Speaking from a strictly musical standpoint here and far away from the business shenanigans which go on behind the scenes, the art of dealing with debut albums can be tricky dealings. Besides deciding how to get the thing up and running and with whom to do it with, the actual music and vibes themselves often can be another beast of their own and, depending on what happens to a particular artist, downright strange at times. I would say that this is true in almost all genres of music but in Reggae, where obscurity can dominate and, ESPECIALLY in the case of debut albums, sometimes when you come across a debut album from an artist who ended up doing something relatively decent in their career, what you’ll find might not be the best thing they’ve ever done and, again, it may just be strange as hell or an exercise in finding the real artist. Probably the strangest of them all would be Beenie Man whose debut album, The Ten Year Old DJ Wonder for Bunny Lee arrived in 1982 or so and found a BARELY post infantile Beenie (spelled ‘Beany’ on the cover) espousing on such inspirational subjects as Bony Punany and Sleep With A Gal at the ripe experienced age of around eight or so. That album has gone on to become one of the hardest to find pieces in Dancehall history in hard form and while many a collector may be right now trying to track it down, I don’t know and can’t imagine that there is ANYONE who would argue to it’s quality AT ALL. Beenie’s archrival, Bounty Killer, for his part, had far more pedestrian (and BETTER) beginnings more than a decade later with the Roots, Reality & Culture album. Bounty, still however, doesn’t manage to elude any type of strange nostalgia as the RR&C album doesn’t even begin to shed light on the eventual ‘digitally dominant’ evil version of Rodney Pryce which would later emerge and instead positions the Killer as an every so SLIGHTLY updated version of former mentor Ninja Man. Even Lady Saw’s own debut, 1994’s (same year as Bounty’s on VP Records, the same label) Lover Girl, although arguably more loaded than both Bounty’s and Beenie’s first efforts, as it finds her in an era of production in which she thrived, still pales in comparison in most of her earlier work. And those are the SUPERSTARS of the business. Similar digs into the debut albums of other big names like (ESPECIALLY) Buju Banton and Capleton reveal even more kind of awkward and not very ‘telling’ in terms of what was to come in the future and the trend extends with very few exceptions (like Spragga Benz).
With all of those artists, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Lady Saw, Buju, Capleton and even Spragga being of such big status and having been from almost as soon as they began their careers, even if you can’t actually find their debut (and you can in all of those cases except for Beenie Man and if you’re willing to pay for it, you can find that also) readily available, they are very well known. On the HARDCORE Roots side, however, you tend to have artist after artist have debut albums come and go and even second and third efforts which find them, for the most part, in some state of development which may or may not be exactly indicative of what is to come. Recently (within the last decade or so) we’ve seen quite a few debut albums from artists finding them at (obviously) such an early stage in their development and on the Roots side, MANY of these albums are quite obscure and all but forgotten. Jah Mason’s Keep Your Joy is an EXCELLENT example of this as that album, which was pretty good actually, showed the Mason before he had seemingly gotten a control of his ‘moods’ which now highlight his music and go to aid an overall package of talent which make up one of the most talented artists in the game today. It’s also basically damn near impossible to find as its producers, Ghetto Technology are seemingly gone and didn’t leave a forwarding address. And, fittingly, there’s also Guyanese chanter Natural Black who also has a debut album, World War, which is along those same levels (as is Turbulence’s self titled debut) as he emerged in that same group which included the Mason as the next wave of well powerful Roots Reggae artists. There is a bit of confusion as to if World War is actually his debut album or not as the other album in question, Spiritual War, was apparently not released too far away (of course, you wouldn’t know it as neither have a year or anything ANYWHERE on them) in terms of time, however, I maintain that WW was first because qualities attributed to his forthcoming next album in the liners of the album fit what goes on with Spiritual War (it even says “second album“). In quality, also, things are a bit telling to my ears as the Spiritual War album features a version of Natural Black who is slightly a more ‘finished product’ instead of the ruggedly pleasing version who appears on World War. This album was released on Frenchie label Lion Roots (which I THINK is still around today in some form or another but I don’t think they ever released another album besides World War), ran by the one Steflion (Stephane Puleo) and he and Black’s now former manager (I THINK) Roger Grant from Organic Records serve as the album’s executive producers. As in Jah Mason’s case on Keep Your Joy with not being in total command of where he would take a tune or the once SUPREMELY talented Turbulence on his debut not using his underrated vocals enough or Lutan Fyah not being as lyrically proficient or just generally as SK
ILLED on his debut, Dem No Know Demself, World War features a Natural Black NO WHERE NEAR the heights of his powers also. The artist you’ll hear here sounds like a pretty ‘frustrated ‘ (actually I’m thinking ‘agitated’ but I think I use that word too much) version of Buju Banton for the most part. You do, however, definitely see the beginnings of what would turn into be a mighty artist in Natural Black and it is well worth mentioning that he is just enough of ‘himself’, or as we know him to be now, to push World War overall and make it a winner ultimately.
ILLED on his debut, Dem No Know Demself, World War features a Natural Black NO WHERE NEAR the heights of his powers also. The artist you’ll hear here sounds like a pretty ‘frustrated ‘ (actually I’m thinking ‘agitated’ but I think I use that word too much) version of Buju Banton for the most part. You do, however, definitely see the beginnings of what would turn into be a mighty artist in Natural Black and it is well worth mentioning that he is just enough of ‘himself’, or as we know him to be now, to push World War overall and make it a winner ultimately.Definitely helping Natural Black in making World War a world winner (did you see that? Did you see what I did there?) is the ridiculous level of producers and musicians he works with on it. He was definitely not a big name at the time but some of the names and places credited in the album’s liner notes as working on it are seemingly those reserved for only the biggest. Perhaps they knew what was to come later. What was to come first on Natural Black’s (I THINK) debut album World War from Lion Roots was one of the better tunes you’ll find on the album and what has become one of the underground signature pieces from it, Mad Crazy. This tune is also ‘Exhibit A’ of what I mean when I say that Black hadn’t developed fully as it’s kind of out of control at times and you just KNOW it would be a big tune if he voiced it now. Not that it was bad back then because it wasn’t and it was full of lyrical niceness as well across Bullpuss’ lick of the famed Real Rock riddim. Stirring start. What amounts to the album’s title track, Third World War, is up next and the first thing you’ll notice is that it, again, is ‘gifted’ in the way of utilizing the riddim from Dennis Brown’s famed The World Is Troubled. Natural Black doesn’t go to those LEGENDARY bounds with Third World War but he definitely gives a nice effort and one which reigns as another of the highlights here in my opinion speaking on how we need to be careful in this day and age. Closing out the opening on World War is the antiviolence piece, Guns Nuh Mek Ya (or, as the album cover calls it, Guns Nuh Mekj Ya). This tune is WELL solid and one of the best written tunes here altogether and, yep, you guessed it; It benefits from coasting wickedly across the old Tonight riddim (Keith & Tex style baby). Big opening.
With an intro like such I almost found it weird that my favourite tune didn’t come amongst the first lot and almost inherently excluded from the mix is the final song (more on that in a minute), which makes the high point of Natural Black’s World War somewhere in the middle. Particularly look at the three OUTSTANDING tunes for Black woman in the middle of the album. First up is the SWEET Woman Like You over Black Scorpio’s cut of the Tribal War riddim. This song’s effect is almost purely from an entertainment point of view (at least for me) but it DEFINITELY sounds so nice indeed, even if it isn’t the best delivered tune here (and it isn’t). the mundanely titled Black Woman is up next and its actually a stronger tune than its immediate predecessor on World War. It comes with more of a foundationally strong and appreciable message than Woman Like You and you could probably even call it more of a social commentary, attempting to uplift the Afrikan woman in general rather than just “oh baby I love you”, (biggup Peter Tosh). That being said, the best of the three and my favourite tune on the album is SHOCKINGLY the infectious Strong Woman. The song comes over some zany ass techno Dancehall riddim which I just can’t get out of my head and then Natural Black himself, rough around the edges and all, goes after it with a flow (ESPECIALLY on the chorus) that really stays with you long after it and the entire album are over. You won’t find it on any ‘best of Natural Black’ list and rightly so but I love that song. Four of the other five tunes find Black in a far more typical role which fill out World War quite nicely. Check Weh Dem Ago Pass (aka Can’t Pass on the CD back) which is probably the best of the remaining lot. This one doesn’t even sound like Natural Black at times but it’s still well solid and you’ll notice the CRAZY flow Black gives to the verses on the tune which is something. . . I don’t know he may want to revive that one and give it another go these days. Mi Do Mi Best is a little different sounding but still well on a ‘normal’ vibes. This one used to be one of my favourites on World War a few years back, I still have a nice appreciation for it, however The tune finds Natural Black stating just how prepared he is for the challenge of the oppressive world and I like the usage of BIG sounding backing singers throughout (they almost sound like a chorus in a church choir). Mi Do Mi Best leads into the very interesting final two tracks on World War which are “very interesting” for even more very DIFFERENT reasons. First is the damn near DAZZLING Hands Up. Now, you wouldn’t know it by looking at the tracklist for the album anywhere but the tune is a combination for the album as it features Black alongside US Reggae band Big Mountain. The group would also return (I THINK) on the Spiritual Food album with the WAY BETTER effort No Bada (and I believe Black has also appeared on one of their projects as well). Hands Up is, still, a pretty nice vibes with an excellent chorus but it’s kind of odd to deal with knowing that this combination can be (and has been) so much better. AND THEN THERE’S CHIGUEN. The closing song on World War has pretty much become infamous to a degree as it doesn’t fit the album AT ALL. Chiguen is an Afrikan sounding vibes (I don’t know what language they’re speaking on it however, maybe Spanish or Portuguese, and Natural Black, although he sounds well, sounds just as out of place on the tune and you have to wonder if not why record it in the first place, then why put it on the album. BUT! I do reward Lion Roots and Luzi Shilling for having an adventurous spirit in recording such a tune in the first place but I don’t know that World War was the proper place for it in the end. Still, the tune, whatever it is, is pretty much excusable given the general niceness which precedes it.
Overall, I’ve tried to make it a point to stress the fact that what you’ll find on World War is BY NO MEANS the best Natural Black has to offer. To be even more specific, in terms of quality, it’s probably his worst album to date but, thankfully it was his first (or second), so that’s what you’ll expect. However, that being said, its still not a bad album by any means and although I definitely can’t recommend you tracking it down at any cost but pretty much any within reason. for me, right now Natural Black’s World War kind of serves as a referencing point as far as what he’s become and not what he is/was on the actual album. When you take it and contrast it against his later work you see exactly how nice of a journey it has been for one of Reggae’s most traveled and most compelling stories.
Rated 3/5
Lion Roots
2009
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