When you listen to as much music as I do, especially these days, you find yourself looking forward to certain things. The first thing I appreciate, almost above any other, is creativity. When you listen to Reggae music and Roots Reggae in particular, hearing ‘Praise Jah’ over and over can become quite strenuous and simply too familiar after awhile, so in that case, I definitely appreciate lyrical creativity. Also, in terms of delivery, I’ll reach a point where I become tired of someone simply energizing a track for the sake of an OBVIOUS lack of lyricism or a lack of vibes in general. So when I hear someone with a dynamic or just a GREAT vocal style, in one way or another, my ears well tune in and I just get downright EXCITED. Still, there is perhaps an even more prevailing sense of creativity when it comes through the obvious sense of an artist merely being him/her self on a track and doing so to their BENEFIT (unlike someone else who may be being themselves, but ‘themselves’ may just be annoying as hell or just BAD). So what you end up with is an artist being creative, because “creative” is who they are, which is wonderful. Of course, the first example of such an artist I draw on is Sizzla Kalonji. Whether people know it or not, the reason that Sizzla is able to stick out in an endless crowd of seemingly similarly vibed artists isn’t just because he’s ‘better’ or that he’s more skilled (even though he’s probably both) and it isn’t because he shouts louder and more often than his contemporaries. It’s because he’s all of those things and he’s all of those things on his own terms. Who else do you know would take a chalkboard scratching sounding falsetto and just sing a song like it’s normal; just a regular thing to do? Sizzla has become a trendsetter for artists the world over in Reggae, and even outside of that community, for making his own rules in a genre which is often viewed as regimented or ‘templated’. Now, I could go on and mention unquestionably WICKED artists such as Lutan Fyah, Jah Mason and Turbulence who have taken a bit of Sizzla’s style and combined it with their own vibes to make their styles, but instead, I’m going to talk about the one name Black Dillinger, who, although he’ll definitely draw comparisons to the wizard of August Town, is an artist who I feel is less taking the idea from Sizzla in terms of how his music sounds and is vibed and more taking the idea of being ONE OF A KIND.
So what’s so creative and original about Black Dillinger? First there’s the obvious: Black Dillinger hails from South Africa. And while the country has made a name for itself in terms of Reggae music (more on that later), it doesn’t necessarily come as quickly to the mind as France, the UK, Germany or The Netherlands when it comes to hotbeds for Reggae music and artists outside of the Caribbean. Still, in my opinion, it is as a result of growing up in the very impoverished and controversial country which ‘afforded’ the artist with a background very comparable to his Caribbean peers. Well, we Reggae fans of the world perhaps should be thankful for Black Dillinger’s youthful hardships as it all helped to created not only a creative force, but one which is just SO WICKED that the artist literally becomes unavoidable to the hardest of hardcore fans in my opinion. Also, unlike Sizzla’s, Black Dillinger’s talent is one which clearly still in the developmental stage and, again, while I hesitate to draw direct tangents between the two (Dillinger has big enough potential shoes to fill already), should he continue to develop along his current and past career trajectory, well then such comparisons may not only be fitting, but NECESSARY in order to show a contrast to his level of abilities and progression. Black Dillinger’s style is one not ostensibly too much unlike the established chanters I’ve mentioned thus far, but in his own nearly perfect way Dillinger infuses HIMSELF into each and every tune, which almost gives his music the quality that very elusive ‘individual creativity’; simply meaning that almost no artist on the planet could make Black Dillinger’s music as good as Black Dillinger! And we, those outside of South Africa actually first caught glimpses of this wonderful artist on his debut album, Live & Learn, which was originally released in 2007 for MKZWO Records. That album was a very nice debut and definitely put the artist on the map, however, for me personally, it was another tune which was produced by the fine German imprint, IM Music, which caught my attention to the South African dynamo. Well, I didn’t have to wait a very long time for that union to prove fruitful as, outside of that OUTSTANDING tune (more on it in a minute), in general Black Dillinger has come to align himself even closer with the label who now pushes the sophomore album for the artist, Let Live (another ’LL’ album). I had actually been ‘spying’ Black Dillinger’s Myspace page for quite awhile and several months ago it said something to the effect of an album was forthcoming. It didn’t have a name (at least I don’t think it did) and it didn’t have a time, outside of 2009, but I was WELL sure to make a mental note to keep an eye out for the artist’s next release having been so impressed by that aforementioned IM Music produced tune and the LUSHNESS which was the Live & Learn album. Now having extensively spun through Let Live, I’m left with the one main observation to which I previously alluded to: Black Dillinger has clearly advanced and developed his skills, even in the brief time since the first album. I still play through Live & Learn quite often, it remains a big album in my opinion, but even on the smallest and minute of levels the substantial improvement Black Dillinger has made is clear. So you take an already assuredly WICKED and DIFFERENT artist and make him even better. What do you think you have? Yeah. Big album.
Checking in at a MASSIVE (and wonderful) twenty tracks, the album is produced primarily by the IM Music camp, Frederic Palzer and Marius Kuhn. It also comes kind of nicely distinguished between the two halves, which is almost convenient for the sake of this review. The very first tune you’ll hear on Black Dillinger’s Let Love album is one of the two non IM Music produced pieces and it’s also one of the best tracks on the album altogether, ‘From A Place’. VAST! I could have a good time writing insanely long articles trying to decipher the base meaning of this BOBBY DIGITAL produced tune, but instead, I just have to recommend it as Dillinger paints a BEAUTIFUL two-toned, two-tiered picture which seems to border somewhere between the ideal and the actual, capturing both worlds EXCELLENTLY! HUGE tune. Next in is the title tune (the first of seventeen IM Music produced pieces) and it arguably outdoes the opener to a degree. This tune really shows off what I mean with the uniqueness of the artist’s style in that it sounds so kind of simple, but when you really vibe it you see how pseudo complex it really is. Again, we find Dillinger capturing both the way things ‘should’ be and how they are, ultimately summing the matter up, in any regard with, “Love life so that Jah can bless you”. And things just don’t get any simpler than that (or do they. . .). The next song on Love Life is the first changeup, ‘Realize’. Lyrically, you won’t find it very different than its predecessors, but the vibes here are this kind of heavy (autotune laced) piece. I initially didn’t like the tune very much, but when you get into the lyrics, the kind of ‘curious’ backing almost seems to fade somewhere comfortably into the background and I really can’t complain. Going through, sequentially, the next two tunes on Love Life are definitely two of my favourites with the second being the best tune I heard on the album altogether. ‘Dem A Pressure We’ is EPIC! I’ve known of this tune for quite awhile (a benefit of checking that Myspace page, I’m sure) and I’ve loved it from ever since the very first spin through as Black Dillinger espouses on those pushing negativity and fighting against not only him, but ALL of His Majesty’s children on the very inspirational vibes. HOWEVER, I still have to give credit where it’s due. The next time the legendary Bobby Digital blesses Love Life, he does so with its greatest bit of output, the MASSIVE ‘One Big Nation’. UNITY IS STRENGTH! This song! Without even getting into the more flaring type of vibes, One Big Nation just goes straight forward and registers on so many different levels, that I literally had to listen it about five times to really get to its strength. Its strength is the strength of the album, it is the best tune here and probably the best I’ve ever heard from Black Dillinger. The very nice lovers piece, ‘It’s All Right’, comes via IM’s very own kind of melancholy Grow With Me riddim from last year and it’s grown on me a little since then (HUGE Sizzla song on that riddim). And my ears literally JUMPED when I heard ‘No More Ur Desire’! I guess you could call it Afrikan vibed or maybe even Creole, but I’m calling it a kind of groovy Soca-ish sounding tune, which sounds AWFUL, I’m sure, but trust that it’s a big song. And I’ll say the same thing about ‘Sexy Girls’ which finds Dillinger getting into the slackness a bit, but really it’s not a bad song actually. The two final tunes of the first half of Love Life, ‘We Will Overcome’ and ‘Humble Yourself’ are two of the best tunes here. The former kind of sheds a bit of light on what is to come on the second half of the album as it features Black Dillinger’s stablemate, the man of a billion styles, Rebellion The Recaller. Such a combination between the two future stars would HAVE TO be excellent and it more than lives up to those lofty standards. Humble Yourself, for it’s part, produced by Sil Gordon (that riddim is DIVINE), may be even better! This one! Dillinger climbs all over this piece to deliver a vibes where he KICKS OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, welcoming all moved children of Afrika back home! BRILLIANCE!
Now to that second half. You’ll notice that label on the album’s cover which has FIVE pretty large names (including one which, just kind of makes you scratch your head) and then a next who comes pretty close to outdoing the rest, joining Black Dillinger on Love Life, and with only Rebellion The Recaller in the door, that means that half of the second half of the album are BIG combination pieces. The first of them, ’Only Jah Alone’ is probably the one I was most interested in hearing as none other than the brilliant Swiss based Gwada chanter, CALI P. These two artists are probably at relatively the same stage of their careers and they both have so much niceness to offer on different levels and definitely them teaming up to push such a powerful message, To Seek His Imperial Majesty ABOVE ALL OTHERS, should well make an impact and I hope the tune receives any type of push where they’re popular because it should very well do damage and big credit to IM (or whoever’s idea it was) to make it happen! LOVELY song. Next in is some guy name Crosby on ‘Give Thanx’ and just when you figure it’s filler and you want to skip. . . The tune starts and it is absolute MAGIC! I LOVE THIS SONG! Apparently Crosby is also an artist from out of South Africa and I would venture to say that he and Dillinger have known each other from quite awhile because the CHEMISTRY they have is remarkable. Crosby is a bit more of a singer and provides the tune with nice MELODIES and Dillinger comes through with a bit more aggression, but not too much; ultimately coming together to GIVE THANKS. What another powerful tune. The next combination on Love Life, ’Red, Gold & Green’, is special, but even before it starts you’ll be asking yourself questions. I’ve heard rumblings (and actual tunes) here and there that Terror Fabulous was back and doing big material and here HAS TO BE the biggest in awhile from the former superstar as he joins Black Dillinger on the tune. Still there (as it has always been) is the TALENT. Fabulous could probably still ride any riddim and this kind of KNOCKING one-drop doesn’t stand much of a chance in his way. The tune, at its core, is just one about PRIDE and LOVE (and you have to hear the way Dillinger says “Red, Gold & Greeeeeeen”). Beautiful Vibes! Then is the German based Yah Meek, who would seem like he would roll in similar circles, so I was not surprised to see his name here. He joins in on ‘Love For You’. I was never the biggest of Yah Meek fans, but he does make a lovely vibes (with that voice, he almost has no choice) and here, things are no different (I kind of like the bit of back and forth early in the tune between the artists). And lastly is the always ready and powerful Mark Wonder who chimes in on the BIG ‘Binghi Chant’. I’m sure I know that baseline from somewhere, but the tune itself, regardless of the source, is VERY strong and one of my absolute favourite tunes on the album. Mark Wonder has been mining gold as of late and here with Dillinger he keeps things going with the uplifting vibes for the masses. All of that being said, however, one could make the case that the second biggest tune on the second half of Love Life is ‘America’. This is THE tune which I feel is the signature composition from Black Dillinger and IM Music’s time together and it is STRONG! It comes across what was one of the best riddims of 2007, the hypnotic Gangstalaw and two years on, it stings just as tough as it did back then. Certainly things, from a political point of view, are quite different at this point (might we here an ‘America Part 2’ at some point???), but you won’t care. America is HUGE (the man says, “many innocent blood fill up your mouth and stomach)! Check ‘FRIGHT NOT YOURSELF‘. Another big selection. That riddim is almost absent (save from that KNOCK) and it wonderfully allows Dillinger to just go after the flow on the tune and that he does. The punch line of the aggressive tune is “fright not yourself, but the system” and it’s one I don’t think I’ve ever heard before which is an excellent thing (creative, I told you). And just to bookend things. The very tune on the second half of the album. ’It’s Been Awhile (which I think I’ve heard before)’, is outstanding and even though it took ’awhile’ to grow on my tastes, I now see it well mighty, capturing a social and a historical message both being amongst its triumphs. And the final tune on Black Dillinger’s album Love Life is (yep, you guessed it), a Nyah drum backed piece, the poignant ’To The King Of Creation’. It’s almost as if Dillinger is wishing himself and his listeners well for the future. Simultaneously, he’s also giving appropriate THANKS to His Imperial Majesty for blessing him and blessing all so fortunate to here this fulfilling and ultimately EXCELLENT album.
Overall, I alluded to it earlier, but the circumstances surrounding South African Reggae music, of course, tend to begin and end with the late and great Lucky Dube and certainly when he transitioned two years ago, it left such a HUGE and interesting void. It was so lovely to see just how many people from how far had been affected by the South Africa superstar and, at least seemingly, that HUGE audience is one which would be accepting of a new kind of that scene. And to throw such expectations lofty expectations on any artist, much less one still developing, is fairly ridiculous, but if South Africa CURRENTLY has a more talented name in Reggae music, PLEASE do let me know. Black Dillinger is sensational and there is further for him to go, Love Life is both an example of that of an testament of how far he has come. Should he continue in this direction, well then maybe such Lucky Dube-like expectations aren’t necessarily ridiculous after all.
Rated 4.9999999/5
IMMusic
2009
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