Reggae music, in my opinion unlike virtually any other well known form, is one which is largely dictated musically through the development of certain trends. In almost an unspoken way, you’ll see certain tendencies of artists or especially producers begin to dominate the current landscape of the music and it will rise to the point where it will seemingly begin to effect other artists or producers (of all styles and skill and popularity levels). If the trend is large enough, it will (sometimes annoyingly so) grow to encompass a very large part of the industry and the fans as well. Currently, while the inevitable trend is somewhere developing (under some rock), we are now basking in the afterglow of the death of the Daggering trend. Over the last few years ‘daggeration’ flooded to every fowl ass corner of the Dancehall (and it had begun to even reach the shores of the Southern Caribbean and invade my beloved Soca as well) and was used by every at least somewhat halfway maybe decent Dancehall artist and you even (ridiculously) began to artists named Dagger or some variation thereof, riddims named dagger or variation thereof (like the ’Sky Daggering’ riddim) and, of course, there were the dances. In retrospect, unfortunately, years from now, we’ll probably recall the ‘Year of the Dagger’ as one of the most powerful (and screwed up) trends of Dancehall. The daggering time followed a bit more veiled and not so evident trend in terms of production where we had some of the biggest names in production attempting to ‘out-evil’ one another with their various riddims. Probably anchored by Stephen McGregor of Big Ship (who almost endlessly retains the right to jump back in and resurrect the trend WHENEVER he so chooses), this trend involved one producer after another trying to make the most ridiculously ANGRY sounding riddims. And of course, this began to affect a rather similar trend amongst the vocal artists who ‘kept up’ by trying to pen some of the most terribly violent anthems which brought quite a bit of negative attention to the Dancehall, although the hardcore Dancehall heads (and quite a few others as well) were able to appreciate some of the downright insane poetic value to the time as well. You’ve also seen similar trends throughout the years such as the running obligatory usage of female accompanying singers (which fortunately brought names like Chevelle Franklyn and Nadine Sutherland to the front stage), the general trend of female singers seemingly trying to ’outsex’ one another in search of the next Lady Saw. Reggae, and especially Dancehall, is definitely trendy business, for better or for worse.
And sometimes the trends crossover. A few years back there was such a case when you had a situation where producers had hit what many critics were calling a seriously large block in their creativity and they begin to essentially revive riddims from years gone by. This would go on (of course) largely in the Dancehall where you might remember Lef Side & Esco’s now infamous redo of Steely & Cleevie’s WICKED Giggy riddim which produced the equally infamous Tuck In U Belly by the former production/recording pair. And some might even argue that the trend continues to this very day on a smaller scale with such projects as the controversial Unfinished Business riddim continuing to apparently feed on older riddims. The ‘riddim revival’ trend also would spill over into the Roots Reggae spectrum where you would also see the practice occurring and on SO MANY different levels. For me, the crowning jewel of the time was the release of Waterhouse Redemption album from Sizzla back in 2006. Almost unknowingly ( I would assume) the legendary King Jammy put himself at the front of the trend by opening his vault of timeless riddims for the input from the wizard of August Town and produced one of the strongest Sizzla albums in recent years (he would also go on to do a similar thing with WICKED singer Ras Shiloh on the Only Selassie album in 2007 and also with Guyanese chanter Natural Black on the Jah Guide album from the same year). You would also see the practice extend to far more familiar terrain (instead of voicing a full album on vintage riddims which would require a HUGE producer to be able to pull off and not lose a great deal of money paying for licensing which, of course, isn’t a problem with Jammy using his own material) in the form of Roots riddim and the most BEAUTIFUL creation of that time in my opinion would have DEFINITELY been Mafia & Fluxy’s re-lick of Burning Spear’s MIGHTY Marcus Garvey riddim for Black Arrow. The riddim hit old and new fans alike as it brought back one of the most wonderful creations in history, known for having backed Reggae’s most well known Garveyite, Winston Rodney (aka Burning Spear), as he delivered a now immortal piece for the IMMORTAL Prophet, The Most Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey whose name, as you might imagine, remained and still to this day remains ever present in the Spear’s music. The attraction here was kind of one that was good and bad depending on who you ask: For me, personally, I don’t tend to have too much of a problem with bringing back older riddims because, to be perfectly honest, I always find myself wondering exactly how ‘New Artist A’ might sound across ‘Old Riddim A’ but, due to the fact that their paths didn’t cross in terms of time, for the most part it’s something which will stay a though and largely unfulfilled. And I would think it the same, for the most part, for DEEP Reggae fans but not so, I remembering hearing so many that this riddim in particular was almost ‘sacred ground’ and shouldn’t have been brought back in such manner. I thought it was a great idea and the only thing that would have been better was to collect all of the songs on the resurrected version of the Marcus Garvey riddim and slap them onto an album which is exactly what Mr. Tipsy Productions did through Black Arrow for the masses. Giving what started more than thirty years ago a shine of new and modern light and producing what proved to be a BIG project in the end.
Now, just as I said, the big deal with the Marcus Garvey Riddim in 2005 was the fact that It came with quite a few new artists, some of whom just may not have been on the planet AT ALL, the first time around. And Mr. Tipsy Productions definitely did a good job in choosing a nice group of newer artists and combining them with older known and even lesser known types to fill in very high quality vibes by albums end. Beginning the album for the Marcus Garvey riddim [Words Come To Past] is kind of a middle of the pack (in terms of age) type of artist, who would have been alive but a teenager back in the 1970’s, the very well known Tony Rebel who checks in with the SHINING Life Don’t Take No Holiday. The man has seen quite a few trends in his day (and probably started a few of his own) and thankfully he was around for this one as he delivers one of the brightest bits on the Marcus Garvey. Life Don’t Take No Holiday is a tune, at its core, which urges the masses to seriously just make the greatest attempt to enjoy life because hard times will always be there, so we should give thanks. Nice opening Mr. Rebel. Next up is the aforementioned Sizzla Kalonji who delivers, unsurprisingly for me, the single greatest piece on the riddim/album, the MASSIVE Africa Yes. Ever since I’ve heard this tune I’ve held in as high esteem as some of his far more well regarded earlier material as it is simply on that level. Sizzla turns up the melody WAY high on the tune and digs out an EPIC tune with thoughts of repatriation, Afrikan unity and just Afrikan pride in general with a kind of a ‘lazy’ flow that really captures your attentions (he sounds like he’s just sitting around talking at times) and produces a piece that I’m sure Prophet Garvey himself would have loved. HUGE tune! Like several of the names which appear on the riddim, I’ve never quite overstood why Natty King’s is here but I sure am grateful that he did voice it (you would just know that Luciano would have been on here), as he pushes my second favourite tune on the riddim altogether with the outstanding Man A Bongo. In his unfortunately too small but POWERFUL catalogue, few tunes top the Afrikan affirming Man A Bongo and that’s saying quite a great deal for this wonderful tune as Natty King, as usual, is SPOTLESS on the vibes. LARGE opening.
In retrospect, the Marcus Garvey riddim might have been the very first time I really paid attention to Tony Rebel protégé and future star Queen Ifrica who appears here with a strong effort, Essence Of My Life. This tune is WONDERFUL and even though it finds an
Ifrica CLEARLY not near the heights of her powers, it’s one of the riddims highlights. And, as far as the unknowns and younger artists (although this guy is probably more unknown than he is young), the fittingly named and terribly underrated Clarendon native Muziah does a BIG works on his effort, Dem Want Food. Muziah’s tune receives a nice slight variation of the riddim from Mafia & Fluxy and he goes after Babylon’s mistreatment full on with guns blazing (second verse on that one is MADNESS)! Big tune. Speaking of blazing, Maccannan (whoever he is), also goes that route although more laid back and less effective, in my opinion, than Muziah with his still SOLID Keep Blazing. I don’t know (anything) much about Maccannan (probably because they’ve misspelled his name, just as they did with the name of his song ‘Keep Bazing’ and later Yasus Afari - ‘Yusus Afari’) but, if he’s still in the business I should definitely track down more material as Keep Blazing is an excellent introduction to the youthful voiced (and vibed) chanter against the corruption of oppressive society. As for the older names, Jimmy Riley does a very nice bit with his tune Truth & Rights, which you have to call one of the biggest tunes on the riddim altogether. The song doesn’t really break any new ground or offer new perspective but it remains at such a HIGH level and you wouldn’t expect anything less from such a veteran (and hopefully the riddim can come back in some form so Jimmy can bring his son next time). City Of Justice finds veteran, Scratch favourite and one of the coolest men on the planet, Sam Carty, in a very nice form, sounding like an old school American R&B singer. Regardless of the source of influence for his vocal patterns, however, you simply cannot ignore the UNIQUE piece which, over the years, has grown on me such a great deal that I’m now even somewhat surprised that it didn’t register with me years ago as it does now: One of the best tunes on t eh riddim. Period. 40+ year veteran Bunny Brown serves up the reflective Gone Are The Days. The song is a bit clichéd but its not bad AT ALL and really starts to strengthen after awhile (and you want to talk about R&B sounding singer!. . .). There’s also Ruddy Thomas (who is credited as the engineer on the album who offers a remake of a Curtis Mayfield tune (more R&B and you’ll hear it in Thomas’ voice also) by the name of Choice Of Colours. The song is changed a bit (and includes the very first mention of Marcus Garvey by name on the album by my recollection) from Mayfield’s version but it sounds LOVELY on the riddim and the ultimate unification of all people subject matter, which was the message on the original tune, still prevails and does so wonderfully. Big time poet Yasus Afari is also on board with Jamaica Good To Me, always love to see Afari doing ANYTHING. And former (I THINK) Third World singer, Bunny Rugs, offers the obligatory cover of Burning Spear’s original tune Marcus Garvey and it is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! You knew someone had to do it and I would have had other choices (such as the aforementioned Luciano) but Rugs does a SUPERB job. Wonderfully completing things altogether is a sweet clean version of the riddim from Mafia & Fluxy by the name of Dub Garvey and, as I always say, it’s a very nice touch and really one of the highlights here and an excellent way to end things in my opinion on the Marcus Garvey Riddim album.
Ifrica CLEARLY not near the heights of her powers, it’s one of the riddims highlights. And, as far as the unknowns and younger artists (although this guy is probably more unknown than he is young), the fittingly named and terribly underrated Clarendon native Muziah does a BIG works on his effort, Dem Want Food. Muziah’s tune receives a nice slight variation of the riddim from Mafia & Fluxy and he goes after Babylon’s mistreatment full on with guns blazing (second verse on that one is MADNESS)! Big tune. Speaking of blazing, Maccannan (whoever he is), also goes that route although more laid back and less effective, in my opinion, than Muziah with his still SOLID Keep Blazing. I don’t know (anything) much about Maccannan (probably because they’ve misspelled his name, just as they did with the name of his song ‘Keep Bazing’ and later Yasus Afari - ‘Yusus Afari’) but, if he’s still in the business I should definitely track down more material as Keep Blazing is an excellent introduction to the youthful voiced (and vibed) chanter against the corruption of oppressive society. As for the older names, Jimmy Riley does a very nice bit with his tune Truth & Rights, which you have to call one of the biggest tunes on the riddim altogether. The song doesn’t really break any new ground or offer new perspective but it remains at such a HIGH level and you wouldn’t expect anything less from such a veteran (and hopefully the riddim can come back in some form so Jimmy can bring his son next time). City Of Justice finds veteran, Scratch favourite and one of the coolest men on the planet, Sam Carty, in a very nice form, sounding like an old school American R&B singer. Regardless of the source of influence for his vocal patterns, however, you simply cannot ignore the UNIQUE piece which, over the years, has grown on me such a great deal that I’m now even somewhat surprised that it didn’t register with me years ago as it does now: One of the best tunes on t eh riddim. Period. 40+ year veteran Bunny Brown serves up the reflective Gone Are The Days. The song is a bit clichéd but its not bad AT ALL and really starts to strengthen after awhile (and you want to talk about R&B sounding singer!. . .). There’s also Ruddy Thomas (who is credited as the engineer on the album who offers a remake of a Curtis Mayfield tune (more R&B and you’ll hear it in Thomas’ voice also) by the name of Choice Of Colours. The song is changed a bit (and includes the very first mention of Marcus Garvey by name on the album by my recollection) from Mayfield’s version but it sounds LOVELY on the riddim and the ultimate unification of all people subject matter, which was the message on the original tune, still prevails and does so wonderfully. Big time poet Yasus Afari is also on board with Jamaica Good To Me, always love to see Afari doing ANYTHING. And former (I THINK) Third World singer, Bunny Rugs, offers the obligatory cover of Burning Spear’s original tune Marcus Garvey and it is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! You knew someone had to do it and I would have had other choices (such as the aforementioned Luciano) but Rugs does a SUPERB job. Wonderfully completing things altogether is a sweet clean version of the riddim from Mafia & Fluxy by the name of Dub Garvey and, as I always say, it’s a very nice touch and really one of the highlights here and an excellent way to end things in my opinion on the Marcus Garvey Riddim album. Overall, you really should already have this. Of course, what I mean by “you” is you, hardcore Reggae head and particularly of the older and slightly older crowd where such a project will resonate more so than just being ‘good music’. This one did quite a bit for me personally and several years later I’m still sitting around hoping someone may bring it back one time to give even more artists a shot at the TIMELESS composition (like Tarrus and Capleton and Luciano and Jah Mason and Lutan Fyah etc.) because it simply worked that well, at least with me. The Marcus Garvey riddim is one of the best pieces you’ll ever hear in Reggae music (and, thus, in all music) and as it reached album here, it proved that some of our trends in the vibes can really prove to be quite fruitful in the end and I’m sure Marcus Garvey would be proud.
Rated 4/5 stars
Black Arrow
2005
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