Lion Champ???: A Review of Lion Camp by Ishi Dube

The Mrs. and I are trying to make a commitment to spend more time traveling to places which are typically outside of our plans in the New Year. Now there’re some places I just generally want to see. I’d like to see the Great Wall of China. I’d like to see the Taj Mahal and for some reason which I cannot explain (and nor do I care to even examine it even fuller), I’d like to go to Antarctica. And while the chances are slim to none (and Slim just left) that I’ll get to do all of that in 2010, one place I’m fairly certain that I’ll get to stop by is the great state of California in the US. Why? Well besides the fact that my Mother’s younger sister lives there (biggup Aunt DC), apparently California has become quite a depot when it comes to Reggae music outside of the Caribbean and outside of Europe and by this point, by virtue of the amount of Reggae ACTIVITY (not in terms actual number of artists) apparently going on in ‘The Golden State’, I’m tempted to say that California may just rival nearly the whole of Europe in that regard. Nearly every significant Jamaican and Virgin Islands Roots Reggae artist (and apparently now artists outside of that stream are now starting to take note (biggup Lloyd Brown) have added the state to their tours CONSTANTLY and in fact, several times you’ll see artists go exclusively on tours of California and do so successfully. Also, I shouldn’t need to mention at this point the various labels which make up the solid foundation of the scene and although you kind of wish they were a bit more directly active, they (like Lustre Kings, like Itation) still definitely represent and show off HIGHLY and internationally at this point when they have new projects for the masses. Still, ultimately I feel it will be the success or failure of any one place in terms of any type of music to see exactly what type of actual artists they produce and should you look at it in that regard, definitely California is also bringing some more than talented highlights to the Reggae scene altogether as well. Aside from being the aforementioned popular tour stop (as well as seemingly a place, much like Germany and the UK, where Caribbean artists will actually pack up and move to, such as Rankin Scroo and of course, Messenjah Selah) California has produced known and respected names like Jah Sun, Ras Matthew (whose most recent album Perseverance initially struck me as awful, but was growing on me a little the last time I heard a bit of it), the DIVINE Malika Madremana and several others (like Luv Fyah). But, with all of the development on that scene, I think it’s past time that we just pick on one of these artists and drag them (kicking and screaming if necessary) to the rest of the not so attentive world and show just how potent California has been in regards to making Reggae music.

So who do we choose??? Of course I’m partial (as hell) and my first choice would be Ms. Madremana (because she is wonderful in every way), but a very interesting choice would be Ishi Dube now wouldn’t he. The first beam of support for the explosion of Ishi Dube on the more casual Reggae listening populace would be one that I’ll expound on briefly: HE’LL BRING HIS FRIENDS. Apparently Dube has some of the best connections in the game and he has as much access to other BIGTIME names than they seem to have to themselves and each other. Second of all, of course it doesn’t hurt his case at all that musically speaking he is very much ON POINT and his style is one which, although sound-wise is a bit unusual, should be quite transferable as well. And to come far back closer to home (after a long an exhilarating trip to California), Ishi Dube, amongst artists who record nearly exclusively in the States, has been one of the more prevalent for me personally (of course outside of Jahdan Blakkamoore who doesn’t count, because apparently there’re sixteen of him), as I seem to ‘run into’ him quite often. First there was his effort on last years ‘Show Love’ Riddim from the aforementioned Itation. There was also ‘All For Myself’ a tune featured on the ‘Standing Firm’ Riddim from Sick Donkey earlier this year (which, of course, was a combination alongside Half Pint) and then there was the MASSIVE I Meditation album from Ras Attitude, one of the finest Reggae albums in 2009 altogether which Ishi Dube had a large hand in producing and (starting to see a pattern here?) featured on a tune, the entertaining and downright joyous ‘Mi Woulda Vex’. Somewhere in that mix Dube also managed to mix in Lion Camp, which is the first album that I actually had dealt with to any degree from the artist (although he had at least one prior to it, 2006’s Massagana: Thanks & Praise. The album came via his own Universal Balance Entertainment and honestly when we got it, I gave it a cursory listen and kind of stepped away from it until recently when I picked it up again. After now listening to it with a scrutinizing ear for the sake of this review I think I have a greater grasp of what it is what I feel is ultimately transferable about Ishi Dube’s music: The man just seems like he’s having an EXCELLENT time making Reggae music. You get that type of vibes from very few artists and it’s kind of an unfortunately rare quality (and I don’t think that it’s necessarily a newly absent trait or one specific to this era) which actually comes through in the music, so rare that I’m trying to think of a name who also exudes the same type of vibes and the ONLY one who is jumping up in my head now is Natural Black (and maybe Beenie Man, but in his case. . . Well you have to be there). With a standing quality like that it’s really no wonder that apparently Reggae dragged Ishi Dube across the entire globe as he was actually born in India and as a small child, he moved to the States. Well in his case the journey was well worth it if this album is any indication as, for the most part, Lion Camp is a dazzling showcase of Ishi Dube’s talents and yes, he’s brought his friends with him.

As I alluded to , Ishi Dube has a bit of an unusual style of voicing. Usually (for some reason), I generally find the speaking accent of artists from the western US to be a bit ‘different’ to my ears but Dube apparently doesn’t have that (or he hides it well) and his accent is a bit ‘less different’ than some of the others that I’ve encountered over the years. Also, something which I knew, but is definitely reasserted throughout the album, lyrically speaking Ishi Dube is nearly excellent as well. The first tune on Ishi Dube’s newest album, the self produced Lion Camp to show off said accent and lyrical ability is the title track which, unsurprisingly, is a combination featuring the aforementioned Jah Sun. Sun isn’t one of my favourite artists, but he has been impressing on a few tunes here and there lately and he does here as well. I did kind of have a question as to EXACTLY what Ishi Dube’s view of the ‘lion camp’ was and it doesn’t seem to tangibly be anything, instead it’s apparently much more of way of caring oneself and the way you present yourself and treat other people, which is definitely a nice vibes and the tune itself is quite jovial and grips your attention in a matter of seconds. Definitely one of the biggest tunes on the album is the opener ultimately. The kind of fun nature continues on the following track ‘Soundbwai’. This one, ostensibly, has a certain aim, but it quickly ascends into just a laid back and easy vibes throwing praise to the music itself in every direction and it tunes in quite nice on that HEAVY riddim (especially at the end of the song where it just plays freely, I could’ve listened to that all damn day!). Another nice tune there. The final tune of the opening lot makes no attempt to draw you in any (other) direction and it serves as an excellent followup to ‘Soundbwai’ (although it’s not as strong on the surface), but it arguably has a DEEPER connotation to it as Dube apparently begins to warm up and tune in a bit and starts flexing some lyrical chops on the tune which he hadn’t previously on Lion Camp until then (and that riddim seems to downright vanish in the latter stages of the tune). All in all, a mighty strong and INTERESTING beginning.

NOW! Onto the madness: You’ll look at that cover (just as you did to I Meditation and start counting off artist after artist who join Ishi Dube and it is impressive to say the least (apparently Dube just gets LONELY in the studio). The one name here who I didn’t know very much on sight was Michael Marshall who features on the kind of funky vibed ‘Emptiness‘. I don’t too much like this one (outside of singing it, it has that kind of ‘healthy’ kind of blues sound to it that makes you want to join in), but it is every so slowly growing on me to a degree. There’s also the very familiar Winstrong from out of Suriname (another transplant to California I believe) who guests on ‘Gideon Soldiers’. Winstrong is potentially SERIOUS, so stay tuned and his effort on this tune which is kind of subtly intense is definitely one of the best features on the album and that’s saying A GREAT DEAL (incidentally the song is nearly special and one of the best also to be found here). There’s another artist who I’m fairly lukewarm on, De Apostle (outside of the fact that the man once had an album by the name of Book Of Fire, which is just COOL), but he impresses throughout his tune on Lion Camp ’Better’. This one has an OUTSTANDING message of ’judge yourself, before you judge another’ type, which is very interesting, especially when it’s kind of indirectly related to the music when Apostle says, “before you bun a fyah, bun a fyah pon yourself”, which is a very nice line considering the STILL over-proliferation of the ‘fire’ in Reggae (more on that in a minute). Dube goes all ‘Police & Thieves’ on the people when he invites Luna Angel in on the BEAUTIFUL ‘Unification’. The tune is kind of corny and everything, but who cares! It’s Luna Angel! Always love to see her about (and her legs) anytime you can. The two heavy hitters come in near the end on ‘Bruk Dem Bubble’ and ‘Taking Over’ respectively, featuring none other than FIRE himself, Capleton and of course, Ras Attitude. Bruk Dem Bubble is BIG and it takes Capleton a second to get going (which is fine because Dube holds the balance of the tune nicely), but when he does, he sounds like he’s TIRED of chanting down oppressive society, but expect the typical flames from St. Mary’s finest. Taking Over is the better of the two in my opinion, Attitude and Dube have just apparently this wonderful chemistry working together and the inspirational message of the tune saturates the senses just excellently and you’re dealing with one STRONG piece there, of course and I look forward to the two doing work together definitely. Still, there’s a BIG tune here featuring some dude name Gideon, ’Choppers’ which is one part Marlon Asher and one part John Holt and it WORKS! This tune is BIG. I don’t know who Gideon is, but the kind of ’rigid’ almost old school flow works for him and I caught that vibes AS SOON as it came in! Big tune.

Now, all of that being said, and excitingly so, what kind of sense does it make that the finest tune to be found on Lion Camp features Ishi Dube and ONLY Ishi Dube? There’s a simple little tune right near the middle of the album by the name of ‘Flower’ which is technically and for all intent and purposes NOT the best song on the album (by any standards, THAT distinction probably belongs to ‘Taking over’), but this song is sooooooooooooo NICE that I couldn’t stop playing it and it’s my own personal favourite tune here. You might (read - PROBABLY) not have the same affection for it, but who cares. Flower is big big vibes and I’m not ashamed to say how much I love that damn tune. And for the most part, left on his own, Ishi definitely comes through. ‘Make Amends’ is a very powerful tune (love the riddim on that one also) and it kind of reiterates my point of just how much fun Dube seems to be having on the tune (and I’ll go deeper on that thought in a second because there’re a few tunes on the album which have that quality and seem to show it in a similar fashion). Also check ‘Good Meditation’ and its MIGHTY BIG sound. It kind of expounds on the nature of tunes like Reggae Music and Soundbwai, in that it just gives THANKS for the actual music itself. I didn’t like ‘One Kiss’ very much, it’s the obligatory love song on the album. The vibes are nice (they all are), but it doesn’t do much and it kind of sounds like that stuff I used to write for my wife ‘back in the day’ (it worked though, didn’t it). ‘Rise Up’ definitely has a different flavour to it and one which sticks out on Lion Camp full on. It’s a powerful tune, although I’m even STILL working on it to a degree. This tune is VAST and if you ask me in awhile, it may actually even overtake Flower as my favourite. And lastly is ‘Prayer’. This tune is going to attract attention (if it hasn’t already, and I’m sure it has) if for no other reason than because of the fact that it sounds AMAZING! The way this tune is arranged and the melody (the nice backing singers), it’s just BIG! I won’t hold it against it that lyrically it’s not the strongest piece, but I don’t even think it was meant to be and it seems like more of a piece to emphasize a MOOD, especially given that it’s the final tune on the album and if that were the case: Mission accomplished.

Overall, I do want to go back and deal with the matter of the fact that how much Ishi Dube OBVIOUSLY loves the music he makes and the Reggae music in general, so easily conveys itself through this album and some of the tunes, especially in the middle of the album (including Flower and Make Amends) actually SOUND like they’re longer than they are. I swear I listened to Flower several times and thought that I had just vibed a ten minute tune! And in my opinion, that’s so because you just get lost in Dube having such a great time, that you kind of fall in as well and lose track of the pacing of the song and time itself actually. More than that, again, Dube’s activity level is indicative of that as well and his levels of NETWORKING, because the man really seems to have crazy connections. He doesn’t have a bad album in Lion Camp either, I’m definitely liking what I’m hearing and definitely looking forward to the next project (and with the way he works, might not have to wait for very long) and I’m REALLY looking to see him start upping the levels in terms of profile. California is a mighty large state, but it’s well past time that they began sharing the wealth and displaying more of their talents in Reggae worldwide and Ishi Dube is DEFINITELY one of the most talented they have.

Rated 4/5

Universal Balance Entertainment

2009

Ishi Dube

Ishi Dube @ Myspace