February Artist of The Month: Little Guerrier!

Little Guerrier

As the birthplace of current superstars Tina Ly, Fanny J and others, one seemingly wouldn’t be under too wrong of an impression if they were to believe Guyane more of Zouk territory than Reggae. Also, the nation has yet to produce a Reggae scene as remotely outwardly vast and consistently productive and fruitful as other French Caribbean locales such as Martinique and Guadeloupe or those of its closest Reggae-loving neighbours, Guyana and Suriname (which isn’t surprising considering the population of Guyane is quite small to the others by comparison). However, 2011 figures to be quite a large and crucial year for Reggae coming not only from the nation, but that entire region and near the forefront of it all will almost certainly be the WICKED Little Guerrier.

The French word ‘Guerrier’ translates into English as ‘Warrior’ and the Suriname born artist figures ready to take his career to the proverbial ‘next level’ by any means necessary in 2011 with the backing of what is apparently the biggest Reggae label in Guyane, Transportation Label, who’re pushing Guerrier along with Prince Koloni (also born in Suriname, but now based in Guyane and is getting a big name due to the track, ‘Nature‘, which features Jamaican superstar Tarrus Riley) and others such as longtime veteran Chris Combette. For his part, however, Little Guerrier figures to be, perhaps, the most marketable and arguably the BEST talent of that talented group and a name to watch out for in the immediate sense.

Currently, Transpotation Label is pushing Guerrier’s newest album release (which I believe is his third), ”I & I”, to a more international audiences, via the digital market. Those audiences are going to enjoy an artist who comes very much in the same style of others such as Warrior King and NiyoRah - A vocalist with a very young voice, but one who can take his vibes in SO MANY different directions that, not only does it become very impressive to listen to, but it also becomes a quite ‘visual’ type of music and that dynamicity and versatility is something which definitely drew me in the direction of Little Guerrier. The album contains a few nice sized hits including ’Faya Fi Bun’, ’Beautiful Day’ [alongside Koloni] and ’Faya De Wani’ across Baby G’s Good Love Riddim, which features Jahman T and Dogg X (who is Little Guerrier’s brother).

'Faya Fi Burn'


'Beautiful Day' featuring Prince Koloni

'Faya De Wani' featuring Jahman T & Dogg X

Still, perhaps the album’s most recognizable (and downright STUNNING) tune is track #6, ’Black Woman [I Love You]’, which is a tune I knew from a few years back from Guerrier (it may’ve been the first one of his that I knew of actually) and was a pretty big hit for him, which should be obvious if it mashed up this many fucking people in France and it did.

'Black Woman' [live]

Previously, Guerrier chimed in with a couple of albums, ”Caan Cool” from 2009 and, his solo debut, ”Cry Out”, from two years prior, both for Atipa Records. If I’m correct, Transportation Label has made available some of Prince Koloni’s older work, so perhaps these two releases will get a second spin as well, particularly if ”I & I” manages to do well - And it will.

So, keep an eye out and ear out not only for the big talents coming from Guyane and from out of Suriname, but for Little Guerrier in particular. While 2011 figures to be a big one for him, it could be only just a start for one BEAUTIFUL big and international career in singing the best music on Earth.

Little Guerrier @ Myspace
Little Guerrier @ Facebook

'Ignition': A Review of The Peppa Riddim

I don’t think that I’ve been asking for too much, but you can never be too sure about these things. ATTENTION Dancehall producers - Can you please make Dancehall music? With as much music as I deal with, I can’t very confidently say that I find myself making no such requests from ANY other genre or subgenre. You’ll never hear me asking people like Flava and Sherkhan to stick to the Reggae because all of that other . . . stuff that they do just isn’t working too well for them. I don’t have to tell Soca maestros like Kernal Roberts and Da Mastamind to serve up more ‘jump up and wave’ riddims for Carnival and Joel Jaccoulet, DeeJaySlam and their peers will never get links from me begging for just a bit more actual Zouk if at all possible. It doesn’t happen anywhere else. In the Dancehall, however, things, as they always are and always have been, don’t necessarily revolve around a status of enacted common sense (or my own standard of it). They just seem to make shit up as it goes along. Dancehall has ALWAYS been more of a trendy and fashion following type of genre and while typically, whether good or bad, the trends are quite manageable and, at times, even enjoyable, this most recent one of taking the best Dancehall producers and having them make . . . Something which is not Dancehall, has given me particularly vicious pains in my nether regions. Despite the fact that you might not be able to tell because I pretty much review Reggae albums and riddims everyday (a current glance at my tag count reveals a Reggae to Dancehall ratio of 409:70) and these days when it isn’t Reggae it’s surely Soca - Dancehall is STILL my absolute favourite genre of music. When at its finest and in the hands and mouths of its finest talents, there simply isn’t a greater merging of words and riddim in the world. When not at its best, however, it turns into a genre which is essentially slow and mechanical and just fucked up Caribbean Hip-Hop and I’m not against the occasional changeup, or even certain producers who specialize in the changeups, but when you take the music, as nearly a whole, and lead it into that direction, well then we have a problem. And, of course, this isn’t brand new, this has been the current shift for the better part of the past year or so and I hate it. I really do.

Stephen 'Di Genius' McGregor

Thankfully there have been silver linings, however. Entities such as Ward 21 and others have made Dancehall music consistently (to the point where they don’t have to add ’again’ to a production, thus acknowledging that things had changed) and the biggest ship in that ocean has definitely been Stephen ’Di Genius’ McGregor. While I hadn’t paid much attention to what he was (always) up to in 2008-09, last year McGregor DEFINITELY jumped back up on my radars as he started, somewhat quietly, to create ACTUAL Dancehall riddims very consistently. What has he done? Well, late 2009 there was the under-recorded but superb Gunshow Riddim (the thing had like five or six songs on it and four of them were real winners). From that he reached 2010 with the electric Bad People Riddim and later the Catalog, both of which were two of my personal favourites from the year. McGregor would also push the Winnings and ChampionShip Riddims, respectively, in the last quarter of 2010 and while neither were outstanding to me, they were still LEGITIMATE Dancehall riddims as was what proved to be one of the biggest riddims of the year, the Smokin’, which McGregor licked for ZJ Chrome. ALL OF THEM were real hardcore Dancehall music and even if you didn’t like them all (and I didn’t), you have to appreciate one of the genre’s biggest names and brightest names eschewing the ways of this horrible kind of hybrid genre and serving up the music authentically and remaining as popular and as successful as he’s ever been (if not even more these days on the grandest of scales). And if you do appreciate that (and you do), then you’re likely to appreciate, even more, McGregor’s latest stroke of Genius (did you catch that?) - His brand new composition, The Peppa Riddim. The Gunshow, the Bad People and the Catalog were much HARDER sounding pieces and when people really began to take a notice of, from pieces like the Red Bull & Guinness and the Power Cut, the Ghetto Whiskey and the likes, those too were harder pieces which still had a ‘tunnel’ of melody which was DEVASTATING, but seemingly only accessible to the most talented of DJ’s. The Peppa isn’t like that, but it is DRIPPING in melody and accessibility. The riddim seems to occur on some very strangely intoxicating meeting ground of Ireland and Grenada as it seems to attempt to marry traditional Celtic music (and I’m confident that McGregor has already though of how this thing would sound with actual bagpipes playing on it) with a Jab Jab on the same riddim. And the foundation track, playing underneath it all, is KNOCKING it is a gorgeous example of what I refer to as the ‘Dancehall one-drop’ - This completely SMOOTH and almost ORGANIC vibes which just seems so damn RIGHT and has been increasingly absent in recent times. So, while I don’t want to laud the Peppa too greatly and sing its praises as if its either the greatest thing that I’ve ever heard or even the greatest thing that I’ve ever heard from McGregor, it couldn’t have come at a better time for me, personally and hopefully (but I doubt it), it can help to energize and set forth a brand new trend. McGregor, as I said, seems to be one of the very few producers of this music who can be looked upon to actually produce this music and the Peppa Riddim, with all of its strangeness (more on that in just a second), is another statement both to his commitment (whether he realizes it or not) to make strong Dancehall music and strong music, in general. Let’s have a listen!

The Peppa Riddim

Just as I don’t think it’s too much to ask Dancehall producers to build Dancehall riddims, I also don’t think it’s too much for them to do it in a way which is as accessible to fans as possible. If you listen to some of my favourite riddim albums (including my absolute favourite - The Diwali) what they tend to have in common is that they all have a riddim which has a few different versions of itself - It changes. When you do that you certainly give each song more individuality besides the artists and open things up more to fans who aren’t likely to enjoy the same riddim on twelve different tunes and that’s exactly what McGregor does throughout the Peppa Riddim. While the riddim is clearly out of the ordinary, McGregor doesn’t do anything too unexpected with the artist selection for it and, in fact, it’s Di Genius himself who gets things going here with ‘Bounce A Gyal’. I’ve never been REALLY impressed with McGregor as a vocalist (with a couple of exceptions), but I think he recognized that he had something in the Peppa which was nearly perfect for him and he, rather softly, strikes a delightful (and somewhat funny) tune here over a very SOFT mix of the riddim. Next we go from soft to hard as Elephant Man delivers the first of his pair of songs on the Peppa Riddim, ‘Look Gyal Hard’. While, as I’ll tell you shortly, I do favour his other tune more, this tune is also very strong. Anytime you can get something which is kind of odd and Dancehall-ish, you probably should call up Ele and I’ve seen and heard quite a few people openly wondering why he had two tracks on the Peppa, but to me there’s no mystery at all - He shines and maybe his brightest - On pieces exactly like this. And wrapping up the opening lot of tunes is, of course, Chino, with ‘Yeah Yeah’. Probably every fan that Chino has is a bigger fan of Chino’s than I am, but I do so enjoy giving credit where it is due and although I admittedly haven’t been paying the keenest of attention to his career, this is THE best I’ve heard Chino in quite some time.

'Nothing At All' by Agent Sasco

It’ll certainly come to the surprise of absolutely no one who reads me to any level of consistency when I say that my favourite song on the Peppa Riddim is ‘Nothing At All’ which comes from an artist who I feel is doing his own work to maintain HONEST Dancehall music, Agent Sasco.

“Not a rifle, nor shotgun, nor one-pop
Not a oil, not a board, a nuh hand clap
Ah bawl ‘one stop’ ah try mek mi van stop
Ah set, dem waan set mi up
Dem set di wrong trap
Put up yah hand dem if yu know seh di song shock
Then mek yuh finga lak a gun and buss a one shot
Nuff ah fire shot and wait fi si man drop
Dem swear is a bulletproof vest, but is a tank top”

SHIT! The man manages to inject some pretty deep and serious lyrics in a riddim which doesn’t exactly set itself up for such a thing and that should also come to no surprise because Assassin can do anything with the word - The man is truly at the top of his game and his game is Dancehall, thankfully. HUGE tune. My second favourite tune on the riddim is probably the previously alluded to second track from Ele, ‘No Weapon At All’. While this one has some pretty BIG aspirations in terms of its subjectry, I have to admit that I like it because . . . IT SOUNDS REALLY REALLY GOOD.

“Dem waan si yah shame
Pleasure dem ah look so dem no care bout ya pain
Neva waan si mi Mudda move outta di lane
And a si mi wicked an ah live pon mi name
Watch di hypocrite dem ah switch round di blame
Mon ah mek it look lak a Abel kill Cain
Nah tek no shortcut mi ah stay pon di main
Avoid dem, lef dem to shame
When yu si dem wid dem rifle ah tek dem aim
Mi seh

NO weapon at all can prosper against I
NO
Weapon at all
As long as I know
Jah is with I
Dem caan conquer I
NO
Weapon at all can conquer I”

Yes - The lyrics are MIGHTY! The flow is mighty, but that riddim behind it is ANGRY! And like I said in reviewing his latest offering, ”Dance & Sweep: The Adventures of The Energy God”, Ele, at anywhere near his best, is DAMAGINGLY talented - such is the case on this tune.

I also really like what ends up closing the Peppa Riddim album, ‘Crazy’, from one of the most underrated Dancehall singers today (probably of all time), Mr. Easy. The song is about someone getting locked up, only to have to his (crazy) woman at his house with what amounts to a replacement man in his place.

“Right now a three months left and mi time run out
Unno know seh a worries when di I come out
Gyal yah tink mi wouldn’t know, but mi find you out
Yeah mi know you have man inside mi house
But mi nah seh nuttin, mi ah hold di faith
Deh yah lockup an a hold it fi five year straight
First thing mi want as dem fly di gate -
Is a file and a lawn machete”

Easy shows off the DJ skills later in the tune for its greatest moments and hopefully his is a name which we see more and more of on McGregor’s offerings because this is excellent (he has been on others in the past such as the Tremor (alongside Assassin) and the Bee Hive, but as far as I know, it‘s been awhile).

'Nuh Trust People' by Bramma

Along with McGregor himself, Ele and Chino, the Peppa Riddim features the ‘usual suspects’ of Big Ship and all of them, to my ears, do pretty good. Laden is someone, to be perfectly honest, who I haven’t even made my mind up yet as to what I think about him and I’m hoping he has another big year in 2011. He’s well getting off to a great start with ‘Guh Deh Mi Gyal’ here which, like just about everything here, is damn catchy and he has a particularly hypnotic chorus. Then there’s Bramma who used to have no bigger a cheerleader than me and I’m also hoping he turns it up this year (if you haven’t listened to Bramma in the past, I’ll simply tell you that when he’s in his best form, ALREADY, he has very few peers in my opinion). His song on the Peppa, ‘Nuh Trust People’ (“when mi park mi car mi cover up mi license plate, step out look left, right and straight, cah wi nah trust people“), which was reportedly written about a near violent incident the DJ avoided at his own gate recently, is damn close to what I heard which first signaled to me that we potentially had something special in ‘Di Bomba’ and I’m looking forward to getting that excited again. And what would a new Genius riddim be without Mavado, who takes titling honours for the riddim with his extremely catchy tune, ‘Peppa’. With as ‘outgoing’ as this riddim is (and he gets a mix which sounds slightly more amplified than others) (piano in there also), Mavado takes an interesting road by, essentially, going at it straight on and doing nicely in the process. I should probably also mention in here a name which we can apparently look forward to seeing more aboard the Big Ship, Volcanik (cool name) (especially were he from Montserrat (or as my daughter says, Monster Rat), but he’s from Kingston). The up and comer comes in with the impressive ’Taking It Higher’ which takes yet another melodically sterling road through the Peppa, with a tune which seems like himself saying ‘hello’ to the world (“2/11 this year. Dem can’t run from it. Di Genius introducing - Big Ship Volcanik").

And lastly is a pair of veterans also no strangers around here, Frisco Kid and Singing Sweet with ‘You Set Di Trend’ and ‘Weh Dem A Do’, respectively. I love the chorus on both (as well as pretty much every other song on the riddim), but the latter is more gripping (although strictly form a sonic point-of-view, the former may be one of the best tunes on the riddim), has an excellent message and is simply one of the best songs to be found here.

'Wine Yuh Body' by Aidonia

I should mention the absence of a couple of things on the Peppa Riddim album also. The first is a tune ‘Wine Yuh Body’, by another Big Ship mainstay, Aidonia, which apparently arrived just a second too late (but you can get it as a digital single). The song is probably too x-rated, because it literally sacrifices its quality in displaying to you how dirty it is (somewhere, General Echo just found his new favourite tune). But it does have yet another interesting version of the Peppa which is very entertaining alone. And there is no clean riddim track for the Peppa on its album which is disappointing, but then again, McGregor seems to rather LOVE talking and singing on his instrumentals these days, so perhaps he considered ‘Bounce A Gyal’ to be it!

Overall, besides trying to tie this one to the main premise of this review, I would also like to REALLY support the situation with the Peppa Riddim just being really really FUN! Certainly not everything that comes through needs to carry a significant social or cultural message and while you will get some of that in here, I’m much more interested in this one sonically. Also, I can definitely say that I’ve heard better riddim albums and much better riddim albums, and more than a few, but I haven’t heard a great deal of them which are more fun to listen to than this one - It easily reminds me of Lenky’s work in his heyday on pieces such as the aforementioned Diwali and Masterpiece riddim albums - And I can’t think of anything Stephen McGregor might have done which strikes on that level either. So, I’m really hoping that it does well and, along with a few others, really gets us back to the point where our absolute best Dancehall producers are consistently putting out the best music in the world, where McGregor and company are Kings. Very nice.

Rated: 4.25/5
Di Genius Records
2011
Digital

So . . . Yeah

So - We stay away for a day or so and come back to see a literally overwhelming amount of messages from people saying 'congratulations' and 'thank you' for the two year anniversary and that's beautiful. I have shit to do so I won't name you all by name, but . . . Yeah, it was more than 20 messages in just a day so biggup everyone of them, biggup the comments on the pages, Dale Cooper, biggup yourself and everybody, Nico The Mighty.

We thank you my friends,

Veteran: Second Anniversary!

It’s pretty fucked up that on the same day that is the two year anniversary from when we first start a Reggae blog that a Reggae legend is convicted of a drug crime (three of them), but that’s exactly what has happened because, as you well know, Buju Banton was convicted of drug charges in the States and is reportedly looking at serving some serious time. And while I didn’t follow things too closely, you know where my allegiances are - I hope the man can get back to making good music as soon as possible.

So, with the rain well pouring on my most ridiculous of parades - Yeah, yesterday was the second anniversary of the first day, February 22, 2009 that we started blogging. This post is number 738 and in 2 years (by my most assuredly incorrect math), there’re 712 days and that’s a lot of fucking blogging and I’ve probably missed about a month of days worth of posting in there (surely that number is swelled by that night I lost my damn mind and posted lyrics upon lyrics from Messenjah Selah) (because I really wanted to finish that damn project). There are 288 reviews, which is approximately 40% and, again, that means a lot of fucking writing. I think that makes me pretty prolific and I think that when I’m long gone and this thing is sticking around here as a very nice source of reference (which I know that it already is according to some of my readers and my peers even), then the work will be most fulfilling . . . When I’m not doing it.

Biggup all the wonderful people we’ve met over the past two years. Definitely biggup Bredz for doing almost everything besides the writing and biggup the wonderful people, current and former, at Zojak Worldwide (hey Zoe!) and all of the labels and managers and people who talk about me on Twitter (hey Heather!) (thanks Heather!) and Facebook and everywhere. I don’t promote this thing AT ALL, so biggup all of those people for reading and passing the word on because we’re still getting new readers (who message us) like every week - biggup Matthew from wherever Matthew is from. Biggup the actual artists and producers who link us as well. Most recently there was a piece from Alpheus who enjoyed my review of his brilliant brand new album, ”From Creation” (in stores now) (although I don’t know if it’s online, so maybe Alpheus can link Zojak to get that done yeah). And of course Toussaint’s always around and Sherkhan and Flava and Shelly G (and Terry Gajraj everyday) (I don’t know how he did at Chutney Monarch, but biggup Rikki Jai who won . . . I don’t know how many times that is for him now) (okay actually it’s six for him now, but he hasn’t won from 2003) (his song wasssssss . . . I don’t know what it was, it was probably ‘High High’) (I hope he didn’t take CSM with that damn texting song). Biggup Tippy - and I just said that I wasn’t going to name person after person so . . . I’m stopping.

'High High' [may or may not have won Chutney Soca Monarch for Rikki Jai]

Biggup everybody!

There’s no way in hell I’m doing two more years and I’m still planning on stopping sometime in the next 10 months, but it’s been so fun. Biggup all the people who occasionally link me to tell me I overrated something or my album of the year choice was wrong (it wasn’t), I LOVE passion and I don’t even care if it’s calling me stupid (because I’m right) (unless I’m wrong).

To celebrate, I will not be posting tomorrow. I will see you back on Friday for a review of Stephen McGregor’s new riddim, The Peppa. Saturday we’ll (HOPEFULLY) have Artist of The Month, Sunday there will be Big Tunes and Monday I’ll be saying goodbye for about a week and giving my sure to be wrong and hilarious predictions for Soca Monarch as well.

Tanya St. Val [no reason. Just felt like including her]

Thanks again everyone for sticking around for 2 years or shorter and we hope you continue to find something around here that you enjoy reading or looking at or listening to . . . Because you are INCREDIBLY easy to please and have no standards AT ALL.

BALANCE & Absolutely No Behaviour
RasAchis

Song for the day - Don’t mean anything by it . . . I’m just saying

'The Exception': A Review of "Book Of Job" by Richie Spice

If you read my work with just about any consistency, you know how I do these things. What I generally do at this point in the review is to outline some type of trend or situation which I feel is a significant one in the case of this particular album. After that, what I’ll try to do is to draw some tangents and comparisons to other projects or artists, to make the point as least convoluted and complicated as possible, but I can’t do that in this case because after racking my brain for a similar situation to the one in which I’ve found Richie Spice for the past seven years or so, I just can’t come up with anyone or anything very similar. Of course, there are names who, if I really wanted to stretch good and decent common sense, could fit in someway, they really wouldn’t. The name that leapt into my mind initially would have been a very big peer of Spice’s, Turbulence. But his case is clearly different because I just, totally for the most part, don’t enjoy Turbulence’s music anymore and I once used to LOVE it. After that there was Vybz Kartel and Norris Man and a whole heap of others who can do singles and more singles and I won’t enjoy them and when you collect a batch of them (biggup Batch) and stick them together, SHOCKINGLY, I won’t like the resulting albums either. That’s not Richie Spice. Those are artists whose music, like I said, I just don’t like very much anymore and be it in their respective cases that they’ve ‘merely’ changed into someone who I don’t like as much as I used to or they’re not as good (in my opinion), or my tastes have changed, again, that’s not the case here. Richie Spice makes EXCELLENT music and does so consistently. And while it has been argued otherwise, I would still make not only the case that he is still as dependable a hitmaker that we have in modern Roots Reggae music today, he’s also, seemingly, just as GOOD as he’s ever been, prime still intact. Then why don’t I like these things? Richie Spice’s most recent two albums, ”Gideon Boot” of 2008 and ”In The Streets To Africa” from the year before have been real winners to most people and I even really enjoyed the latter (for a little while), but a few years on and neither of them really register at all with me these days and I have no clue as to why that is, particularly when he does have an album, “"Spice In Your Life”, which remains one of my favourites more than half a decade after its first release.

'Street Life' - Original [not on album]

So, I suppose if at first you don’t succeed . . . It’s not like I’m going to give up or anything, but the prospects of spinning through another Richie Spice album was equal parts potentially frustrating as well as exciting for me (the latter of which is evidenced by the fact that I’m reviewing it more than three weeks ahead of its release date). That being said, however, going into his next release, ”Book Of Job” for VP Records, there were a few things which signaled that things may be different (and that’s for better or for worse, because I am very much in the minority of people - Who didn’t actually like those last two very well received albums). The first was actually the fact that you aren’t seeing such a huge push around this album, unlike its two older ’siblings’ which had deafening material around them far ahead of their respective releases. This one comes through very straight forward (and, as it turns out, that was a very good idea). Also, I really liked that there were only twelve tracks on the album. I know that sounds very small and meaningless (and probably kind of nerdy) (no shame!), but in such an instance, I think it’s a pretty good idea for me personally as well as for the whole of the album as it makes it more of a straight to the point type of a project. And later we would all find out that Richie Spice had enlisted the help of some SERIOUS names for production duties on ”Book Of Job”. The biggest of which is Donovan Germain of the once again mighty Penthouse Records who handles a great deal of the production here and he also teams up with some other strong producers as well. So, seemingly the planets have aligned just right for me to actually have a lasting GOOD opinion for a Richie Spice album and the only thing which remains is whether or not the music on the album is any good? Yes it is. I’d noticed in recent times, even before I knew of this album forthcoming, that Spice had seemingly had a slight change in his musical approach. He wasn’t as active all around as he had been before on the various riddims and he’d also seemed to do just a full-on streamlining of his career in general. And I really feel that, quietly, it’s something which has helped to enable him to have one of the finest stretches of quality in his entire career to date. His standout years are and may always be regarded as the years which produced the material which would ultimately lead to the ”Spice In Your Life Album”, but if you’ve really leant an ear to Richie Spice’s output over the course of the past couple of years or so (and even a year or two before that, going back to the days of ‘Di Plane Land’) ("hundred pound of collie weed ah where dem get it from"), you do see, like I said, a slight, but very noticeable shift in his material. When you take something like that and you place it into the experienced hands of Germain, you’re really going to literally have to TRY to make a bad project and not even that might ‘work’ for you and obviously they didn’t do that here. Without all the flare and the frills of previous efforts, Richie Spice manages to put together a most satisfying winner of an album in ”Book Of Job” and while I’m not a psychic (at least I don’t think that I am), I ‘d be DAMN surprised if a year or two from now I didn’t still think so. Let’s have a listen!

With the album title being what it is, perhaps some will go into listening through this project with the anticipation of an ‘overly’ spiritual vibes set, however that isn’t the case. Although certainly you’ll find Jah’s a great presence here (just as you will in just about everything Richie Spice), the results are not these kind of narrow-minded or over-explored type of tracks which are going to appeal to a very small and select group of listeners. Quite the contrary - Instead, Richie Spice’s ”Book Of Job”, at least to my ears, proves to be quite accessible and maybe his most such release since the aforementioned ”Spice In Your Life” (which was so mentally reachable, in my opinion, largely due to the fact that it was absolutely excellent). A nice example of a type of spiritual track which doesn’t figure to alienate ANYONE is the wonderful opener, ‘Better Tomorrow’, which is this kind of BIG anthem sounding tune which you’re likely to hear opening many a Capleton album. Were there not a SERIOUSLY sweet love song tucked away in the middle of this album, this one would likely be my favourite song on the album - It is very strong. You can literally hear what I meant when I spoke of this tune and this album not being limited in anyway in terms of its direction, because of the title, because Spice clearly ‘marks it up’ lyrically by opening channels to the spiritual world as well as the tangible one.

“Oh Jah give me strength for a new day
I’m working towards a new tomorrow
Oh Jah give me strength for a new day
I’m working towards a better tomorrow”

“Jah give mi long life, mek mi see
Mi real friend dem from mi real enemy
No mek mi caught up inna negativity
Cause I know your world is with positivity”

And the song just has a nice ‘moody’ type of riddim underpinning it which helps it to make this kind of two (or three) dimensional statement without moving very far away from the balance of what you’ll hear on the album. Excellent start. Next in is another big track with a bit of a reputation actually. ‘My Life’ is more popularly known as ‘Street Life’ from a few years back and this one is given a new treatment actually also with its new nom de guerre, from the aforementioned Penthouse. Formerly coming through and scoring over Sons of Spoon’s BIG Chemistry Riddim (which you’ll remember for having back D’Angel’s hit tune, ‘Stronger’), the mix here is a more vibrant and colourful one and one which draws out more of an emotional tone in the tune - Thus, shockingly, I do favour this version, though I am still fond of the original. And while I don’t truly recognize the song ‘Confirmation’, my ears immediately locked in on the riddim because it’s the same one which backs Romain Virgo’s sublime (and somewhat hilarious) big tune, ‘No Money’, from his self titled debut album last year (also predominately produced by Penthouse). This tune doesn’t quite reach those levels, but it’s a much different song anyway and for what it is, it is really good. It has a very strange way about it - It almost sounds like something Sizzla might’ve written circa ~2003 with the kind of punchline type of writing - With the word “confirm” representing that negative people who pretend to be otherwise have been discovered: Their true identities therefore confirmed. You definitely have to hear to take it all in and I would imagine this one would generate quite a bit of discussion actually.

'Black Woman'

For me, the greatest spot of tracks on ”Book Of Job” comes right near the middle of it in tracks 4-6 where Richie Spice delivers three consecutive LARGE tunes aimed at the upliftment of the Black Woman. The second of the trio, ‘Black Woman’, is my favourite of the three and is also my absolute favourite song on the album. It is just a DAZZLING tune and, in retrospect, it was a stroke of genius to choose it as the very first official single off the album and not one of the more rootical selections instead (and the subsequent video was lovely and helped me and many more, I‘m sure, appreciate the tune even more) because it’s just such a nice song and one which surpasses TASTE to my ears (what I mean is that this one is a hard tune to dislike). That wonderful piece is sandwiched on both sides by ‘Mother of Creation’ and ‘Serious Woman’. The former, after its 1975 R&B sounding intro, ascends into this simply SWEET track which gives a very straight forward to the wonderful women of the world (and apparently it‘s being prepped as a second single). And the latter should be quite familiar as it checks in over Shane Brown’s Nylon Riddim from a few years back. I believe I like the tune just a bit more now than I did on very first listen and while not as good as the two songs which precede it, it’s still very strong and well crafted.

The second half of ”Book Of Job” has no shortage of big moments on its own and it features material which is guaranteed to be the standouts for many (yours truly included) as people catch on to the album. My personal favourite is the very strange ‘Yap Yap’ from just last year actually. I had no idea that this song was produced by one of my favourite producers of all time, Steven ‘Lenky’ Marsden (which may explain its brilliant strangeness) and now that I do know, it only adds fire and intrigue to a tune which wasn’t short on either. It speaks of people speaking behind your back, speaking without really knowing the situation and just being generally nosey and the way it is presented is somewhat funny (especially the chorus), but no less significant because of it. There’s also previous single and hit ‘Legal’ from his family’s label, Bonner Cornerstone Music, which speaks on the Afrikan Diaspora and situations which are still ongoing and still prominent pieces of news around the globe. I REALLY like this song because it’s the type that both educates and offers Richie Spice’s opinion on a matter and it just SOUNDS GOOD also (edutainment is what we call it). Reportedly it drew on the singer’s experience of having traveled to Afrika and seen the conditions in which slaves were kept in Senegal and Goree Island.

'Legal'

“After mi trod pon a plane go over Afrika fi perform over Senegal
Take a likkle trip pon a boat, go cross Goree Island
So I could see the way my people were treated like hooligans
They take us away and carry us beyond

Now wi legal
Still dem ah gwan lak seh wi illegal
Legal, still ah praise up His Imperial
Rasta legal
Still dem ah gwan lak seh wi illegal
Still ah praise up His Imperial

Now di people break di shackles and they break di bond
Now di people wise up and now they overstand
To overcome those tragedies, forgive dem for all the wrongs you see
Still ah hold wi ancient history”

And that sound you currently hear is me reconsidering my choice as the album’s finest moment (but ultimately being overruled because I don’t feel like going back and re-writing it) (lazy!). ‘Legal’ is HUGE.

While not quite as sizable (at least not until I spin it six times to write about it here) the delightful ‘Soothing Sound’ is another standout for ”Book Of Job” and it features Richie Spice (over the BIG Indiscretion Riddim from Juke Boxx) saying what I’ve been telling you people for years - There’s NOTHING better in the world than Reggae music.

'Soothing Sound'

The very last stretch of tunes take a decidedly more spiritual turn and it continues to serve up big vibes in the process. First up is previous single ‘Find Jah’ over the very funky and MATURE 18 & Ova Riddim. While I did know this song, I don’t know that I’ve ever paid it as much attention as I do with its presence on this album and that’s a good thing, because the song is very nice to my opinion as Spice attempts to outline just how much sweeter and fulfilling life can become when you ‘Find Jah’ (and he does so in a very non-lame or preachy type of way). The next tune, the popular ‘Jah Never Let Us Down’, builds on that same concept (over the mighty Automatic Riddim) from the tune before it and does so on arguably the most sonically pleasing tune on the album (with the possible (and likely) exception of ‘Yap Yap’). And the absolute final song on ”Book Of Job” is one which cost a bit in the way of growing pains on my part, ’Father’. Following the downright frightening notes sang at the beginning of this tune, I’d pretty much given it up on it . . . But it’s very good. What I like here is the very ’concealed’ duplicity (and I mean that in a good way) of the nature of the song. While you can EASILY guess what this song is about and be correct in your deduction, what is surprising is just how simple this one is put together which takes it from being a conversation with THE FATHER (which is what it is) to sounding like a conversation with my Father - It literally sounds like a Father giving life advice to his son and while that is what it is, it has a much greater meaning and significance than two people sitting around talking to one another.

“He seh son ‘when you grow up’
These are the things you gotta learn up
How to flex and how to focus
Or else you’ll be spinning like a circus”

Overall, what can I say (I mean more than the 2700 words that I just gave you)? I like it! I really like it. Like I said, while the case can potentially be different in a year or two, I wouldn’t expect it to be and that’s because of a situation that more of the hardcore fans will dislike perhaps (they usually do) (we usually do) - this album has a number of already well known tunes and it has twelve altogether. For me, it’s kind of a matter of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and while others won’t see it the same way . . . I don’t care! I like it! Richie Spice, somewhat quietly when compared to some of his more controversial and attention-seeking peers, has strung together an exceptional career - One of the greatest we've seen in the modern era - which has seen some very good moments. To my opinion, when it comes to albums, he’s only one more impressive than what is to be found with the ”Book Of Job”.

Rated: 4/5
VP Records
2011
CD + Digital
Releases on March 15
Richie Spice

Preview: "What About Love" by Sara Lugo

1. What Happened
2. Maybe
3. Soul Chaos
4. Nothing To Worry
5. They Know Not Love featuring Lutan Fyah
6. Part Of My Life
7. Rock Steady
8. Familiar Stranger [Acoustic Version]
9. Locked Away
10. One Of These Days
11. And They Cry featuring Naptali
12. If Tears

Okay so, when we last left Achis Reggae favourite, The Minister of Defense, Funky Comfort, Sara Lugo, we mentioned that she had sealed up and sewed up her debut album, ”What About Love” and was set to deliver it to the masses across the globe coming up on a painfully ‘much later’ date of May 6. And while that date (at least as far as I know) is still intact, two and half months from now, what we do have now is the album cover and tracklist (I actually have the entire liner notes, biggup Markus, which even contains the lyrics to some of the songs). There are four different label tags on the back of the album, but I believe the actual label releasing the album is Soulfire Artists. But also involved are Oneness Records (of course), Rough Trade Distribution (which speaks for itself) and Initiative Musik which is apparently some type of German grant program for . . . German musicians (and I figured out that second part all on my own, aren’t you proud of me?!). And, incidentally or perhaps coincidentally (?), all three of those labels, sans Initiative Musik obviously, were also on board 2010’s best Reggae album, ”Long Journey” by Naptali.

The most interesting thing about scanning through the tracks on ”What About Love” is clearly the fact that I’m not at all familiar with EIGHT of the albums twelve songs and there’s another tune, the acoustic set of ‘Familiar Stranger’, which I’ve also yet to hear. Also, adding Lutan Fyah to just about anything Reggae-ish can’t be a bad idea, so out of the nine tunes I do not know, it’s definitely the one I’m most looking forward to hearing. The vast majority of the project is produced by Umberto Echo, who I know very little about, with the exception that he released a Dub album last year with a big bag of big artists on it, ”Dub The World”, and he has a very very cool name.

I was also quite surprised not to see more of her other tunes on it, although with Echo being involved on the vast majority of the actual album, that probably explains that. Still, particularly ‘Bombs of Love’, which has apparently become quite the hit for Sara Lugo, you would’ve thought it would have been on the album, but . . . Yeah, you probably already have that one or at least you should. And lastly, all of the songs are, at least as far as I can tell, done in English. And the gold standard for Sara Lugo’s music, in my opinion, is ‘Part Of My Life’. Should she have managed to outdo herself and it isn’t the best tune on this album then we may have stumbled upon something TRULY ridiculous my friends.

Sara Lugo’s “What About Love”. In stores and online (I THINK), May 6th.

Big Tunes #46

"Nobody knows what I did today. Only me. Me and The Most High." LOVE that song! Anyway, biggup Toussaint, we're going to talk about him in just a second. It's another Sunday, another stretch of big tunes from You, my wonderful readers. Nice and easy week this week, with just a little craziness going on behind the scenes and surely we have a nice one to look forward to next week as well. Let's do it.

First up this week is the aforementioned Toussaint, with the title selection from his outstanding debut record for I Grade Records, "Black Gold". The tune actually comes on a semi-recommendation from none other than Tippy from I Grade who sent us a message last week about a friend of his making a slideshow and linking it to the tune with powerful imagery and I knew just what to do with it. The song itself is a very 'visual' one anyway and if you listen to music like I listen to music, you probably had something like this going on in your head when you heard and it's so nice to see that I wasn't the only one (you could also probably take this track and DIRECTLY link it to the video for Tarrus Riley's MASSIVE 'Shaka Zulu Pickney' also). And what really stood out for me was how you take in all of the historical pictures and lastly we see Toussaint's album cover and it doesn't stick out really. You know what it is, but it rather easily falls in line with the rest of the pictures. So biggup Toussaint and Tippy as well as Tippy's friend.

Thankfully, longtime reader Marlon from out of Brazil (who I hadn't heard from since the end of 2010 before last week actually) (biggup Marlon - Man with a ton of random Reggae knowledge) gives us something at least remotely fitting this week to back up the opener and he does so with an artist who I don't believe I've EVER mentioned on my blog before. It's looooooooooooongtime veteran, Fidel Nadal from out of Argentina with 'Haile Selassie'. Fidel has one of the biggest followings from out of South America that I know of and he's definitely big artist so well biggup Marlon for the add and hopefully he won't wait until 2012 to come back again (because we won't be here!).

And lastly we're checking in on our good good friend Youstice from out of Cayman who I've known most of my damn life. This time back, Youstice is LOVING a semi-obscure, but well WICKED tune from Determine (who could probably also be described as "semi-obscure but well wicked, himself), 'Science'. Such a tune, like many from Determine, is just damn frustrating because you can see ALLLLLLLL of that talent and it's crystal clear, but he just doesn't dip into enough these days and looking back, he's one of the main people who I really wish had become more of a star. Nevertheless, big tune Youstice.

Thankfully, we've had three very nice and upful tunes this week, because I forgot my tune and am going with a brilliantly frivolous tune in its place. It's Achis Reggae favourite, Patrice Roberts, with a a Groovy favourite for 2011, 'Mas & Wining'.

• I think I'm going big this week, so MAYBE look forward to reviews for new albums from both Richie Spice & Anthony B.
• Maybe Soca Monarch predictions this week also