'Born For This': A Review of "Live On: Tribute To Culture" by Kenyatta Hill

It’s almost become a cliché these days - Hearing an artist saying something along the lines of “I was born to make this music” or my personal favourite, “I never choose the music, the music chose me”. I can even distinctly remember Reggae oddity I Wayne, when he first arrived on the big stage of Reggae music crediting the wind as his greatest source of inspiration. Seemingly it is the allure to the word ‘natural’ and ‘nature’ which drives such statements as, perhaps there exists some mythical artist who does nothing but make music night and day because to him, it is as ‘natural’ as breathing. The absurdity of most of those situations understood, certainly there are some situations where almost LITERALLY music was something which became less of a profession or a thing to do for someone and was actually more of a LIFESTYLE or a culture of sorts. In Reggae, of course we look at people like the Marleys and the Morgans - These big families of Reggae musicians who come from this ever extending line of blood related predecessors. In their case, there’s never a surprise of what or who, more importantly, is next to take up the music because (particularly with the Marleys) doing so is just what is expected of you and perhaps not by your family, but YOU, Reggae fan, if you ever met someone with a dread or a just Caribbean accent named Marley, what is the first thing that would come into your mind? Exactly. Also, going around the actual family setting we can think about certain artists coming up in various places around the world who came up in situations where music was maybe not the ONLY way out of poor conditions, but it was the most obvious. I look at someone such as Beenie Man or Bounty Killer or even Elephant Man who grew up in the very violent ghettos in Kingston and looked at music IMMEDIATELY as something which could change the course of their lives and the lives of their families and all of these years later, we see how successful they managed to become. But, with all of those things being said, those are, admittedly more obvious examples. My name isn’t Marley, I didn’t grow up in a ghetto (I grew up in a Garden) and you can obviously see what I spend my time doing, Jamaica is just a very musical place - One could argue that it is a NATURALLY musical place. Still, even with that being the case, perhaps it is an even greater source of nature which would allow a man to SUDDENLY become the lead voice of one of the greatest Reggae groups of all time.

'Daddy' [Not on this album]

I don’t know Kenyatta Hill, but seriously out of the MANY stories we deal with each and every week, his is one of the most remarkable of them all as a man of . . . I don’t know, I’d guess Hill is in his 30’s and he would have been in his late 20’s or so when his career began. It was August of 2006 when his Father, the legendary Joseph Hill of Culture, passed away and immediately after his death, the career of his son began and IN HIS PLACE! Having been a lead ENGINEER for his Father, Kenyatta didn’t get the opportunity to perform at some show in some obscure corner of the world in front of 100 people. He didn’t sing songs on some elevated piece of wood in a yard in Kingston. He dove in head first singing his Father’s music which just happened to be some of the greatest and most well recognized that our genre has to offer. Kenyatta Hill, most impossibly, was looked at to REPLACE his Father. And he has done excellently! In only four and a half years, his career now comes ‘full-circle’ as he releases an album of him singing some of Culture’s greatest work, ”Live On: Tribute To Culture”. Previously, he had done a similar thing on an album from 2007, ”Pass The Torch” which featured him singing tunes alongside his Father (and included a song certain to make you cry, the HUGE tune, ‘Daddy’ and you can guess what that one is about), but just as was the case when Joseph Hill died, this time, Kenyatta is all on his own (technically). Just last month, we saw what could happen when such a thing goes on in the scope of modern Reggae as the (normally) STERLING Bushman served up what was pretty much a dud in ”Bushman Sings The Bush Doctor”, an album featuring him singing the songs of another Reggae great, Peter Tosh. I almost had to compare these two, because I didn’t get very far at all through ”Live On” without asking myself the question I found myself asking myself somewhere in the middle of Bushman’s album: ‘Where in the hell is passion?’ Fortunately, Hill had a proper response because he brings the passion and the intensity where it is supposed to exist on every song, so while it isn’t Joseph Hill singing Joseph Hill’s songs and it never will be again for us, it is another individual seemingly BORN to sing this music. He didn’t hatch this idea a few years ago, it was kind of given to him, but surely Kenyatta Hill has grown up with this music apart of his life and he was, actually, BORN into it, so who better to carry the mantle? Of course, he doesn’t have to do it alone. At the production helm of ”Live On”, shockingly and fittingly, is one of the greatest producers of Reggae music in the world - Who happens to not be very active in terms of Jamaican Reggae music, Dean Pond and his Rymshot Productions imprint. The brilliant Pond is best known for his work with Virgin Islands Reggae music and has produced and played for just about EVERYONE, but as of late, he’s been most associated with superstar Pressure Busspipe, for whom he has produced two of three albums - both 2009’s solid ”Coming Back For You” and the opus debut album, ”Pressure Is On”. Pond also did manage to run out a very nice album, ”Closure” for the Jamaican born Maurice - But certainly his wouldn’t be a name thought of to manage this project - But very few are more capable. The album comes off absolutely without a hitch or a glitch as Kenyatta Hill does his Father more than proud.

As I mentioned when we dealt with the Bushman album, when you embark upon a project like such, you really have a nice opportunity to give a new life to your songs. As popular as Culture was, I was never their biggest fan (I wasn’t the biggest fan of Peter Tosh’s either actually but, like in this situation, you’re almost inherently familiar with their music) and listening through this album it definitely gave me a few reasons to go back and question my choices of my favourite Culture songs - Offering up a few more possibilities. The prime example of this on ”Live On: Tribute To Culture” by Kenyatta Hill, is the opening track, ‘Behold’ which is a song I knew and respected, but hearing it here? I LOVE IT! It’s not my favourite song from Culture, but it is my favourite tune on this album. TEARS! The song is nearly paralyzingly beautiful and when I first dropped in on it, I was so surprised because like I said, I remember the song, but I don’t remember it sounding this good, but going back and vibing the original now - I have a new found respect and love for it and I’m sure I won’t be the only one to say that. MASSIVE start. Next up is a tune which didn’t need much of a boost in my eyes, one of Culture’s biggest tunes ever in my opinion, ‘Iron Sharpen Iron’. This tune is pretty near impossible to screw up and Kenyatta doesn’t even come close to making it dip much at all. And finally from the opening lot is another tune in ‘Armagiddion War’ which I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to in its original state and although not a standout for me on this album, it sent me back to have more than a couple of listens to the big version and you can well bet, again, that I’m not the only one thinking such a thing - So when you sing a song proper and give it a life and give it an emotion, this is what can and usually does happen.

I can remember when everyone really first got a listen to Kenyatta Hill’s voice, how much it was said that he sound so much like his Father and their voices are very similar, but I think the slight difference (the younger Hill’s voice isn’t as consistently high and he also seems to have a slight more EDGE as well) is what ‘helps’ because it turns out that several of my favourite tunes on ”Live On” aren’t really my favourite Culture songs. A song like ‘Land Where We Belong’ is another strong example. I barely even remembered this one and got well into the second minute of the tune before I caught on, but it is GORGEOUS! ‘How Did I Stray’, although entirely more familiar, is another tune which really shines on this album and is one of the best lyrical performances as well.

“21,000 miles away from home and you bring I here and treat I like a brute
Tell I, how did I stray
If you were the stranger and I were the host, I would not dare treat you like this
Tell I, how did I stray
Where’s the justice and where’s the freedom?
And see how you treat I in apartheid system
Tell I how did I stray”

Easily ‘Lion Rock’ is another tune which would fall into this category and maybe even embarrassingly so. The song was the title track for a Culture album (which I own), but I just . . . Never thought too much of it. Here it is exceptional and, again, going back and spinning the original and so is it. I mean the tune is just so strong that you wonder how I wouldn’t have noticed it (the answer is called ‘getting old(er), of course). And finally on this note would be ‘Fussing & Fighting’, which would be another tune that I was well familiar with prior to ”Live On”, but was one which I didn’t think much of, these days, however, it’s sounding much much better. In my own personal case, it comes to just changing. As I’ve spoken on considerably over the past few years, as I get older I find my tastes changing and while my collection of Culture tunes and albums is fairly large, I just wouldn’t have felt the onus to go back and have somewhat of a random listen to tunes which I didn’t recall so much, were it not for this excellent release.

Now, when you can get my attention and make me go drifting back through the archives for tunes which I was previously somewhat lukewarm to - That’s one thing - Giving me a nice dosage of some of my favourite songs is another still and there’s a nice sampling of such songs on ”Live On” as well. I’ve always loved ‘International Herb’ and it’s always made me smile as well. Joseph Hill had a way with words and tones which just kind of made certain songs, to me at least, seem kind of funny because he made them seem ‘casually important’ and ‘International Herb’ was such a song definitely. Kenyatta doesn’t quite capture his Father’s unique quality on the song, but he does give it a style of its own and I love it here as well. ‘See Dem Come’ is probably my second favourite tune on the entire album and it’s also one of my favourites from Culture.

“Jah Jah see dem ah come
But I & I ah conqueror
Jah Jah see dem ah come
But I & I ah conqueror

I’m not afraid my God of the terror by night
Nor by the pestilence that waiteth at noon
To capture Jah children and take them away”

There’s the somewhat funny ‘Money Girl’ which Kenyatta NAILS completely and he does the same for ‘Wings Of A Dove’ which I think is one of the m ore underrated selections from Culture. That song (which had an album named after it) is another one which has always made me smile and this may be a case where Kenyatta actually takes it up a notch from the wonderful song his Father left us with because it is outstanding. ‘Two Sevens Clash’ is somewhat obligatory and I’m almost embarrassed to call it my favourite Culture song ever, but it is (‘Mr. Sluggard’ is up there as well). The tune contains what has to be regarded as one of the most popular (and best) choruses in the history of Reggae music and, again, Kenyatta Hill makes it sound so nice. This song is so popular that I doubt he’s going to gain many NEW fans with it, but doesn’t it just sound so nice to hear someone who CLEARLY loves and respects this music singing it with a passion. ”Live On: Tribute To Culture” reaches its end with another couple of big and well known efforts, ‘I’m Not Ashamed’ and ‘Natty Never Get Weary’. Both have always been special for me, the latter in particular, and Hill sends things out with excellent renditions a couple of his Father’s greatest hits.

Overall, it got to the point somewhere in the middle of this album where you really feel Kenyatta Hill coming into his own as an artist, but maybe he didn't have very far to come. What I mean is that not only is there the passion that I was seeking, but there’s also a rather large bit of confidence as well and for someone who’s been singing professionally for less than five years - That just doesn’t seem very normal. Surely it helped him that, by the time of this recording (at least presumably), he would’ve had some nice experience singing these songs, but with this material, as the premise of this review would suggest, I think Hill had some help in the fact that he was singing material that he may’ve LITERALLY been born to sing and, at the very least, he’s been around for his entire life. When you size up something like that then ”Live On” definitely becomes a little less surprising although not at all less powerful. Excellent.

Rated: 4.5/5
Rymshot Productions
2011
Digital
Kenyatta Hill @ Myspace

Over Amibitious???: A Review of Poor by Culture Brown

It seems as if, almost on a schedule of some sorts, although our music is supposedly ‘regional’ and ‘underground’ even at its highest levels sometime, someone, some artist or some label just undertakes a project which would seem to be too big for the market of Reggae music. In other, more popular genres, it isn’t rare at all to see an album released simultaneously in two different forms as many adopt those ‘Deluxe’ or ‘Collector’s Edition’ labels which include either another disc of music or a DVD but what you’ve noticed in Reggae is that, while that does occur, ONLY the Deluxe edition will exist before ultimately being replaced on shelves by a single edition. The two are hardly ever released together and only AT ALL on the biggest projects. However, like I said, there are exceptions. Last year was an exception of EPIC proportions as one single label, Drop Di Bass, released THREE different albums of interest on the exact same day. A new Sizzla album is definitely a big deal in the Reggae world; as is a new Spragga Benz album and perhaps even more so due to the infrequency to which he releases and records; add to that FINALLY the debut album from one of the most underrated artists in Dancehall history, Madd Anju, and you’re really working with something near ridiculous levels. That’s exactly what DDB did when it released Sizzla’s Addicted, Spragga’s Prototype and Anju’s Mad Bwoy Anju albums simultaneously. In retrospect, none of them were really anything great (Addicted was AWFUL, Prototype was below average and Mad Bwoy Anju was pretty good) and the vibes were crazy and all over the place but my hat will forever be tipped in the direction of Drop Di Bass, even if we never hear from them ever again (supposedly they’re doing projects with veteran backing vocalist Calibe and Merciless of all people, coming up). Of course, I won’t include the usual matters of Sizzla, Jah Mason, Turbulence, Lutan Fyah and Natural Black releasing so many albums every year (because that’s slowing down these days) but what Midnite (Vaughn Benjamin) does each and every year almost has to be mentioned briefly. In short order from now, Benjamin will essentially be competing with himself when his next album, Ina Now, drops (if it hasn’t already, and it may have) not too long after the flawed To Mene and for the same Rastar Productions label no less. Benjamin, for the past few years has also done similar things in releasing three albums within a month of each other in the early months of the year and, in contrast to his ultra-active Jamaican peers, Benjamin produces, to the smallest detail, a few of his own releases. You also have quite things like VP Records well respected Strictly The Best being a double album release for most of its lifespan, Jet Star all of a sudden digitizing nearly its entire catalogue of its last few years of operation last year and to a smaller (and much more WONDERFUL) degree, last year, 2B1 releasing two different Lutan Fyah albums, Live In San Francisco and the MAMMOTH Africa albums. So we may not be as flashy as others and you may not think the market is there but, apparently, it is.

At least Culture Brown better hope that it is. ‘An album’ which has been on my radars for a couple of months now has been Brown’s new album, Poor. I’ve known the name Culture Brown for quite awhile now as one of Canada’s lesser known talents with the likes of Jahranimo (he actually appeared on Jahranimo’s 2008 album Praises) and I THINK he’s had an album before Poor but with this album, on premise ALONE, he changes the scope of his career IMMEDIATELY. The question has to be asked why would an artist with seemingly so little of backing and having not established his name on any of the typical Reggae avenues undertake such a project as a COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE double album release, which is exactly what Poor is over its Disk 1 and Disk 2 (thirty + tracks). The actual answer may be in the question itself, in that he’s not actually of little backing. Apparently Culture Brown is quite popular in Canada and throughout Europe, particularly in France and in Germany where Poor is quite anticipated as well apparently. Culture Brown has been alluding the coming of such a project for quite awhile as well (whether we chose to listen or not). And although you won’t find too much Culture Brown music playing in the Caribbean, he also has a few places where the popularity levels for the Westmoreland native are quite high also. Quietly, Culture Brown has maintained a nomadic style of making his music throughout the prime of his career and even beforehand what you can see, simply by looking at the project in full is that he placed quite a high emphasis on bringing that same vibes of traveling to the furthest corners of the earth in order to do his work as Poor was recorded in many studios all over Jamaica, in Canada and in Europe also. That pattern has been somewhat successful for several of his peers (I.e. Mark Wonder, Queen Omega and Daddy Rings these days) and definitely Culture Brown now adds his name to that esteemed list of quality artists. Poor, I think, will b e largely a coming out party for Culture Brown to many fans and myself definitely included to an extent as I don’t think so many (especially not in the States) people have been exposed to his music much at all. So what will you find. Culture Brown DEFINITELY, in terms of voicing, registers in the style of artists who seem to have a base vibes somewhat derivative of the legendary Buju Banton. He fits into artists like Mega Banton (minus the Dancehall of course) and, more closely, Natural Black, who he greatly sounds like at times and Al Pancho. I would say that, overall, he has more natural talents than Al Pancho (although he does also exhibit that type of ‘rough around the edges’ quality which Pancho has made work for him) but Culture Brown isn’t a Natural Black (but then again, no one is, besides the man). And what he is, is put on FULL display on Poor, which although it all isn’t top notch material, in between the two albums, there is one VERY good project.

Poor comes via Akeel Records, which is apparently Culture Brown’s own label, and he, as well, takes an executive producer’s credit for an album which he has obviously spent such a great amount of time working on and getting out to the masses. The first disk, to my opinion is probably the more flashy of the two, although I have a nearly impossible task in deciding which of the two is ‘better’. Thankfully beginning the first disk is one of the best tunes on either album, as the two which follow it. . . aren’t. Groove On definitely isn’t bad , more like awkward. It kind of has an R&B vibes going on but Brown (which was actually a good idea on his part in my opinion) approaches it like an old school Dancehall tune but. . . It just sounds kind of odd. Sell Off, on the other hand, isn’t ODD so much as it seems FORCED. It literally sounds like he crafted in his head making something for the youths and something that would be catchy and while Sell Off may just serve those two purposes, it just isn’t very good. You often see artists, like Cocoa Tea for instance, who enjoy writing and singing about current events in the public sense (as opposed to what happens to be going on in their own lives) but recently, Culture Brown has to be the one who makes that commitment the most in my opinion. On the first disk of Poor alone he has the tune Obama which is okay I suppose but I’m SO tired of these tunes by now and Culture Brown’s ode to the US President doesn’t really break any new ground (although he does leave the WONDERFUL line “time to clear out the Bushes so the light can come in“). Tsunami deals with the event from a few years ago back (I THINK) and may be the only Reggae song I’ve heard entirely dedicated to it alone. Again, its not exactly the best tune I’ve heard either. And, also on the first disk, is Bail Out which is very clever and deals with The Bail Out in terms of the government helping out the business sectors as opposed to bail out, as in ‘of jail’. The song has to be considered one of the best on the project simply because of the approach and it does carry well to my opinion. Culture Brown goes STRAIGHT Buju Banton on one of the biggest tunes on Poor, With Faith alongside Johnny Diamond and the coolest old man in the world, Stranjah Cole. Reggae heads will hear the tune, like I did and IMMEDIATELY start singing Buju’s Til I’m To Rest, just as I did. The song is very well done. I also liked Rusty & Dusty which, to my ears, goes on the same riddim as Sizzla’s EPIC Woman I Need You tune, Brown doesn’t approach those levels but definitely leaves his impression on the riddim with the big social commentary. We Pray is another catchy one, although not as big but the lyrics on that one make it an attraction so definitely spin there a few times. More Responsible sounds like a Natural Black tune but it is in fact Culture Brown who works his magic on that one and after several spins it started to grow on me, the tune urging full scale upping of responsibility for the sake of the youths. According to the press for the album Hillary Clinton liked the title track, I’m not fond of it (its too cliché to my opinion) and NOT ONE of the tunes following it completing disk one. Gunnie Gunnie is annoying as hell! Hurted plunders the melody of Erykah Badu’s song You Got Me with the Roots. Of course, it worked for them (I use to love that tune), it doesn’t work for Culture Brown. Do biggup the ‘curious’ voiced Saina who checks in on Whoever alongside Brown, the two make an awkward duo but Saina is definitely a talented artist.

Where Disk One is more flashy of the two, Disk Two is more substance over style and straight to the point. Luckily, for the sake of my point, that is evident in the first three tracks, one of the strongest on the project: Zion Trod. The song isn’t really anything so SPECIAL, yet its solid (more on that in a bit) but the entire vibes are just set so nicely with a very free-flowing and drumming filled nature to it. Strong And Bless is my choice as the single best tune you’ll find on either disks of Culture Brown’s Poor. The tune is just BRILLIANT, it features veteran Canada based artist Ibo (who I believe is the same Ibo who dropped the nice album The Prayer a few years back, track name Morning In Zion was MASSIVE!) and these two deliver a very nice praising tune to His Majesty. Lot of chemistry between the two (Ibo also does some production on Poor) and I’d definitely like to see them take another go at it and I’m sure they will at some point. At It Again is another nice message track for the people as it strikes out against the world leaders (again, dealing with current events) and it really is a nice type of track, not the best, of course, but well solid in itself. After Strong & Bless, Culture Brown links another STRONG combination on the second disk and a pretty high profile one also, Thanks For Life alongside veteran singer and former Black Uhuru front man Andrew B(ees). I’ve always though that Bees, for his skill set was entirely underrated and he definitely gives a good showing on the tune. I also like Mama Africa, a very strong KNOWLEDGE track concerning the Diaspora in particular, just a solid track there. Road Safety (of course) is a tune about driving properly and cutting down on the accidents on the road while Caution is a tune for the Women of the world against the dangers of abortion and Culture Brown’s advocacy of PROTECTION instead. And the end of Disk two things fall apart again a bit as the tune More Love takes the melody of The Harder They Come and I really don’t like the song AT ALL. And I won’t bother you with the mix. Bringing together an album which. . .

Overall, I just don’t know! I wanted so very much to like this album as I had been looking forward to it for awhile and the cover looks so nice and all the song titles looked so nice and the clips I heard were nice but the album. . . Just. . . Its just kind of there. A lot of the tunes here which I may even like just aren’t really anything special inasmuch as they’re SOLID and what comes with that after awhile, (I SOOOOOOOOO HATE TO SAY THIS) is that over the span of what is basically two albums, it can get kind of boring. The songs don’t really go anywhere new for hardcore Reggae heads and really with the kind of music that it is, that’s the crowd that’s going to be looking at picking up Culture Brown’s Poor. Also, like I said its kind of hard to pick a favourite disk, there is a GOOD album here but in order to find it you’d almost have to pick tunes from both halves. Also, through listening to it quite a bit more and more, Brown almost sounds exactly like Al Pancho and that’s a good thing if you’re an Al Pancho fan but I’m not. We should definitely give big respect to Culture Brown for taking his time and pushing Poor out there for the masses and I’m sure he did his research and I’m sure it’ll sell well. However, for as much as I praise him for undertaking and COMPLETING such a project and with all everything that goes into it. . . Poor just seems to be missing something.

Rated 3/5 stars

Akeel Records

2009