'He Got Next': A Review of "Put The Stereo On" by Gappy Ranks

Isn’t it just always so nice when your patience is rewarded? In the wonderful world of Reggae music it seems often, with as difficult as it apparently is to release a big album, that the power of the ‘big moment’ is sometimes lost and lost forever in many cases. When you have a new artist, rising to power, or perhaps even a more established one, (such as in the example that I’m about to give you) who is on a very strong streak and has either scored the necessary hit or hits to propel himself/herself into big shows, a big tour and bit notoriety, it is so beautiful and CONVENIENT when that album can come in at least somewhat of a proper time frame. Definitely, there have been so many lost moments in Reggae throughout the years, with most glaring being that of the ill-fated Leonard Bartley [bka Merciless], who back around the turn of the century seemed poised to launch himself into the stratosphere of big time Dancehall artists internationally, only to (in one of the most unfortunate situations in recent Dancehall memory) flub it all by seemingly resting on his laurels and just bad decision making. Instead of placing himself in the company of artists like Beenie Man, Bounty Killer (and arguably offering a rebirth to the Killer in the process) and Buju Banton, Merciless would ultimately spend a few years faded into an obscurity probably greater than any he’d known in his career and he still hasn’t re-reached those heights, nearly a decade on. There’re also situations such as what happened with Sasha - after catching extreme hype with Sean Paul, rekindling it a couple of years on with Turbulence (like three different times) - has taken very well to the touring stage, but she never REALLY finished things off by delivering that big album everyone knew (and probably still knows) that she was capable of. But, in my opinion with the times being as they are, bad economy and particularly bad musical economy, we’ve now, just this year, seen two very big and fairly well timed pieces from both Gyptian with ”Hold You” and Romain Virgo’s self-titled debut, both of which were in HIGH demand at the time of their releases and seemed to come up and come off without a hitch. Unsurprisingly, both of those albums came via VP Records and it’s also to no surprise that we revisit the best Caribbean music label in the world for yet another VERY well timed release from the scalding hot UK export, Gappy Ranks, who takes full advantage of his shot with his full length debut, ”Put The Stereo On”.

The UK being one thing - Gappy Ranks’ hype over the past eighteen months or so has been easily the biggest of any UK artist (the only artist even being close is Mr. Williamz and because I’m such a fan of his, I’m probably biased in calling it “close”) - But you could also take that even further and approximate it to a degree which includes VERY few artists (one of which is certainly Gyptian and another would be someone like Mavado) in the whole of Reggae music and say that over that same timeframe, Gappy has been one of the biggest Reggae artists in the entire world. Fans worldwide initially took notice of the very unusually talented Gappy via two large hits (more on both of them later) (one in absentia) and they’ve subsequently propelled him and (other young UK talents) into becoming this very nice long awaited shift in UK Reggae. For the most part, we’ve been looking at the likes of Chukki Starr, Tippa Irie, Lloyd Brown and the likes as the faces of Reggae in England for a VERY longtime, while awaiting the next class to come forth and Gappy Ranks’ gapped tooth grin has largely been the international face of quite a few very strong younger talents, stepping forth to refresh things. He’s also managed to create a very very unusual style in the process. The closest name I could come up with, in terms of a comparison, would be Demarco (and if you know ANYTHING about Demarco, you know that comparisons to him are very loose, to say the least) because, despite the fact that he’s not, it almost sounds like Gappy is using autotune ALL the time with this kind of ‘built-in’ echo in his voice. It’s grown on me over the time and obviously I’m not the only one. All of that has gone to make his debut album, ”Put The Stereo On” for Greensleeves Records (under VP) one of the most anticipated projects of 2010, in the hardcore and international Reggae sense and I’m imagining that he’s also going to get a bit of attention from mainstream circles as well. Now, hardcore heads may call the album overdue and not actually capitalizing on his greatest hype, but I disagree. For what Gappy is (first and foremost, he’s ‘off radar’ because he’s a UK artist and that means it takes him longer to not only develop an international following, which is essential for a big label, but also to develop some consistency as an artist, which is even more essential, perhaps) I think the album comes at a very nice time and should he stick around for awhile (and he will), he also has the opportunity to return the Greensleeves brand to prominence in my opinion - Signing up the top talent from the UK - and you may also recall the rumour that spread earlier in 2010 that he had actually left the label, but thankfully that proved to be untrue (but were fueled negatively when Ranks dropped an EP, ”Rising Out of The Ghetto“ on Hot Coffee Music). The album comes with a very nice surprise, although one less shocking after having become more and more acquainted with Gappy’s vibes - The production is handled by the well respected UK based label, Peckings. If you know anything at all about the label, surely you’re very familiar with the fact that it is their specialty to rebirth (very) old school riddims, particularly Studio One pieces, and offer them to the talent of today and while, at least seemingly, that wouldn’t meld too well with Gappy’s inborn electricity based style, things are not always as they seem to be. Gappy Ranks CLEARLY had a great time making this album and enjoyed the experience and that is the clearest of the many qualities present on ”Put The Stereo On”, to my opinion.

What is also pretty clear, to me at least, in listening to the album is just how much of a FAN of Reggae music Gappy Ranks obviously is. Reportedly, the offspring of a parentage which is half-Jamaican and half-Dominican, the UK grown Gappy OBVIOUSLY caught the Reggae bug from a very young age and it has guided him so wonderfully far in music. It’s even managed to get Gappy Ranks as high as the ‘Mountain Top’ which is where he begins his debut full length album, ”Put The Stereo On”. This intoxicating tune was a pretty sizable previous hit for Ranks and it’s pretty easy to see why. For me, the most fascinating set about the tune is the very interesting way it is written. On one hand, the ‘mountain top’ is exactly what you might expect it to be - Rising to the top of something, in this case music - But on the other hand, Gappy also seems to use it as a place to get away from get away from things and just take it easy. So, I’m sure there’s some beautiful connector in there and I’m also just as sure that your brain won’t be nearly as overactive as mine is and you’ll just enjoy this sweet opener. I am much less beautifully confounded by the next tune in, ‘Heaven In Your Eyes’, which was one of Gappy’s aforementioned pair of big hits. I’m go ahead (SHAMELESSLY) to admit to being pretty familiar with this tune before it struck in my brain that the tune came over a cut of Marley’s timeless Soul Rebel Riddim and this is even more curious because I absolutely LOVE this song. It has a quality to it that I’m going to call ‘LOUD’ and it becomes this kind of atypical love song which literally throws itself at the listener. It’s the best tune you’ll find on the whole of ”Put The Stereo On” and unless the man has been hiding some really strong shit, it’s the best tune of Gappy’s career to date. BIG BIG SONG. And next through the door is the title track, which took a minute to grow on me (had to REALLY get into those lyrics), but now that it has, I’m calling it another big effort from the UK artist. The tune is built upon Peckings’ cut of the old Hot Milk Riddim and this one goes directly back to what I meant when I said that it’s obvious that Gappy is a really big FAN of the music and you can get into this record and see just how far things go back for him.

“Daddy, please I beg you put the stereo on
Take out the 45 and play di Studio One”

The tune finds him clearly just recounting some of his very musical childhood and probably captures exactly when and how he first caught the vibes which will subsequently aid Gappy in growing up and offering up this BIG start to his debut album.

To build up on tunes like the title track on - As far as how COOL it is that Gappy Ranks so much seems to be a fan of this music, just as much as a performer of it - There’re three other tunes on ”Put The Stereo On” which also convey this quality (and I’m DEFINITELY calling it a quality) and do so wonderfully. Going sequentially, Gappy first channels the late, great Clive Bright [bka Tenor Saw] on the very impressive ‘Pumpkin Belly’, speaking do all the NASTY and GREEDY living people of the world, who fight against righteous and decent living people. The tune proves to be one of the most impressive lyrical presentations on the whole of the album to my ears and it certainly doesn’t stop there. Later on, we come across a tune in ‘Rude Bwoy’, which is borderline genius. The song is a very thinly veiled ode to Bob Marley, but if you listen to how Gappy goes about ‘veiling’ the basis for the tune, it’s just a very strong idea and one, I would imagine, that he had probably somewhere in the back of his head for quite some time before getting a chance to record (and for his album, no less).

“Mi Daddy dun murder di sheriff
All mi life mi ah look fi di deputy
Mi par wid di Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta
Dat mean seh no fool can step to me
Here comes di Natural Mystic with its Small Axe
Mi run ova stumbling blocks
Di journey long, but mi ready fi di Exodus!
No, Woman Don’t Cry, come flex wid us”

And if you haven’t figured it out (then you’re slow), Gappy links together various tunes and situations from Marley’s life to end up making a very very strong tune, one of the album’s finest, indeed. And lastly on this note is the final tune on the album, ‘Soul Rebel’, which not only once again finds Gappy utilizing the Soul Rebel Riddim, but it also finds him finding a link with the most impressive Nereus Joseph! If you read my work to any degree then you’re well aware that I have been a big fan of the St. Lucian born Joseph’s from since he dropped his EPIC album last year, ”Real Rebels Can’t Die” and he does nothing on this tune to make me feel to pull back from celebrating his vibes, because this tune is EXCELLENT. Putting these two together (and on a ‘rebel tune’ no less) was an excellent idea and, whenever Joseph is back again with a new project (hopefully next year), maybe Gappy will return the musical favour (and it must be said that later in the tune, Gappy absolutely breaths FIRE on his verses).

As for the other half of ”Put The Stereo On”, while less eye-catching, on paper, is just as strong, if not stronger in some respects (two in particular). Check ‘Happiest Day Of My Life’, a kind of ‘funky’ love song which has grown on me considerably from the first time I heard it. It’s just a really cool track - Kind of a fluffier version of ‘Heaven In Your Eyes’ and a very nice tune on its own merits to my opinion. The Stingray produced ‘Little Understanding’ may just be my least favourite tune on the album, but . . . Well I still kind of like it. By no means is the VERY straight forward tune a bad song and, like I said, it’s pretty good, but I see it having great difficulty trying to standout on this album. But maybe it’s such a song best left to the most observant and keenest of ears. You’ll take the head-straight ways of that tune and lead directly into the subtly DAZZLING ‘Thy Shall Love’, which will DEFINITELY should have no problem finding an audience and standing out on the album at all. The vocals on this one (maybe it’s just me) seem to, intentionally, be a bit different than the rest of the tunes on the album - It literally sounds like Gappy is standing right next to you singing the song - And what he’s singing is a bit biblical, a bit social commentary and bit of a BIG tune as well. And there’s also the strong ‘So Lost’ which is, essentially, a social commentary at its core, but the way Gappy goes about building such a tune, in this case, is very interesting and what I would say is to almost approach this one as an A cappella tune (although the riddim is HEAVY) because the lyrics are most crucial in this case and you wouldn’t want to miss a thing.

And finally are the two last HUGE tunes on ”Put The Stereo On”, ‘Musical Girl’ and ‘Heavy Load’. ‘Musical Girl’ is DIVINE! I hadn’t heard that tune prior to this album and I think I got about just halfway through the second spin of it before I realized that I was REALLY dealing with something special here. Of course, I’m more familiar with ‘Heavy Load’ although I didn’t recognize it as a Maximum Sound production until quite recently (should’ve been on ”Bobo Revolution 2”). I shouldn’t have to say much for this well-rinsed (and justly so) tune at this point - It’s HUGE! It’s a big big track and at this still very early stage of Gappy Ranks’ career it stands not only as a signature song from him, but one which he may’ve applied to his own life in terms of the message.

I’d be screwing up if I didn’t at least attempt to address the absence of ‘Stinkin’ Rich’, arguably Gappy Ranks’ biggest hit to date, from the album. You could say that it isn’t good planning (or good business sense) to leave such a tune off the album in this case, but given the vibes being largely old school on the album, that post-modern type of tune certainly wouldn’t have fit and I think they did well not to include and sacrifice common sense for the sake of just having another big tune on the album when it didn’t work. Not only that, but in the most recent glory days for Greensleeves Records, right after the turn of the century or so, they had no problem releasing annual albums for the likes of Sizzla and Elephant Man, so although times have clearly changed, if ”Put The Stereo On” does prove to be commercially successful, I’d think it a pretty good idea if they dropped another, more Dancehall friendly, album from the very versatile artist.

Overall, while it does remain to be seen if it will actually sell (I think it will), Gappy Ranks’ debut album, critically speaking, is a real winner. When you look at it, it’s so unusual and so REFRESHING that the album goes in the way that it does. This almost comes in like a ‘concept’ album, with so much of it being on a similar, old school, type of vibes. It seems like something someone might do after being a few albums deep into a career, not with their very first shot, especially not when they have as much range as Gappy does. Obviously the man (and his label) is just that comfortable with his abilities so as to not feel the need to give the very typical wide reaching type of debut album as you normally hear from debuting artists. And also, I feel inclined to mention again what I said before - You can REALLY tell how much FUN Gappy has singing his music and prior to this album, at least for me, that isn’t a quality which stood out as much as it does here and that, alone, can give his music a certain bit of individuality, apart from many of his more rigid and mechanical peers. ”Put The Stereo On” proves to be one of the most intriguing debut albums from an artist in Gappy Ranks whose time to shine has most certainly arrived.

Rated: 4.35/5
Greensleeves Records
2010
CD & Digital

Gappy Ranks @ Myspace