Okay so, let's get the formalities out of the way here: Sizzla Kalonji has a new album. It's called "Run Tingz" it comes from Lead Out Productions and the legendary artist's own Kalonji Music Production. It has a single which reached maybe a month or so before the album did called 'Galang Bad' (there were actually a few singles but it stood out for obvious reasons). 'Galang Bad' is PROBLEMS!
It is excellent, grimy, beautiful Dancehall and, though it's an easy trait to overlook, 'Galang Bad' is also very well written ["Poor people business : Kalonji ah defend it; and mi no deh round yah so fi ah pretend it. CAAN RUN DI BUSINESS AND NUTTIN YOU NO SI FROM IT. Caan blindfold wi, much less di likkle pickney. Try to step pon mi name a di only thing they give to me. SIZZLA KALONJI DEM KNOW A DI EPITOME. NAH STOP BUN DI YAH FYAH TILL DEM SICK A MI!!"]. It is one of the best songs that I've heard from Kalonji in.... a while and it is far and away the best thing you will find on "Run Tingz". BOOM!
The rest of the album???? Hmmmm. Uhmmm. The rest of "Run Tingz" registers somewhere between EH and UGH!!. On the absolute highest end of the rest are tunes such as the title track, 'Out the Slum', the catchy 'Put It Away', obligatory ganja tune 'Inna Mi Brain' with King Dawad (which is fun) and 'Hey No'; while I can't actually classify any of them as being 'good' (they most certainly are not), by comparison to what else is to be found on "Run Tingz", they're in pretty good standing. "What else" is pretty bad as you will find on pieces such as 'No Drawz' (which is exactly what you're thinking it is), 'Sure Bout', 'All This Time', 'Cyah Regret' ('Sure Bout' & 'Cyah Regret' are..... basically the same, pretty awful, dirty love song) and the very odd 'This Is It'. What you won't find at all in the ranks of "Run Tingz", surprisingly, is actual Roots Reggae music. Save for 'Galang Bad' and whatever 'All This Time' is, this is a Hip-Hop album to my ears and, as I've said in the past, I'm not much of a fan of the genre, so maybe this one is for others, but I'd like to think that I can at least differentiate GOOD Hip-Hop from mediocre and downright BAD Hip-Hop (but maybe I can't and I'm wrong about that) and the majority of what is to be found on this set is definitely far closer to the latter.
This brings me to a larger point in reference to Sizzla's music, specifically albums, as of late. The days of him releasing several official albums annually are long gone and we're missing them now aren't we! Back the, when you got an uneven set you didn't particularly mind very much because you knew the next one was literally a few weeks away (if that) and when he was at his absolute best, his lesser work was still at least on par with the best of many of his contemporaries. It was still pretty good music (and I could go on and on (again) about my love of albums such as 'Rastafari Teach I Everything' and 'Hosanna'. He has a level (two or three of them, actually) higher than that, but they were very good releases).These days, most of his work is coming through Kalonji Production and the results have not been stellar. They've been.... just really strange albums, in retrospect. Last year's "Rise Up" in retrospect and by comparison, was actually much better than most Kalonji's recent sets but I could probably name you THIRTY albums he's done that're better and do so without too much difficulty. The two prior to that "On A High" and "Million Times" from 2021 and 2022, respectively have come and gone as fairly non-descript and uneventful pieces of work and it hasn't been due to them being overlooked - they're just not very good. I still rate Sizzla as my absolute favourite artist, historically. The man made music which changed my life and, at one point, brought me out of a very dark place and I'm still confident that the next SLAYER of a set is forthcoming, but with projects such as his recent material, the wait is becoming tedious.
So, while "Run Tingz" isn't the WORST album that you'll come across (off the top of my head -- at least in terms of official releases and not something someone clearly put together in their basement -- I think that 'distinction' probably belongs to 2008's "Addicted") but you will not find shards or echoes or ruins or anything resembling him at his absolute best and this time next year when he likely releases another on KMP, you probably won't remember it at all.... and that isn't a bad thing.
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