always that if you’re rhyming with as much knowledge as he was, Reggae heads could overlook that) (see Vaughn Benjamin) and what I see throughout Justice is him on a VERY straight forward vibes. Of course I still love that, that’s the artist whose music I fell in love with but it doesn’t necessarily lend itself to a wider appeal than regular and more familiar Reggae fans. HOWEVER, if you are said regular and more familiar Reggae fan, then you may just find Justice to be what the cover would suggest, golden. As I said, Justice isn’t his best album to date (Phantom War or Africa is) but its VERY WELL DONE. And a big thank you goes to Lutan Fyah and Philadub for their outstanding (albeit untimely for me) effort. One of the first BIG Reggae albums of the second half of 2009.
Rated 4.25/5 stars
Philadub Records
2009
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