Elijah Prophet - King Of Kings [Pow Pow Movement, 2006]
Let’s talk about that gestation period which comes between an artist first coming on the scene and the time when he/she releases their first album. In other forms of music you don’t necessarily have such a thing as, almost always, the first time you hear of someone who will go on to have any type of prominence, the work for an album is already being done or maybe even already completed in some cases. In reggae, however, where an album is not always such a given occurrence, things can be, and quite often are, quite different. Such was the case back in 1996 when Westmoreland native Elijah Prophet released his debut album after who knows how long, over a decade already at that point. Which is why if you had never heard his music AT ALL or only a bit here and there (which means me) what he had become ALREADY was enough of a developed artist (well into his 30’s, if not even older) who could do almost ANYTHING as a singer. Thus, we have to give MASSIVE thanks and respect to big time German imprint Pow Pow for linking the singer for his very first album, King Of Kings, in 2006, which proved and continues to prove that the best things in life are definitely worth waiting for.
#1. Piece Of Ganja
I hear a new ganja tune almost weekly (if not even more often than that) but rarely do I hear a one like the MASSIVE Piece Of Ganja. Besides being absolutely LOADED with knowledge, the song is just so well vibed and, really Elijah Prophet could have very well made the tune on any subject matter, had he done so with the same vocals and melody as Piece Of Ganja, it would have been a real winner still. A real ‘can’t miss’ moment on an album which is just that on its own.
Line of the song: “Sensimilla send the Ras go to school. Mi neva take up no gun fi no tool. Can’t take I fi fool. Well if you lock me up for the sess, lock up the man for the sugar cane. The sess is good for the brain”
#2. One & All
TEARS! I can still remember the very first time I heard One & All which came through Ababa Janhoy’s BIG Raw Truth riddim project and it was literally a situation where the song almost immediately became more than just vibes. You couldn’t drive around in your car (at least I couldn’t) and spin One & All, it simply requires entirely too much attention, you’d need pull over and enjoy. The Prophet reminds us that no matter how we may look and who we may be, all are welcome in the arms of His Majesty!
Line of the song: “Who are you, pretending that my God is dead? Have you ever seen a body function without the head? So it’s been written, that’s how it should be said. No matter what you do, you can’t stop the life of Natty Dread!”
#3. Back For Good
Elijah Prophet was one of a few different artists to go after Pow Pow’s EPIC Blaze riddim with a kind of an up-tempo lovers tune and while you can argue that he didn’t have THE best (Gentleman did, Unconditional Love), Back For Good was definitely up there. The attraction here is that, at times, the Prophet almost appears a note or two away from crying himself. And haven’t we all been there.
Line of the song: “Memories of you keep haunting my mind. I keep reminiscing about all the good times”
#4. In The Jungle
Utilizing a cut of the old Freedom Blues riddim, Prophet delivers In The Jungle which is EASILY one of the most interesting selections on the album altogether. The most interesting facet of the tune is the rather odd delivery and presentation which finds Prophet almost floating over the riddim (that thing is like an old school Dancehall one-drop, it’s barely even there). To my ears, the song is about growing up and reaching out in life (of course) but more importantly (reminiscent of Anthony B’s EPIC When Mamma Forsake U tune), it’s about when you accept HIM and you’re never really alone.
Line of the song: “Now Jah show I mercy. HE never forsake me yeah. It’s the words of Jah Jah, open my eyes to see”
#5. Nah Tek No Talk
The title here would almost immediately indicate some almost completely meaningless Dancehall tune on King Of Kings. You’d imagine it’d be a combination with someone like Bounty Killer or Merciless or someone like such but if you were to imagine such a tune, still within the confines of a Roots Reggae song, then you might get a pretty close picture of the BEAUTIFUL havoc which Elijah Prophet wreaks on Irievibration’s Peace riddim. Big and LUSH throughout, the high stepping tune finds Elijah Prophet checking deeper into the CHARACTER of certain individuals.
Line of the song: “Sick inna dem head or dem mussi tek coke. And you fi Fyah bun soap? Mi si dem sick or dem mussi obsess, how dem waan diss di woman when dem inna short dress and when night time come, dem same one a style dem as princess!”
#6. Music Is Life
This one, you might get right. If you see that song title and think of a big and jovial vibes with just a nice and cool bounce to it, ska-style, then you’ll have a fairly accurate overstanding of the SWEET Music Is Life. The tune, like so many vibed similarly before it just draws the (fitting) connection between music in the ideological sense with LIFE in the ideological sense and probably very few more accurate comparisons have EVER been drawn musically speaking.
Line of the song: “Hip hip hooray, no matter what they say, they can’t stop the Reggae from play”
#7. Small World
Quietly one of the biggest and most addictive tunes that you’ll find on King Of Kings altogether, Small World is a song that just really hit’s the spot from a social commentary perspective. And I shouldn’t even be so quick as to just throw the label ‘social commentary’ on it at all because it definitely comes with a very spiritual edge as well (as does every tune on this album). The entire combination of vibes on the tune definitely push it to be (again, quietly) one of the album’s MANY highlights.
Line of the song: “It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from. I don’t care about your race, I don’t care about your complexion”
#8. King Of Kings
In my opinion Elijah Prophet’s King Of Kings was every bit the tune as the signature track from the riddim it uses, Gentleman’s riddim titling Superior as it gives a necessarily PEERLESS praise to His Imperial Majesty. And you can hear it coming from the chorus! The very first time you hear that thing ringing through it absolutely taps into the emotions (at least it did for me) and just HUMBLES you. The song, although I don’t call it the best on the album, is definitely the one which I have listened to most from the album named after it and probably for as long as I have it, that’ll be the case. WOW!
Line of the song: “KING OF KINGS! LORD OF LORDS! Hear me while I pray. KING OF KINGS! LORD OF LORDS! Hear me while I utter your name!”
#9. Revolution
If you really love Reggae, I mean really LOVE it, then the riddim on Revolution (the Living Man from DasVibes) will have you downright hypnotized even before the Prophet begins to sing at all. The tune is another social commentary, this time in the more tangible and less spiritual sense as Prophet speaks about not only the rising violence level from the people but (and even to a more fine degree) the violence from the powers that be along with their raised ‘public involvement’ and does so on a tune which is absolutely POWERFUL.
Line of the song: “Mi next door neighbour, mi hear she ah weep, but as I look outside mi si soldiers pon dem belly dem a creep”
#10. Johnny
Built across Pow Pow’s absolutely DAZZLING Roots composition, the Ruff & Tuff riddim, Johnny is the moving story of a youth seemingly try to live a righteous life but gets caught up (in the most UNFORTUNATE set of circumstances) with some negative people and in negative situations. The story can be (superficially) taken at face value and it’s still a good tune but when you take it and draw it across a bigger ‘valley’ in terms of it being the story of so many youths and society in general, what you’re dealing with here is potentially MASSIVE.
Line of the song: “Johnny was a good soldier inna Jah army. No one deserved to shoot poor likkle Johnny”
#11. Put People First
I won’t speak for the man but I would think that the late and great Desmond Dekker would approve of the Prophet’s usage of the immortal Shanty Town riddim on Put People First. The message is simple enough on the tune (as you might’ve imagined) but it’s the fusion of Elijah Prophet’s very laid back (for the most part) approach along with a riddim which is definitely one of the most ‘considerate’ in Reggae history (you could do literally ANYTHING across the Shanty Town) that is the real highlight, making Put People First amongst the album’s very best efforts.
Line of the song: “Hey Mr. Man, I‘m talking to you, although what I’m saying to you is nothing new. So don’t kill the future, let them go through. So you have to be careful in everything you do”
#12. Got To Be Conscious
Elijah Prophet gets back closer to drawing comparisons and tangents between the spiritual and physical worlds and does so HUGE on Got To Be Conscious (misspelled ‘concious’ on the album). The song is fortunate (not only because it’s LOVELY but also -) for it comes through on Root down’s ‘crystal clear’ Crystal Woman riddim which Prophet uses to remind us that we need to be aware and conscious as the only One who is TRULY trustworthy is His Majesty.
Line of the song: “In this time you’ve got to be conscious, know what you’re living for. Simple minded people stop you when your back is against the wall”
#13. Sensimillia Fi Bun
Well we know what Elijah Prophet’s second favourite subject is don’t we? As if he thought we weren’t paying attention the first time around, the Prophet not only adds another ganja tune but this time around he enlists help in the form of the world’s angriest dub poet DYCR as well. The tune is magic and has grown on me over the past couple of years. Although I am generally kind of skeptical that DYCR does on his own, his combination efforts are almost always on point and Sensimillia Fi Bun was DEFINITELY no exception (and to his credit, DYCR does this crazy kind of yodel in his chanting at one point on the tune which is just COOL).
Line of the song: “Sensimillia fi bun! That’s what they say. So coke heads go down and the weed man stay”
#14. Children Of The World
That riddim! To my ears there simply aren’t too many ‘better’ modern Roots pieces than DasVibes’ sublime Gloria riddim and the Prophet uses it to full effect. Children Of The World is interesting because should you take it in as ‘children’ as literally meaning young people you may find that he introduces concepts that actual children may not fully be able to comprehend, but should you take “children of the world” meaning people that the world gave birth to (I.e. everybody), which is what I think he means, then the song literally unravels right before your ears and it’s true power shines through. Which is, of course, unity.
Line of the song: “Yes my people, it’s time to unite. Doesn’t matter if you’re Chinese or you’re Black or you’re White”
#15. Mother Nature
TEARS! Another Irievibrations production marks the final of a few signature tunes on King Of Kings (the others would be the title track (duh), Piece Of Ganja and Sensimillia Fi Bun, as much as I may protest for One & All I don’t too much think that it received it’s just due in terms of publicity and response) and one sweet sweet ass tune. The tune is about the appreciation of nature (it actually reminds me of an old Jah Mason tune) but it’s not of the strictly environmental vibes as you might imagine as the Prophet so nicely bridges the gap to the ills of society ultimately going somewhere and harming something it hath NO RIGHT AT ALL to harm.
Line of the song: “The birds are singing in the trees. Can you hear the humming of the bees? Mother nature is asking for mercy please”
#16. Shatta Cease
The very first time I listened to Shatta Cease I kind of took a negative look on it, if I recall correctly as I tend to dislike the proverbial older person saying negative things about young people in specific, while seeming absolving themselves and their generation almost completely from the matter. That isn’t what Shatta Cease does, however, as Prophet goes on to relate a more common and relatable (across the board) picture to the story (even involving his own child).
Line of the song: “Di gun ting fi cease. My son just reach in his teens. I don’t ever want to hear your gun sounds again”
Synopsis: It’s interesting because as inviting as the title and subsequent title track is and are as the overall connecting topic of the King Of Kings album is, I definitely feel it requires a bit more examination to get to a goal which you should already know. I could very easily sit here and rattle off something like “The album is for the praising of His Majesty” and very well be correct but I’d be doing anyone who reads this (and myself for that matter) a GRAND disservice. What’s really going on here is that King Of Kings is a type of a ‘public service announcement’ for Rastafari. Of course, HE would need no such thing but WE very well may and it’s not just so broadly presented or in a tired clichéd manner, Elijah Prophet gets DEEP into specifics and, oddly enough I think that two herbalist tunes, Piece Of Ganja and Sensimillia Fi Bun are two of the biggest examples of this. The herb, kind of standing as a ‘bridge’ between the physical and the spiritual world, is definitely a nice way to convey such a message as the Prophet is seeking to do so on the album. BOTH tunes not only are in promotion of marijuana but they also contain lyrics which go against other ‘options’ such as cocaine which is also a ‘bridge’ of sorts but, as it was told to me once by an elder, “Life + Herb = Birth. Life + Cocaine = Death”. And I couldn’t actually get into this discussion in specific to any grand degree without mentioning DYCR who, in his almost inherent over-exuberance, solidifies what I feel is the prevailing point of the album as he so easily blends line after line of the praise of His Majesty alongside line after line of the praise of the herb.
“Draw that and blow ganja smoke and let Babylon choke.
I say Sensimillia fi bun everyday and every night.
I say Rasta don’t widdle-waddle, fiddle-faddle, fuddle-duddle.
Rasta nah skinny-skinny, grinny-grinny, fooly-fooly, poodle-puppie, we no fluffy.
When we smoke the collie we hold a meditation.
Chant a song and pop down the walls of Babylon flat. . .”
Virtually spinning in and out of subject matter and doing so why? Because he feels they are the SAME topic. He feels by talking about Rasta you can talk about the herb and not miss a beat. Of course they are two different entities, you can look at them see that, however, the literal effect of both and of chanting of both is the SAME topic. Similarly, if you were to examine what should be (and is) the most spiritual effort on the album, the title tune, you see very small but perceptible ‘evidence’ of Elijah Prophet’s ultimate goal and you see it quite early in the song on the very first full verse:
“. . . with you in my life, I can never be ashamed.
When I call on you, so much strength I gain”
He even goes on to, besides mentioning physical world emotions and effects such as ‘shame’ and ‘strength’, to deal with talking of the sun and the rain, again, both physical world elements and doing so under the connotation of His effect on them. Also I would point your attentions to the Mother Nature song quickly, which could have either a spiritual or physical world connotation (both in this case). Probably the MOST interesting point on the album is the one I’ll make here as, in the chorus plus one earlier line, it almost appears that Elijah Prophet is ‘humouring’ the so called leaders.
“All over the world, there’s so much destruction Yes, I’m talking to the leaders of the nation.
They say you want to take life when you can’t create life”
Who can create life? And he goes on to make the point in the chorus that Mother Nature is “asking for mercy please”. Again, who can create life? And why would an entity as powerful as MOTHER NATURE have to ask Mercy from a creature whose life she’ll be around to see the end of??? It would be my point that ‘Mother Nature’ is used here is a pseudonym of sorts for His Majesty (He who can create life), whose ONLY reason for asking for “mercy” would be on the benefit of man. The Prophet secures this message, in my opinion, on the very next line after reminding the so called leaders that they can’t create life:
“It seems WE are heading in total annihilation”
If we are gone will HE remain? Of course. It’s a point like that which, in my opinion so wonderfully details the point of the album: Rastafari’s effect and the Prophet’s perception (it is his album after all) of that effect (and power) of the physical world. I’m actually tracing the steps in reverse from Jah Mason’s Never Give Up album but ultimately reaching the same conclusion. Elijah Prophet’s King Of Kings is a BONAFIDE MODERN REGGAE CLASSIC!
