Out of everything else that it's managed to do, 2012 has definitely produced one of the most memorable years in recent times in terms of powerful writing. We have seen some of the best lyricists in Reggae step up in some cases and we've also seen up and comers perhaps make their case for belonging in the top group as well. Whichever the case, or any other, the lyrics of this year have largely been fantastic. Today we take a look back at some of our favourite verses and choruses from Reggae this year. Lyrics! 2012
“I can hear the trumpets blowing
And the angel’s choir singing
Ithiopians calling
Hail His Majesty
Zion behold Her glory
Rainbow coloured story
Lion of Judah reigns
The advocate of change
True philosophies -
Fulfilling all history
The seals, the revelation
What a joy!
Sweet redemption!
Ancient of days, worthy to be praised
King for us now and for always”
-from 'Zion's Glory' by Mark Wonder
"2012, I hear, might be wi last year
So the Mayans say
It's the end of days
But everybody know, and this is a fact:
Tomorrow might not come, today not coming back
So let go yahself
Forget about all yah troubles -
Put them on a shelf!
Be happy and free yourself
All hands in di air!
Up in di air!
Up in di air!
Di air!
Di air!
JUMP!
Like you have no tomorrow
WAVE!
Like you have no tomorrow
GET ON!
Like you have no tomorrow
JUMP!
Like you have no tomorrow
JUMP!
Like you have no tomorrow
JUMP
Like you have no tomorrow
WAVE!
Like you have no tomorrow
GET ON!
Like you have no tomorrow"
-from 'No Tomorrow' by Claudette Peters
"Elevate your mind!
Chant Rastafari!
I and I and I, praises to The Most High
Elevate your mind!
Chant Rastafari!
I and I and I, praises to The Most High
Babylon ah have di youth dem lookin in di sky
Waiting for an angel to save I and I
Theif our culture - it, dem deny
Analyze, open your eyes and youth wise
Homeless, restless, babylon careless
Starving, famine
Everything is hopeless
Recession, oppression, depression, dem stepped on
Seek -
And you will find salvation
Price higher
Guns higher
Roadblock, bun tire
War inna babylon system a vampire
Soldiers, police and civilians exchange fire
Not even water can cool this hot lava
Signs and wonders, lightening, thunder
Babylon ah f#@k with Mother Nature
Earthquake, cyclone, flood and brimstone
Drought all about
Mek wi forward to Africa
Hey
Well a babylon ah have di youths dem lost inna bondage
Hocus and pocus, dem cause so much damage
Mental flames have yah brains inna bondage
Free your mind with the wisdom and knowledge"
-from 'Chant Rastafari' by Tarrus Riley
"Hear dem out
Hear wah di streets talk bout:
'No justice. No peace', dem shout
One more politician - one more doubt
One man cry represent all bout
Unfair practice dem dun spiral route
Make sure you feed your mind not just your mouth
Blind repetition cause spiritual drought
Sure, inna these times, the weak weed out
The real, camouflages make-believe
What is on your screen was already conceived
Isn't it ironic how you wipe your plate clean?
What yah gonna do when we level the playing field?
Uh huh
Time fi ease di tension
Inna due time fi ease di tension
Cycle repeat inna slow motion
Renegade style fi shatter the faction
Fi real - time fi ease di tension
Inna due time fi ease di tension
Cycle repeat inna slow motion
Renegade style shatter the faction
Mental slavery -
Dem still ah chain we
Dem waan wi remain ignorant and getting used daily
Religious fanatics, no dem neva speak plainly
On wid dem struggle a di focus mainly
Lost originality
No morality
I chant truth and I chant reality
Supply di work and still ah form charity
Hide underground and dem leave out di majority
What pon di TV, dem get caught, believe me
Living inna world where nothing no come freely
All dem deh loan what dem care bout really
ALL ON DEM KNEES AND DEM STILL A SLEEP EASY
You feel me?
Truth be told: The pressure coming back tenfold
No amount of money cannot save ya soul
Caan box me in, cah me no on ya payroll
What kinda livity wah dem ah uphold?
Some choose life and some ah choose bowl
Some choose humility and some ah walk bold
Wi no follow fashion cause dem fashion too old
Find truth that's your own cause di strong stand alone
Hey, let me read your prophecy
Full circle ah come around wid a tenacity
Sabotage life now you come out wid a casualty
No more you plead, it time fi you pay ya penalty"
-'from Due Time' by Reemah
"If I know the things I knew then, that I know now
My life wouldn't be the same
Cah mi know seh good things come to those who wait
And success comes with pain
If I know the things I knew then, that I know now
My life wouldn't be the same
Cah mi know seh good things come to those who wait
An greatness come with pain
Mi nah go put mi trust inna no mankind
Almighty mi ah praise from longtime
Look how mi teach dem fi do di ting
Show dem di juggling
And how dem gwan like dem waan take mine
To alla di ladies I've hurt before -
Mi did ah play a game and did ah try fi score
PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY CHILDISH WAYS!
Mi know mi nah go do dat no more
This ah di present mi prepare for di future
My mind so focused like a computer
Mi get inspiration from Martin Luther - King
So mi know seh dem caah trick di youth yah
Nuff people fake and ah gwaan like dem real
Ah smile inna yah face when dem ah try stop ya meal
My success dem did ah try steal
But dem haffi hide when di truth reveal
To alla di people weh use mi and tink dem win -
Remember: everything is everything
Mi caah turn back di hands of time
So Delly deh pon di grind and ah gwan hail The King
Mi nah hold no grudge
Mi nah cuss nobody
Mi nuh waan nobody feel seh mi a mad smaddy
Mi nah regret di good nor di bad
Mi just ah step like di child of God"
-from 'If I Knew' by Delly Ranx
"Gangsta a gansta and coward a coward
From you a cat you caan par wid no dog
Hey boy, from you born, you no bad
When man out a di road, run go back inna yo yard
Some bwoy no grow wid no militancy!
Some bwoy no grow wid no militancy!
Some bwoy no grow wid no militancy!
Dem no militant, you can take a minute and si
Cah, mi nah run lef mi parry, mi sorry
Nah inform pon mi chargie to sargie
No information, mi nah gi
Mi nah talk!
So no offer mi no plea bargin
Cause mi - secure mi place lak a guardy
And mi will share out dem food - gi mi doggie
Mobay man, dem a some bad piece a yardy
MAN A BAD PEOPLE, SO COWARD DEM CAAN CALL MI!"
-from 'Militancy' by Aidonia
"No other genre coula test wi fate
Doh mind Soca artist weh dem doh waan rate
What we do wid ease dem have to concentrate
Wi move fifity-thousand people like it have no weight
Soca music doh get Grammy, nor record deal
We cater music to how de nation feel
So all who a test wi
Come on, address wi
Wi mash dem up snail unda wheel!
Anything just -
MASH UP!
Mash up de party, let dem rag kick like karate
MASH UP!
Mash up de party, mi doh care if you over forty
To all the young ones coming in this game
Don’t be unprepared and make ya ownself shamed
Everybody want to get dem tips and fame
You cannot rise to de top by mashing down man name
Some of you have tune on radio, getting thousand wheel
Look how good the nation, and the people feel
When ya tune leave radio and it live on stage show
Yah better mash up dat stage fi real!"
-from 'Mash Up' by Bunji Garlin
"Sweet words: Good herbs
And the sign on the room door says -Don’t Disturb-
Naturally preserved
And I gotta lot more in storage, reserved
No chemicals to harm yah nerves
Smells so good from around the curve
Authentic marijuana mi plant and serve to Diana and Irv
Don’t worry nor panic
Cause my chronic
My chronic -
Is organic
So take a draw from it
Johnny!
Hey yah!
Can I have some marijuana?
I wanna smoke it again!
Wanna smoke it again!
When I am on the corner
So gimme that Ochi kush!
From the collie bush!
If mi haffi walk pon foot, tek ride or drive or -
Pedal and push"
-from 'My Chronic' by Perfect Giddimani
"People inna danger, living in fear, satisfy dem curiosity
Entertain di stranger, wi no need no animosity
Fyah to di fuel, wi burn babylon authority
Wi living in a world of technological atrocity
These coming days - no man can prevent
You caan find food without di dollars and cents
You rely upon a system dat don’t make a sense
I give account only for myself
This is a warning, warning!
Hypocrite neva believe Haile Selassie send a judgment from di east
Come ya wid a warning, warning!
Let’s trample di beast -
For winds, earth, sky and sea!
I tell yuh dis a warning, warning!
Let’s take it to di street
Wi fight for justice, won’t accept defeat
Let’s take an advice from di meek
Wi speak di word, whether famine or feast
Hey, don’t live a life to please di devil’s
Withdraw yourself from babylon unknown perils
Repel satan send him back go dung a hell
Haile Selassie I seat up in di heavens
People walk in di shadows of death without dignity
Dem wanna take di life The Most High give to me
And it’s a joy to show dem love, even though dem think contrary
Tell dem di truth and dem nah hear me"
-from 'Warning' by Lutan Fyah
"Dem study ya weakness, study ya strength, study ya vulnerability
Dem come come, siddung pon ya rights and siddung pon throne hereditary
But if you look in a likkle deeper you see the whole hierarchy
Fueled on nepotism, dominating desperately
Well Solomon Throne and David House Yahoshua entrance be
Tell dem di ruler of disparity waan siddung equality
Federal throne and territorial municipalities
Celebrity no supercede over substance you see
Never before in the world have run up so much deficit we
Exhibitionist overboard, over sensuality
Know fi generate a cash you haffi narrate more money
Is di plan you ah tell dem seh so ‘see more, feed me’
A approach from desperate directionally
Breaking T-A-B-O-O every
Know seh generous pride and shame and Negus sensitivity"
-from 'Nothing Restrained' by Midnite
"Tell dem every time seh a love a di solution
World leaders look a new resolution
Industrial companies ah cause di pollution
Di people doesn’t like it, so wi cause a revolution
Babylon ah wonder what di Rastaman made of
Just know Selassie I name mi ah praise up
None of dem can stop di fyah mi ah blaze up
Cause every time you look you si di food price ah raise up
Kill out di boys and they kill out di girls
Destroy Mother Nature and they’re drilling up the Earth
Fighting for di power, through dem waah rule di world
None a dem no great like Selassie I The First
Nuclear warfare, nobody free
Babylon ah dump all a di rubbish inna di sea
Killing vegetation, no cutting down the trees!
Where are di birds and di bees?
Hey, make sure you answer when The Almighty call
Tell you every time babylon haffi go fall
Afrikan people, you gotta stand tall
Why is it di people dem ah suffer inna Somalia
The ozone layer been depleted
SEEMS AS IF YOU WANT DI HUMAN RACE TO BE DELETED
The Almighty works not yet completed
People all over di world been mistreated
Tell di people dem turn to God
Do all the good and don’t do no bad
Everybody don’t love, you’re not happy, you’re always sad
Unite my people, live in love and be glad
Hey, Babylon ah drink blood lak a cannibal
Nuttin no left, not even an animal
Babylon you caan test di Five Star General
Selassie lead us perennial"
-from 'Planet In Peril' by Sizzla Kalonji
"I give Jah thanks for shelter
I give Jah thanks for the rain
For everything that I have as I am
For the life going through my veins
That I can open my eyes this day
With the health and strength to face another day
In a moment it could be taken away
What we ahgo say?
Still The Most High -
Is always there
Most High!
Relief the fear
Most High
Again and again
HE is called by so many names
Most High
Dry up I tears
Most High
No one compares
Most High
Again and again
HE is called by so many names
Poor families and good healing
Whatever Jah want I & I to do, I am willing
Deh pon di front line - nuff blood spilling
Recognize dem don't really care nothing for the living
Mass genocide, without ending
Hypocritic, lunatic too mars dem sending
Pon di Afrikan farmer relief no money spending
Oh what a wicked shame"
"Most High, You're the reason I'm living so I give thanks and praises to You
Most High, You are my foundation, without you what can we do?
I thank You for this gift of life
Most High!
And for the love that You provide
Most High!
In Your creation we abide
Jah guide I & I"
-from 'Most High' featuring Ima by Ras Batch
"Yes I am trying, trying, trying - to catch a vibe
Trying, trying, trying to get it right
But I don't feel it
Can't you see it?
We can try but we can't fool ourselves"
"So many people dem get wrought up and caught up inna di system
Dem try fi be somebody dat dem not and end up di victim
DI IMAGES DEM DEPICTIN' - FAR FROM WHAT DI SCRIPTURES DAT WAS WRITTEN SAID ABOUT DI PROPHETS AND DI RIGHTEOUS SISTREN
Dem lyin to dem owna self
Dem nuh know wah dem creatin' a dem owna hell, weh dem alone ah dwell
But what you need to know -
If yah heart no feel it, then yah seed won't sew"
"Mi nah feel!
Di way weh dem ah deal wid Rastaman
Mi nah feel!
Di life weh I ah live in babylon
Mi nah feel!
Di lyrics weh some man ah put inna dem song
And di youth weh step a foot inna dem gang
Dem seh nah feel -di fyah weh mi burn
Feel, dem ahgo feel it when di lions dem emerge
Try dem ah try fi mek it work, but yah life it has a purpose
Destiny inside us from wi birth"
- from 'Trying' by Sara Lugo & Kabaka Pyramid
"Life is a struggle, nothing good no come easy
Got to stand up for your rights now
There's no kink in life cycle - what is meant to be will be
Every eye will see Jah light now
Living at a time full of social injustice and inequity
Everyday we fuss and fight now
No powers of man can stop di fulfillment of prophecy
DEM AHGO WITNESS JAH JAH MIGHT NOW
War dem ah wait so dem so dem seh peace is not a possibility
War machine is what dem like yow
Starvation killing millions - tell me where's the generosity?
Tell mi where's the equal rights yow?
Mass political corruption dem call democracy
The working man ah feel di bite yow
Jah alone I & I praise, to babylon mi nah go kneel
This is liberation of your mind
Liberation of your soul
Liberation of your heart
Liberation of your thoughts
FREE UP YOUR MIND AND WALK
Yes this is liberation of your mind
Liberation of your soul
Liberation of your heart
Liberation of your thoughts
FREE UP YOURSELF AND WALK
I & I nah belittle I integrity
I man a no clone inna dem system
Who bring di weapon dem inna dis society?
Cause inna dis city nobody no make dem
Si dem selling their illusion of a people that's free
But that is modern enslavement
To divide and conquer is their philosophy
Every natural resource dem waan tek yeah
Every ancestral bond dem waan break yeah
Inna no babylon ritual I nah partake yeah
And The Most High I will never forsake yeah
Liberate yourself, mentally lock off di shackles and chains -
Inspire some change hey
Deh yah inna crucial time, but still wi gotta maintain, wi got to sustain
Hey babylon ah circle dem prey, dem ah move like vulture
Vampire dem bloodsucking inna dem culture
BUT I & I NAH GET DEVOURED THROUGH WI PROTECT BY THE ALMIGHTY POWER!"
-from 'Liberation' by Ziggi Recado
"Trample di beast and trod to di east
Cah nuff a dem ah live like fleas
Tell dem lock dem mouth when relation ah speak mi si nuff a dem ah live like freak
Bun dem north and south-
Cah fire get hot, mi seh judgment, gnashing of teeth
Blackberry crash!
Dem head get mash!
Dem get confuse cah dem caan tweet
Incomplete
Caan even si it
Nuff a dem fall, can stand pon feet
Likkle more, watch dem, dem ah crawl pon feet
And ah feed, pon di wrong set of things dem ah eat
Youth don’t get defeat
Watch wi ah feast
Nuff stand up pon di cornah wid dem palm waan grease
So mi haffi bun di corrupted priest, weh touch di likkle pickney-
But Jah Jah nah sleep
Trace dem a trace cah chatty mouth dem
Time dem ah waste, wi no matta bout dem
Coulda neva keep none badmind friend, weh ah pree my money, every dollar mi spend
God nah sleep
HIM ah peep pon dem
All wicked deed dem, mi ah fyah bun dem
Nuff a dem ah discriminate Black
End up inna roadblock
Detour gone inna dem end
Well nuff nah go deh deh when Jah Jah role call
Like Gibraltar Rock, so mi standing tall
Dem ah bawl
Dem ah fall
Dem ah crawl
Nuff no memba Jah til dem back ‘gainst the wall
No burn bridges behind you, you will stall
So mi bun badmind and bun dutty heart and slew dem all!"
-from 'Fire Ball' by Busy Signal
