Completely Random Thoughts Vol. 3: 'I Like To Write About The Pretty Music'

'I Like To Write About The Pretty

Music'

A couple of days ago, I received an email from the venerable Tuff Lion. I had been in semi-contact with the Lion for about a year or so when someone claiming to be his brother linked me to tell me of the forthcoming album Coming Of The King from the one, King Cephas. Having never actually been in contact directly with Tuff Lion however (I would, on a seemingly monthly basis, receive invites to various social networks on his behalf, but I had never actually heard from the man himself). Without revealing too much (because I didn’t ask him if I could do this), Tuff Lion essentially said thank you and he offered encouragement for the future, before telling me of his forthcoming release and his desire, essentially, to become a more active ‘player’ in the game. I’m a pretty shy and reserved person and taking compliments which extend beyond writing is kind of embarrassing for me, at times (if you want to tell me ‘thank you’ for writing something for you, definitely feel free), but the Lion’s message definitely got me to thinking. Not only that, but a week or so ago, I also received (with respect to Tuff Lion) a FARRRRRRR more wonderful compliment from this truly divine creature who allows me to hang around her, who after reading a relatively mediocre review for the Surfer Riddim, casually remarked to me, “damn that sounds good. I kind of want to listen to that now.” SHE hardly ever reads the stuff that I write here and what little feedback I’ve managed to coerce out of her is always of the ‘yeah’ and ‘okay’ variety, so HER saying anything at all is a wonderful thing.

So in taking both of those and trying to move forward with them, I can’t help but take a step back and look at the year in a whole (not to get entirely ridiculous or sentimental on you, because I’m not) and try to draw it to some type of conclusion. And again, I don’t do this to brag or to throw COMPLETELY undeserved accolades on myself (more on that in a minute), but WE’VE done quite a bit here, haven’t we. Of course the thing which interests me the most and the thing which is the most COOL about my blog is the number of reviews here. People know me, first and foremost, as a reviewer, as a critic and in support of that, there are a TRULY RIDICULOUS 171 reviews on my blog (at least) (and at the end of tomorrow, there’ll probably be 172. If you take in context that I began this blog on the first of February, 2009, which is now eleven months ago. Eleven by thirty is 330; subtract 2 because there were 28 days in February 2009 and that’s 328; add 6 because there’re seven months with thirty-one days and we’ve now been through them all with the exception of January and you end up with 334 days (wonderfully 31 short of 365 and I’m pretty bad when it comes to math) since I’ve started my blog. 171 is slightly more than half of that 334 day period, which means that I have, essentially, written a HUGE ass review every other day for the past eleven months. No to mention that my 2008 on Amazon was pretty ridiculous also and if you add all of that up, I’m sure I’m well over 300 reviews in the very long form in which they exist now and for which I have become ‘known’. I like that. I REALLY so. That is a lot of writing and is only one man who writes it and that is me. But I am not responsible for what you read ABOUT here.

So should you want to thank someone for what you read here. Here’s a list of people who you should contact:

1. Mad Cobra

2. Mavado

3. David Rudder

4. Batch

5. Revalation

6. Destra

7. Marlon Asher

8. Natural Black

9. Linval Thompson

10. Munga Honourable

11. Teflon

12. Jahmel

13. Lutan Fyah

14. Isasha & Million Voice

15. KMC

16. Cocoa Tea

17. Prince Theo

18. Jah Cure

19. Messenjah Selah

20. Dezarie

21. Natural Black

22. Nadia Batson

23. Jah Mason

24. Machel Montano

25. Lutan Fyah

26. Jah Hem

27. Daseca & Tetimus

28. NiyoRah

29. Kemar McGregor

30. Sizzla Kalonji

31. Vybz Kartel

32. Raz Bin Sam

33. Buju Banton

34. Ras Attitude

35. Queen Omega

36. Pressure Busspipe

37. Macka B

38. Perfect

39. JW Productions

40. Yami Bolo

41. Project Groundation

42. Messenjah Selah

43. Sizzla Kalonji

44. Lutan Fyah

45. Delus & Konshens

46. Ras Mac Bean

47. Harry Toddler

48. Nereus Joseph

49. Julian Marley

50. Meshach & Wevolusion

51. MALIKA MADREMANA

52. Queen Ifrica

53. Lutan Fyah

54. Jah Mason, Anthony B & Steve Machete

55. VP RECORDS

56. Norris Man

57. Perfect

58. Jah Cure

59. Ward 21

60. Shane Brown & Juke Boxx

61. Spanner Banner

62. Kemar McGregor

63. Yahadanai

64. The HD Family

65. Sizzla & Anthony B

66. Chuck Fenda

67. Ancient King

68. Machel Montano

69. Vaughn Benjamin & Midnite

70. Pressure Busspipe

71. First Born

72. Queen Omega

73. Culture Brown

74. Gentleman

75. Capleton & Anthony B

76. Lady G

77. Chezidek

78. Blenda

79. Spragga Benz

80. Alborosie

81. Jahmings Maccow

82. Luciano

83. Bushman

84. Lutan Fyah

85. Tarrus Riley

86. Mitch

87. Capleton & David House

88. Queen Omega

89. Shelly G

90. Gramps Morgan

91. Kenedy

92. Jah Mason

93. Mark Wonder

94. Tiwony

95. Mikey General

96. Vaughn Benjamin & Midnite

97. The Itals

98. House Of Hits

99. Machel Montano

100. Mr. Tipsy Production

101. Lady Passion

102. Lustre Kings Productions

103. Natural Black

104. Saël

105. Junior Kelly

106. Delly Ranx

107. LMS

108. Inner Visions

109. Elijah Prophet

110. House Of Hits

111. Homebase Entertainment

112. Turbulence

113. Boot Camp Records

114. Ras Zacharri

115. Ras Attitude

116. Stevie Face

117. Philadub Records

118. Lutan Fyah

119. El-A-Kru

120. Vybz Kartel

121. Warrior King

122. Chezidek

123. Louie Culture

124. Destra

125. Sizzla

126. Natty King

127. Greensleeves Records

128. Sabbattical Ahdah

129. Kemar McGregor

130. Sick Donkey Records

131. I Grade Records

132. Glen Washington

133. Alaine

134. Omar Perry

135. Fred Locks

136. Beres Hammond

137. Goldee

138. NiyoRah

139. Blasta Records

140. Bunji Garlin

141. Chuck Fenda

142. Black Dillinger

143. Lorenzo

144. I Grade Records

145. Pressure Busspipe

146. Mr. Lloyd Brown

147. Jerry Johnson

148. Tanya Stephens

149. Lukie D

150. Perfect

151. Raw Moon

152. Everton Blender

153. VP Records

154. Empress Robertha

155. Bigga Haitian

156. Bigga Haitian

157. Tinga Stewart

158. Lutan Fyah

159. LUTAN FYAH

160. Lion D

161. Steve Steppa

162. Special Delivery

163. Ishi Dube

164. Pow Pow Productions

165. Lustre Kings Productions

166. Malkijah

167. Lustre Kings Productions

168. Al.Ta.Fa.An

169. Caveman Sound

170. Sly & Robbie

171. Joe Fraser & Dean Fraser

172. Cousins Records

Now I don’t know where in the hell I went wrong there (dem yute deh so wicked him ah write more time than him ah write!), but you thank them. You thank all of these people who make this wonderful music. I have never written anything for something which I have created (although I hope to someday). These people make the lovely music (even when I don’t like it) and they’re the ones who should get that credit.

Who else can you thank. You can thank the wonderful individuals at Zojak Worldwide. Never before have I met a tiny group of individuals who were so nonchalantly GENEROUS AS HELL with their material and certainly it is done within the name of promotion and I do my part, however, lest there be any confusion. The honour to associate with such wonderful individuals has been all mine. Zojak is the world’s greatest virtual playground for Reggae heads. Thank you.

So, in returning to what Tuff Lion so wonderfully said in his message and to people like Zojak, Computer Paul, Mr. Lloyd Brown & Denise, Itation, Philadub, Walkup Records, VP Records, Sick Donkey Records, I Grade Records, Caveman, Dean Pond & Eno Stafford, Sherkhan, Inner Visions, Bizzarri Records, Shem Ha Boreh, Project Groundation, IM Music, Kemar McGregor, Dynamo & Tune In Crew, Zion High Productions, MALIKA MADREMANA, Ishi Dube, Jahzara, Messenjah Selah, Shelly G, Mr. Vybe, Roydale Anderson, Garsha Blacks of Wevolusion, Truckback Records, True Sound Records, New Image Promotions, Bonner Cornerstone Music, even Irie Ites, 2B1 Records, Das Vibes, Silver Camel, now Tuff Lion and quite a few others. THANK YOU! Without you lovely (most of you) people, I don’t have a damn thing to write about and the contribution you make is one of a NECESSITY. I, on the other hand, am simply filling a highly unfortunate gap. YOU are trying to heal the entire world and doing a damn good job of it.

I do try (and over try) and do good if I do say so myself and in the new year, I hope to continue to do well, although there will be a few changes:

- I simply have to cut back on the number of reviews I do. I HAVE TO. It’s impossible to write with any intensity at that frequency which is something I discovered within the past ten days. When I overdo it (and ALL of my interests, I ROUTINELY overdo) the material suffers, although I maintain it because the opinion is still honest and thought out (albeit a little shopworn). So, in 2010, I have a goal which hopefully my wonderful readers will help me workout: I want to write between 100 and 110 reviews next year. This is of course, going with the assumption that I write for the entire year (NO. I’m not planning on stopping AT ALL, but shit happens). And in doing this the method that I’ve come up with (biggup Denise) is to write reviews on a set schedule of Fridays and Tuesdays of every week. Of course you won’t notice this too much this month (hell you might), because I may be trying to ’cleanup’ 2009 and I plan to take some of February off, at least in terms of heavy writing. So January should be business as usual biggup Jah Pearl). But after that (if there is such a thing), Tuesday & Friday reviews.

- I’m changing the way it looks around here, you may have already noticed that.

- As I said, I’m pretty shy and reserved, and my general people skills are pretty awful, however, I believe that I am afforded a very unique opportunity, so I will be attempting more and more direct interviews come March or so.

- For whatever it’s worth (not much), I’m STILL getting better, so stay tuned.

Biggup my people! Biggup Zoe, Aaron, Susan, James! Biggup Zojak! Biggup the Lion. Biggup Dale Cooper. Biggup Camille and Angus from UnitedReggae.com. Biggup John B. Biggup Bredz (sitting ten feet away from me passing out). Biggup Sophia, the maddest publicist on the planet. Biggup Denise again. Biggup Mousli. Biggup Karnage. Biggup MY WIFE! Biggup the Princess. Biggup Lion Zeal. Biggup Ian Simms. Biggup Nico (list coming soon). Biggup Pavel (list already done). Biggup Asher Tafari. Biggup Marc from Walk Up. Biggup RYAN WARNBERG! WHAT! I was this close to be a feature writer on Sean Paul’s website. Biggup Heather from Truckback (“Haile Selassie I neva lose a fight yet. Like how the sun neva witness the light yet”). Biggup Tisha (I think that’s her name), from Bonner Cornerstone. Biggup Sherkhan. Biggup Dean Pond. Biggup Eno Stafford. Biggup Garsha. Biggup MALIKA MADREMANA and I think have to biggup Blaak Lung for giving me the link. Biggup Sub P. Biggup Fuzzfolk. Biggup Ricardo. Biggup Dion. Biggup all these people who’re STILL arguing on that Midnite review. Biggup Rooted In Reggae, wherever the hell you are. Biggup Jahsh Concurz. Biggup the oooooooooold John B, hope you’ve found what you’re looking for. Biggup Tuff Lion. Biggup Daniel from I and VIReggae.com. Biggup Grasshopper from Inner Visions (“it’s an everlasting love”). Biggup Shelly G. Biggup Steele. Biggup Jahzara. Biggup Jahson Ites. Biggup the Monster. Biggup Hammer and his nonsense. Biggup my entire Family. Biggup Kimberly Jordan. Biggup Joe Wiggins. Biggup Nate! Biggup Ishi Dube. Biggup Shai. Biggup Mista Vybe. Biggup The Union. Biggup Tippy from I Grade. Biggup all the boys from IM Music (who won’t answer their email, even though I wrote MY ASS OFF on that review). Biggup Xavier from Tune In Crew. Biggup Stack and Wayne from Philadub. Biggup Gardian. Biggup Computer Paul. Biggup LIZA MILLER! Biggup Beau. Biggup that dude Erlend, who sent me this most BEAUTIFUL letter of critique and praise and has seemingly VANISHED from sight. Biggup Brent from the Marley’s. Biggup Tremmell from Soul Rebel (link still over there). Biggup Guillaume. Biggup all the readers. Biggup YOU!

What another wonderful year His Imperial Majesty has given us. So in repayment, if we could ever make such a thing (and we can’t), I say we try to give it back to HIM in as good of condition that HE gave it to us in. More BIG music. More people listening to the music. I MEAN REALLY listening. More reaction. More responsibility. More good times!

I wanna see Destra win a road march! I wanna see Bounty clash Kartel. I want the old Kartel back! I want SIX BRAND FUCKING NEW SIZZLA ALBUMS! I want my Mother in law to heal up. I want Fragga Ranks to reply to my email and say thank you, so I can say . . . ‘no. Thank you.’ I want a new Louie Culture album! I want a new Capleton album (a real one!). I want the old Turbulence to come back and I want him to sing more good music. I want to see Malkijah perform. I want Lyricson’s new album. I want Lady Sweety’s new album. I want Spragga Benz’ new album. I want NiyoRah to get a #1 tune in JA. I want my parents to retire and move back (one more decade). I want Jah Mason’s new album to blow me away. I want Shelly G to repeat! I want to see Skinny Fabulous take TnT Monarch. I want Patrice to win Groovy. I want MORE PEOPLE TO WRITE REGGAE! I want Soca to get a Grammy category (or at the very least, a MySpace category). I want Rooted In Reggae to comeback and start writing. I want JC to keep writing. I want Dale Cooper to do a Sci-Fi mix to Sizzla’s most fucked up of albums, Addicted. I want to actually do spellchecks! I want Ce’Cile to have a new album. I want Damian Marley & Nas to win ALBUM OF THE YEAR in two different genres. I want Lutan Fyah to make another VP album and I want it produced by Bobby Digital. I want Jamelody to comeback and leave the Gospel. I want Gappy Ranks & Mr. Williamz to LOCK DOWN new UK Reggae artists (they probably already have). I want Nate to send me that new Sizzla album (and that Volcano and whatever else is in your bag of tricks). I want you to know that I just watched ‘Drag Me To Hell’ and it is hilarious. I want more people to make 3D videos on Youtube so I can watch. I want The Biggest ____ Anthems 2010 albums to both have two discs. Bob Marley had a billion kids, can I see an album from one of his grands now??? I want you to notice that I only put ONE DAMN PICTURE IN HERE. I want Baby Cham to voice more and I want an album when he does it. I want Spice to show everybody that besides all the crazy shit, the woman can rhyme like crazy. I want it all, I don’t want to pay extra, I do want extra tomato with it and I want it now!

I also want to wish EVERYONE a Happy New Year and I just did.

His Imperial Majesty BLESS every time

BALANCE

RasAchis