'The Arsenal': A Review of "Shotta Culture" by Spragga Benz

So, when there is an artist who has given the best years of their life to thrilling the fans and providing huge vibes for an entire generation, how can we possibly repay them? Of course the question is somewhat ridiculous because we’ve already paid their wages by going to their concerts, buying their albums and . . . Promoting them by writing painfully long reviews about them on our blogs (or maybe that’s just me). But money is only a portion of that and too many times what we see in music and especially in Reggae, where ‘getting old’ often means ‘getting out’ in terms of no longer being able to find an audience where you once did as an artist and having to take the leap to Europe or other places like such, is a quiet type of ’shunning’ of artists and that’s just very unfortunate. What we can do and what we’ve seen done in the very recent history is one of the most simple and easy things that an artist simply needs in order to be successful - We can pay them attention. ‘Exhibit A’ would clearly be the recent album from Dancehall Queen, Lady Saw, the much talked about and hyped, ”My Way”. After having just listened to this album and researched it, I can honestly say that there is almost NO angle on it that has been left uncovered for me. The coverage of it has been outstanding and it has been so in a very short order as the time between the news of its arrival and its actual materialization wasn’t very long at all and STILL it remains one of the most talked about albums around and this is so, despite the fact that the ‘urban’ market for forty something year old Reggae artists hasn’t historically been large at all and it’s been even snugger for equally youth-challenged Dancehall lights. Well, times must be changing. If Ms. Marion Hall didn’t show that, then Mr. Carlton Grant, bka Spragga Benz, is surely providing the evidence because the case could very well be made that, in all of Reggae, there hasn’t been a single more discussed album than the forthcoming downright phantom-like ”Shotta Culture”. It was said to have been a decade in the making, there is reportedly a forthcoming documentary (which I cannot WAIT to sink my teeth into), it’s produced by the big time Salaam Remi and over the past year or so, despite the fact that we’ve seen releases from the likes of Buju Banton (who’s about to give us another one), Sean Paul, the aforementioned Lady Saw, Vybz Kartel (twice), the first legitimate Capleton album in six years, Romain Virgo’s debut and a big mainstream piece from Jr. Gong alongside Hip-Hop star Nas (more on him later), I can honestly say that I haven’t heard more discussion in anticipation of ANY of them from hardcore Reggae and Dancehall heads than for ”Shotta Culture”. So if attention truly is that powerful then the Reggae community has certainly thanked one of our greatest champions for his massive contributions.

So why Spragga? In terms of the wider audiences, definitely Spragga Benz’ thespian pursuits in the film, ”Shottas”, a few years back will probably give him some of that attention on whatever it is that he does. Also, Spragga has never been a shy one, so a whole heap of time spent in the tabloids, attached at the hip (and the waist) with star rapper, Foxy Brown and scoring the big tune ’Oh Yeah’ with her, has clearly helped with his profile there as well. With the hardcore fans, however, Spragga is most interesting because even now his profile remains lower than some of his peers such as Beenie, Bounty and Buju (and maybe even Lady Saw to some extent), but I believe that, slowly but surely, fans have come around to comprehending just how ULTRA-TALENTED Spragga Benz really is. His own fans are incredibly passionate as well and these days running into an individual who will swear that the Benz is THE most talented artist the Dancehall has ever seen is just no surprise at all. Spragga’s fame and popularity in recent years, for me personally, is just so WONDERFUL because here’s an individual whose certainly had his heavy ups and even heavier downs, in and out of the studio, but he’s never really strayed too far from the course and he’s constantly represented Dancehall music and Dancehall culture and done so as the consummate professional. With all of that going for him (and the YEAR or so the album was delayed), it seems as if RIGHT NOW is the perfect time for Spragga Benz to jump up with what has to be his highest profile studio album to date, without any qualification whatsoever. As I alluded to, ”Shotta Culture” comes via the BoomTunes label from the internationally known producer Salaam Remi (who has worked with a whole heap of Caribbean artists in the past, most notably Rupee and Beenie Man), to whom credit definitely goes for promoting this album so immensely. And Remi also, presumably, brought in the big names that join Spragga throughout the album, who I’ll tell you about in just a bit. For his part, it is also CERTAINLY to the benefit if this project that, either just by happenstance or by some master designed stroke of genius - Spragga Di Benz has been on an absolute musical ROLL over the past eighteen months or so scoring hits with some tunes which may not have done the damage that they ended up doing in previous years as, up until late 2008 or so (pretty much after his last album, ”Prototype“ dropped which, in retrospect, was pretty bad), he hadn’t been doing that type of work and it just seemed all of a sudden that big tunes began to come in. Even more remarkable is the fact that when you REALLY look at it, there’re some very big tunes on the album, but one could’ve compiled a potential master class piece of work with tunes like ‘Hurt Mi’ (alongside I-Octane), of course ‘Tiny Tot’, ‘Style’ and ‘Badman Class’ highlighting the piece. So, anyway you choose to take it, the man has been refocused and has taken his skills back to where he is at his best. All of that certainly bodes well for the actual quality of this album - So the only question that remains is - Has Spragga Benz managed to live up to the lofty expectations and all that was hoped for with this album? Of course he has.

As far as the actual music on the album, what struck me the most is just how varied the selections are. There’re tunes and vibes going on just about everything you might imagine and while it definitely seems to have an underlying sentiment to it (it isn’t a ‘modern classic’, but the thought of writing about it as such is very appealing) which is very interesting considering the various directions. That “underlying sentiment” is the star of the show on the opener of Spragga Benz’ heavily anticipated brand new album, ”Shotta Culture” - The title track. I’ve had quite the experience with how I feel about this tune and the song’s very existence is one which is quite interesting because it seemed that almost EVERYONE was so receptive to it AS SOON as it released (and in cases like that, I tend to think that people are more enamoured with the idea of a song, or the idea of liking it, than the actual song). As for right now, however, I have absolutely no problem with hard hitting piece, it’s very solid, but it pleases me to say that there’re probably five tunes here which I like more. One of such songs might just be the next solo effort on the album, ‘More Pum Pum’. And I might be the only one saying that, but this tune is about as complex ‘pum pum tune’ (My! Isn’t that a wonderful phrase to say!) that you’ll ever hear and should you make it to the end of the tune without singing aggressively along with the tune’s chorus, then you . . . Might want to find something else to listen to. Also, I should say that with the long time span this album spent in the making, I’m almost sure that this one is a bit older, but I don’t give a damn. Big tune. And the next time we hear Spragga Benz, and only Spragga Benz, is on the dietary concerned, ‘Mutten’ (and should you take into consideration the previous tune I just mentioned - No they aren’t related). This one is fairly pedestrian, but still damn impressive and it shows a side of Spragga that is certain to be appreciated by the hardcore fans (myself definitely included), because that riddim is HEAVY and somewhere in the middle of the tune he just begins to LOCK IT OFF.

“Di Rastaman nah mix up inna folly
And Rastaman, travel over hills and over valley
And Rastaman, burn high-grade - Whether kush or whether collie
It lift the meditation mentally
And Rastaman, farm up the land and grow the veggie
And Rastaman, done conquer babylon already
So dem uniform and weapon it couldn’t get Rasta edgy
Rasta hold him own
Rasta hold a firm, steady medi”

The story on Spragga Benz’ ”Shotta Culture” from just looking at the tracklist on paper is EASILY going to be just who and how many ‘whos’ he links with. Superstars and legends from the Hip-Hop/R&B world and of course Reggae and Dancehall show up and do so on six of the album’s seventeen tracks (which is considerably less than I actually thought after first glance). Starting at the least known to me - I had absolutely no idea who the Playaz Circle was, but apparently Tity Boy is a member and he joins in the fun on the swaying ‘Get That Dough’. I wasn’t very impressed with his portion (I’m not a very big fan of Hip-Hop), but the tune itself is very good. The riddim has the very nice old school affect to it and while it turns out to be most predictable, the simple sonic appeal of it is one of the brightest on the entire album. Jazmine Sullivan (who has a lovely voice) is a name that I’ve heard before, but haven’t paid a great deal of attention to and she joins Spragga Benz and Stephen Marley (he’ll be back later) on the emotional ’Stays The Same’. This tune gives me my first opportunity to address the fact that almost exactly two years prior to the release date of this album, Spragga’s son, Carlton Grant Jr. was murdered in Jamaica by police officers and clearly this is one of the tunes on the album his Father made for him and at times it borders on the brilliance you’d imagine it to be. Next in would be the very well known and Reggae familiar Nas who joins on the HEAVY and Jazzy ‘This Is The Way’. Again, while this song was fairly predictable, the sonic appeal here is very high and on top of that, linking together two artists of this level is very impressive and in this case what you hear as the tune progresses is a VERY high level of skill and it really got to the point where I wouldn’t have, at all, minded if Nas had a bit more input on the tune, but getting Nas to play in the Reggae yard these days isn’t too hard. Big tune. The fun ‘Red Dot Special [Rhatata]’ features gets even more on the Reggae side as it features both Hip-Hop super producer (and Mr. Alicia Keys, I believe), Swizz Beats, with Canadian star Kardinal Offishal (still refusing to go ahead and drop a full Dancehall album apparently, even though he knows he wants to) and the peerless Spragga Benz. Despite the violent nature of the tune, it’s a sound boy type of a tune and the mixture of the Hip-Hop, in this case, only adds to its quality to my ears and I have to say that a fire breathing Kardinal definitely steals the show to my opinion. Queen Marcia Griffiths joins on one of the biggest moments on the whole of ”Shotta Culture”, ‘No Way, No How’. In an interview I read with Spragga, he remarked that it was his biggest honour that Griffiths had decided to do the tune with him and I’m certain he was more than pleased with the results because the two make an EXCELLENT pair, the best on the album altogether, in fact. And finally (because after it, I still have another eight tunes to deal with I believe) is the big ‘More Life’ which features Marley again, and SIZZLA KALONJI, JAH CURE and QUEEN IFRICA! The tune is fantastic, which should really go without saying (even though I just said it) and probably the most impressive bit about it is the fact that it all works together so nicely and not even the ridiculous voiced Jah Cure sounds out of place. Of course, I’m going to say Sizzla tops the tune (because he does), but Ifrica isn’t very far behind at all. All in all, definitely I wish that Spragga could’ve reunited Red Square (or at least Sasco) for the album, but the combinations here are, for the most part, very well done pieces.

Now, with alllllllll of that being said, with all of those tunes (with the exception of ‘Red Dot Special’) being nestled in on the first half of the album, it is all alone and largely on the second half of ”Shotta Culture” where Spragga Benz hit’s the hardest. Interestingly, the KO punch comes on the middle track, a tune which is at least twenty seconds shorter than any other on the album (and more than three full minutes shorter than ‘More Life’), the FUCKED UP ‘Duppy Nuh Frighten Vampire’. Riding what appears to be a clipped version of the immortal Sleng Teng Riddim, this tune is downright dominant. It’s screw faced, angry as hell, rusty nail type of busted nose Dancehall and I LOVE IT! Destined to almost certainly fall beneath the radar with all the other big tunes here, for me ‘Duppy No Frighten Vampire’ is vintage Spragga Benz and aside from being the best tune on this album, which it is, it’s also one of his best to date. Period!

The two tunes which immediately follow that piece of gold could arguably be the second and third best tunes on the album, respectively, as well. First is ‘Protect Your Culture’ which goes DEEP in making its point and because the two share a word, you know it’ll be compared with the title track, which it is SIGNIFICANTLY stronger than to my opinion. The tune primarily speaks about teaching the children traditions and teaching them right from wrong to preserve righteousness and to preserve the culture and in delivering that message Spragga goes to the heights lyrically:

“Cah wi haffi mek a stand against corruption
Di system will suck you in like a suction
Becah dem inna population reduction
Rastafari promote life production
Wi haffi mek a stand
Wi all share di pressure, wi all bear di pain
But it can’t be better less we mek di change
Fall in everybody and join dis love train
An stop watch yah future juss ah go dung di drain
Cuz how can it be different when wi all doing di same?
Don’t follow nobody just use your own brain
If we all pull together, there’s much more to gain
Stop watch your future be a runaway train”

The entire tune is similarly wicked and by its end, Spragga has definitely made his point! The other big tune here is ‘Real News’ which is downright devastating at times and it builds so fully off the tune preceding it and the message that things need to change. On top of that, the riddim on this tune sounds like something the legendary Fela Kuti might’ve done and it is KNOCKING! Good luck grabbing hold of the message on this one because it is so captivating and your head will be similarly knocking when it really gets going (just like mine is right now). The tune also features this high-tech delivery where Spragga makes the punchline of every ‘sub verse’ in a way where he just . . . Kind of starts talking at the end of it and it is something to hear if you REALLY pay attention to deejaying as a skill.

The Harlem Globetrotters inspired ‘Who In The Middle’ was a previous single release (see the videos) and it is ultimately harmless, SAVE FOR the ridiculous spill of lyrics which seems to erupt in the later-middle portion of the tune. Again, from simply an auditory perspective, it’s dazzling to hear and while the tune isn’t the a favourite of mine, if for no other reason than that, you’re going to have a hard time banishing it from my players altogether. And speaking of “not a favourite of mine”, by far the worst tune on ”Shotta Culture” is the clear freestyle tune, ‘Yeah You Know’. I’d have a hard time believing Spragga (or anyone for that matter) actually wrote a single word on this tune and I’d also think that he’d be hard-pressed to duplicate any of it from off the top of his head as well. Also, with a riddim that’s barely even there, the tune is the very definition of FILLER on this album. Thankfully Spragga rights the ship down the stretch of the album, with the final three tunes. ‘Branding’ is an FANTASTIC old school type of Dancehall vibe (mind you, by “old school”, I mean circa . . . 2002 or so), which is the type of song basically saying, ‘girl you know you hot’, which used to be so prominent. Spragga also shows love to a few different Caribbean brands and even though it’s not my area of expertise (because I pretty much dress like a beach bum everyday), the deejaying is very skillful and it provides us with the hard to forget stretch of, “dem seh dem ah wear di shit, but dem ah wear doodoo”. ‘Dread Don’t Go Down’ rides the very familiar Salaam Remi produced riddim, which backed Gramps Morgan’s ode to fallen South Afrikan Reggae star Lucky Dube, 'Always & Forever', from last year and while I still favour that tune to this one, ‘Dread Don’t Go Down’ is an excellent inspirational shot and I like the fact that it kind of has a playful demeanour surrounding it as well as a discernible edge at the same time, which is another piece of evidence for masterful deejaying (as if we needed more proof). And finally, ending ”Shotta Culture” is another big tune Spragga’s son, ‘Livication’. The prevailing sentiment on the tune and for an entire album with the name that this one does have is “LEAVE ALL VENGEANCE” and certainly that has some personal ramifications for Spragga on this most personal of tunes as well for the world in general.

Overall, I’ll spare you the comparisons of this album with the only other album that comes so close to it in terms of quality, ”Fully Loaded”, but what I will say is that it is SO nice that here we have an album which has ‘surprisingly’ gotten as much hype as this one has received and had so many people speaking about it, rather easily live up to the expectations. As I mentioned, the variety of vibes on the album goes so far across the board and covers so many different subjects (and probably because of how long it took to produce) and styles in terms of going backwards and more up to date, which is so UTTERLY interesting. Because of that, and the fact that the album is just wicked, I’m going to have a hard time hearing the argument of someone who is truly disappointed with ”Shotta Culture”. On top of that, while I’m going to eschew using words like ‘landmark’ in this case (that certainly remains to be seen what type of lasting effect the album has), you’re also going to have to really try hard to make the case that this isn’t one of the greatest albums of 2010 thus far as well. Spragga Benz is an absolute gem of an artist and while I don’t think the Reggae and Dancehall community CONSISTENTLY gives him the respect he’s earned, in this case, we’ve done exactly that. This album has been given so much attention and love and after listening to it, clearly Spragga has taken his time to ensure that the attention was unwarranted . . . Oh and yes, that cover is atrocious, simply atrocious.

Rated: 4.85/5
BoomTunes
2010
Digital
{You are most certainly going to ask me if this is going to be available on CD, I've already sent the question and when they reply to me, I'll let you know}




Shotta Culture