As one of the most underrated forces currently in the game, Jah Mason has risen his abilities to amongst the very best in Reggae right now. His rather fiery style of chanting along with a nice ability to channel a variety of emotions into one single tune has been marveling fans all over the world for nearly a decade at the highest level of the business. The 'builder of righteousness' has also been quite active and, by my count, has released ELEVEN studio albums to date. Thus, I submit for your approval the best of that bunch. The best albums of Jah Mason.
#5. Keep Your Joy - Ghetto Technology 2002
Where it all began. The Seattle, Washington based Ghetto Technology swooped down for one release and one release only to my knowledge and in doing so they serviced a large and growing call for a debut album from Jah Mason. What the result of that, Keep Your Joy, CLEARLY featured a version of the Mason which wasn’t as developed as he would grow to be years down the line, it still just as CLEARLY featured an artist who had already come a long way. With tunes like the uplifting title track, Zion Place, Smoke and Lift Up Di Name Jah Mason introduced himself to the international world in a big way on one of the better debuts we’ve seen since the turn of the century.
#4. Rise - Nocturne/On The Corner 2005
Mr. Mysterious. Pick up Jah Mason’s Rise album and flip through the liner notes and it will tell you ABSOLUTELY no more of its origins than what you knew with the plastic wrap still in place. TECHNICALLY speaking, it’s a follow-up to the number one album on my list, in terms of distributor and even vibes. The Rise album had some DARK and CURIOUS vibes in its thirteen tracks. It’s also rather polarizing within the TEENY TINY community that paid attention to it. Luckily, it also had more than its fair share of winners as well. The former disciple of David House FINALLY linked his former mentor Capleton with the title track combination which was well worth the wait. Other tunes like the addictive bouncy I’ll Never Break Your Heart and the similar Them Come Friend You (both featuring singer Zeno) alongside more typical sounding tunes like Gess & Spell and the BIG No More We Slave don’t lift Rise up to the top of this list but make it nearly mandatory to be placed here.
#3. Most Royal - Jah Warrior Records 2004
The prototype. Jah Warrior is a producer based out of the UK and has gained a reputation for working with older artists such as the late Alton Ellis, Peter Broggs and even Prezident Brown but he also had his hand in working with a couple artist from the new generation. Besides an (infinitely forthcoming) album from Lutan Fyah, there was also this underrated GEM, Most Royal from Jah Mason. If you go back and listen to what he was doing on Keep Your Joy then immediately switch your attentions to Most Royal, you can hear so much progression made between the two. This was probably, even more so than the top two albums on my list, the most REFINED he has ever sounded and Jah Warrior gave the Mason his fittingly old school vibed bag of riddims and with tunes like the title track, Rumours of War, the HUGE Rainbow Circle Throne, No Joke and the outstanding closing tunes Request and Saga, goes after them with just as much success as the elders themselves.
#2. Wheat & Tears - Greensleeves 2006
The Showstopper. 2006 was a BIG year for the Mason as it found him hitting the big time after quite a few releases for smaller labels and debuting not for one but for both of the leading Reggae labels at the time, Greensleeves and VP Records. While the VP release, Princess Gone: The Saga Bed, was pretty average in retrospect, the Greensleeves piece, Wheat & Tears was nearly SPOT ON! This was and remains by far his most dynamic and simply listener friendly effort to date as the sounds are just so dynamic and PLEASING throughout. Luckily, Mason was amongst artists like Natural Black, Turbulence, Luciano and most significantly Sizzla who benefited from a WICKED bag of riddims from In The Streetz producer Byron Murray and in terms of quality of albums going through those pieces, he ranks ONLY behind Sizzla (who checked in with the MASSIVE I-Space album for the same label the following year). The SPRAWLING title track, Couple Chalice A Day, the addictive Farmer Man, Mi Chalwa and HEAVY HITTERS Most High and the album topping King of Kings (which has grown on me so much over the years), all highlight the consistently well regarded Wheat & Tears album.
#1. Never Give Up - Nocturne/On The Corner 2003
PERFECTION. Absolutely nothing on the surface of this one would lead someone to believe that it was anything other than just another average Roots Reggae release but take a closer look and listen. On the cover alone, the rather ODD position the Mason takes, seemingly making room for nothing in particular and with a shirt with the word -Hey!- all over; it only belies the REAL attraction to it as you take a closer look and you see various faces hidden behind him including His Imperial Majesty. Listen to the album itself and the music is EONS ahead of “just another average Roots Reggae” album. Never Give Up is, in fact, a MASTERPIECE. Recorded quite a bit in Israel (of all places) with an Israeli musician, Danny Piloni Kark (whose only other big time album credit, to my knowledge was Turbulence’s Notorious album, the COMPLETE POLAR OPPOSITE to Never Give Up in terms of quality) the album is one of the least appreciated HUGE albums of recent times. It had such a DARK vibes that I think it just was dismissed as an average piece without REALLY getting its fair shake at things but it just captures the attentions on each and every one of its fifteen tracks. It’s also the best album Jah Mason has ever did and probably one of the best I’ve ever heard.
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