'Beware of Sleeping Giant': A Review of "The Journey" by Turbulence

In regards to just about everything, but especially music, TRUE talent is very rare and it is something that can take an artist an extremely long way in their career. That’s even more so the case in Reggae music, and particularly Roots Reggae, where you have a type of music which is often regarded as being of the ‘cookie-cutter’ variety. Having a genuine talent, alone, in this subgenre, can do wonders for an artist as it helps them break out of this kind of template of - ‘Rastaman Artist A’ singing songs about praising His Majesty and chanting down babylon. In the Dancehall actually, the same is true, although in that case, talent is something which is seemingly almost intertwined with PASSION amongst fans and that’s an entirely different discussion (I digress). However, with all of that being said, it should be noted that there’re several other factors involved in taking an artist from the beginning of their careers to superstardom - Talent alone cannot do that and we’ve seen so many examples over the years of artists who’ve seemingly had all the talent one would need and MORE, but haven’t amounted to what you may’ve thought they would have. Perhaps the PRIME example in recent years, in terms of Roots Reggae, would be the RIDICULOUSLY gifted, Turbulence. In retrospect, Turbulence came in a ‘class’ of artists who seemed to be the next rulers of modern Roots Reggae - Replacing Sizzla, Capleton and company - which would later include the likes of I Wayne, Lutan Fyah Fantan Mojah, Chezidek, Warrior King and others and he was arguably more talented and capable than them all. At his absolute best Turbulence was (and probably still is) an absolutely DEVASTATING artist. He has the range to be able to deejay over the hardest of Dancehall riddims and at the same time be able to ‘feather’ a tune across some Lover’s Rock piece, while still being able to jump on a big and vibrant one-drop - All without losing a step. Not only that, and I think I’ve said this before, but the very first time I heard this youth perform in person, I was nearly overwhelmed by how strong his singing voice was and it remained so across the years (and it still is when he pushes it). And, as if I needed more, there is the fact that Turbulence’s career, of course, was birthed at the legendary Xterminator camp which gave us SO many big artists that I don’t even feel the need to go into that bunch, but only to say that . . . It just shouldn’t have been like this.

Like what? Somewhere along the way Turbulence seemed to convince himself that he was a love song singer and this came after scoring what remains his biggest hit to date, ’Notorious’. Apart from that, a great deal of his singles seem to be BORING and PASSIONLESS pieces. He was just going through the motions seemingly. That trend also went towards his many album releases. Turbulence was once in that line of artists such as Sizzla, Anthony B, Luciano, Jah Mason etc. who pushed multiple albums (or had pushed for them) in any given year and after 2007 that stopped and while you can make the argument (and justly so) that it stopped for most artists (Midnite notwithstanding), Turbulence hasn’t dropped a single one since then. Why? I couldn’t say actually, but given some of his more recent efforts - ”United” (arguably his worst ever), ”Do Good”, ”Love Me For Me” (which was pretty bad), ”X-Girlfriend” and others - To say that it was just a lack of quality or, so unfortunately, a lack of vibes I don’t think is too far out of range. Not only that, but upon further research, although I’d disagree, given some of the other albums in that same time frame roughly such as the ”Notorious” album (which I didn’t like at all), the rather forgotten ”I Believe” (which I did like) and ”Triumphantly” (it was decent), one could very well make the case that Turbulence hasn’t had a universally well regarded album since 2003’s ”Hail To The King”! And that’s really a shame given earlier HUGE shots such as ”Rising”, ”The Future”, ”Join Us” and even his debuting self titled set way back in 2000. Like I said, given the talent of this artist and from the situations he arose, it just wasn’t supposed to be like this for Turbulence and going forward I can’t say that Id terribly interested in what he does in the immediate ‘future’. The once dubbed ‘Future’ heralded as an artist who was somewhat of a better singing clone of his former label mate and good friend, Sizzla Kalonji, just hasn’t lived up to those standards, despite already showing himself well able. HOWEVER, somewhere along the lines Turbulence managed to link up with the fairly unknown, but building UK/JA based Sajay Productions, who apparently was quite taken with the skills of the artist (as they should have been) (as you have been and as I have been) and were so impressed to the degree of actually recording an album with him, his very first in three years, the aptly titled ”The Journey”. The album pretty much popped up from out of nowhere, certainly Turbulence was going to release another album EVENTUALLY, but I certainly didn’t expect it anytime soon and definitely not from Sajay Production. However, as we’ve seen throughout the years, for a younger (although I don’t think Sajay is infantile at this point) and/or up and coming label, it often takes something pretty big or catchy to grab the attention of the masses and steer them into your direction. And, despite everything I’ve said about Turbulence thus far, he is still one of the very few supremely talented individuals making Reggae today and be it his first album in quite some time, this is going to qualify as “something pretty big” amongst the Reggae hardcore and faithful. But, with that being said, with his recent bad streak, with his career seemingly on the decline, the fact that Turbulence hasn’t lived up to his potential and the fact that this album virtually seems to have come from out of nowhere . . . I mean . . . there is absolutely no way in the world that I can actually like this album. Right?

Wrong. Sajay Production and Turbulence have apparently been working together for quite some time, on and off, and the very fact that this relationship may date back as far as 2002 (and who knows, maybe even some of the songs) certainly would register (at least to me), that there is some chemistry in place between the two entities. Turbulence doesn’t quite manage to completely turn back the clock to his glory days on his new album, but he comes DAMN close to my ears. You might recall back to the ”Hail The King” album, where the intro was the absolute finest moment present and while that isn’t the case on Turbulence’s brand new album, ”The Journey” from Sajay Production, the intro which gets things going here is pretty good. It also is worth mentioning that simply the tone of voice sounds like an older (meaning younger, actually) Turbulence although one would suspect that if any tune here is newer, it would be the opener - A pretty good sign. Next in is the first actual song, the swinging ‘Teachings’. This tune certainly does border on the cliché side of things and it definitely isn’t exceptional, but (as you’re going to hear (and have already heard) a lot in this review) it’s better than you think it is after a single spin, so give it a proper chance before passing. Things go way up and a lot more rigid (brilliant way I’m using that word, if I do say so myself) on the next tune, ‘Standing Tall’, arguably the first GREAT song on ”The Journey”. This one is just HEAVY, as Turbulence delivers one of the finest lyrical efforts on the album (over that sweet old school riddim, which dubs itself out before the tune end which is EXACTLY what you‘re hoping happens) showing the Rastafarian as a upstanding pillar and role model of society on easily one of the best tunes you’ll find along this journey. The final tune of the opening lot, ‘Stand Up’ is another one which will most likely take a minute to grow and find an audience due to the fact that it is ALL OVER THE PLACE. I believe I spoke earlier on Turbulence’s range and his versatility and everything he is capable of as an artist (in terms of styles) is on full display on ‘Stand Up’ and yes - That may ultimately make the message of the tune a bit harder to discern, but for me, trying to get there is quite the interesting trip.

Apart from just displaying the high level of versatility of Turbulence’s actual talents, ”The Journey” album also does a pretty good job of showing the diverse nature of the subjectry of his songs as well, instead of just harping on the love song or the standard ‘praise Jah’ tune (more on that in a minute). Definitely the most ‘different’ tune on the album, in terms of subject matter, is ‘Miracle’, which is actually a tune Turbulence does for his new born son and (probably because he didn’t have any kids before) I can’t remember him doing such a tune in the hundreds before and it was just a nice deviation (and if you think I’m about to critique a tune he did for his kid . . . No). And speaking of kids, there’s also the VERY strong ‘Let Dem Stay’, one of the album’s best, which is a song which kind of seems to say that things literally go ‘too far’ when they get to kids.

“Then when time a man ah kill a man, that bad and oh so bad
But when you kill a likkle lad, that mad, totally mad
The killing of another make the whole world sad”

And it’s a very interesting and ripe concept in my opinion - Where you kind of accept that bad men will do bad man business, but there’re certain aspects of society which should be off limits even to them and definitely children are such aspects. And if the subject that we’re speaking of is ‘different’ and ‘original’ (and it is), then you arguably don’t get more of either, in a person, than Perfect, who guests on the first of two combinations on ”The Journey”, ‘Best Friend’s Bed’. It’s kind of the reverse of Shaggy’s hit ‘It Wasn’t Me’ and . . . Yeah, it’s better than you think it’s going to be, I’m sure (with Perfect being on his best behaviour). The other combination here, ‘I Wanna Give’, is also a pretty different tune and it’s the better of the two songs. This one features veteran singer (and Beres Hammond’s nephew), Lenn Hammond and the up and coming Rox Wayne, a Sajay Production artist (from St. Ann!). This one is more of R&B vibed tune and as a former R&B fan, I have absolutely no complaints with it. I don’t know too much about Wayne, but apparently he’s the future of Sajay and if this is their way of doing business (and clearly it is), a project from the very youthful sounding artist can’t be too far off and I’m well looking forward to that also.

That being said, it is one of the more ‘pedestrian’ and familiarly vibed tunes which takes the top honours along this journey to my opinion, because the closer of the album, ‘Saviour’ is absolutely divine. I could break it down on so many levels (believe me, I could), how it doesn’t, ostensibly, measure up to a few other tunes on the album in various respects, but it is a GORGEOUS praising tune - Absolutely gorgeous - And the best moment that I find here. Also ranking very high on my players is the KNOCKING ‘Talk Tings’, which is a tune which is calling the powers to be to stop discussing and planning and start actually DOING things for the people in the moment (it’s also a very nicely arranged tune with a kind of ‘phone’ vocal affect on Turbulence’s voice used almost perfectly on the chorus). Big social commentary. I also liked ‘Just A Draw’, the album’s obligatory herbalist. Turbulence literally NEEDS the herb, the man can’t get out of his bed in the morning or go to sleep at night without it and he struggles to even fathom how others can condemn and fight against it (while allowing tobacco and alcohol to flow freely). It’s kind of a fun tune as well and it’s working so nicely at what it does. ‘Tafari Win’ is another big praising track and it is very powerful.

“What Marcus Garvey say?
That a man without his history is like a tree without a root
That mean seh yah future is a mystery
So try no bodda diss me
Cah King Selassie is the truth
Wi know that from wi a likkle youth”

For me, this one struck on levels of being humble and accepting because, in the end, His Majesty control and comforts all. Really really big song and one which of which I grow fonder each and every time I spin it (seriously, if you want to call it the finest tune on the whole of the album, I’m not arguing). And there’s also the anti-violence number, ‘Another Way’ which kind of goes a bit in the same way as ‘Let Dem Stay’ to a degree, but it reaches broader than just to the children (although it does specifically touch those levels as well). And I’ll also mention two love songs which are . . . Better than you think they’re going to be - ‘We Belong’ and ‘Here To Stay’. The former is REALLY borderline and I’m not thrilled with it, but that chorus is hypnotic and it bleeds into the rest of the tune as well. The bouncy latter is actually a pretty good tune and probably the best love song on ”The Journey” album.

What don’t I like? Only two songs on the album stuck out in terms of being not at least decent to my ears. The first was the terribly cliché and just uninteresting ‘Love Jah’. The title, perhaps, should’ve been somewhat indicative but the song is just . . . It’s just kind of there. The riddim is very unexceptional and it almost sounds like a freestyle at time with no intended lasting impression (also, coincidentally (maybe), it’s the shortest song on the album outside of the intro). And the other tune which didn’t leave me with the sweetest taste is the love song ‘No One’. This one is probably going to be received better by others, but as someone who has spent a few years now listening to sub-par love tunes from Turbulence, this one is yet another for that already overpopulated lot.

Overall, the best way to describe ”The Journey”, in my opinion, is to say that it is “better than you think”. Either you’ve been paying attention and you’ve noticed that Turbulence hasn’t been reaching his full potential in recent years or you haven’t been and you just haven’t heard anything ‘solid’ from him in awhile - Well this album is SOLID. There isn’t any type of prevailing and far reaching problem with it and while it doesn’t take much in the way of risks, I think that’s a good thing and by its end, the album proves to be one of the most CONSISTENT of Turbulence’s career (and I THINK this may be album #TWENTY for him), which is definitely saying a lot. I may be becoming one of the artist’s biggest detractors, but with talent like his, really doing anything less than at least approaching GREAT is a problem. ”The Journey” isn’t great, but it’s a hell of a lot better than it’s been from the artist and PERHAPS (hopefully) Sajay Production has the key to reawaking the sleeping giant that is Turbulence.

Rated 4/5
Sajay Production/Zojak Worldwide
2010
Limited CD & Digital
Sajay Production