The Vault Reviews: "Theory Of Reggaetivity" by Agent Sasco
Evolved. From the very second that I decided that I would review this album, I already had the direction that I wanted to take it in planned out. Sometimes I get to this point and you see that very first word with the bold and enlarged first letter? It will be completely random and I'll just use it to get myself in the mindset of writing and it helps. Later, I'll comeback and change that first word into something that makes sense for that particular project and forget what the original word was, but this time was different because the individual in question today will eventually (and some would say that he has already) make himself a legend largely based on one the main structures of the artform he practices: SKILL. I knew I had to and wanted to spend a great deal of time dealing with this immense talent, so I needed to come up with a functioning definition of the word 'skill'. What is skill? What I came up with is that skill is the ability to translate knowledge into demonstration, particularly when that knowledge is high. You may find a someone who knows a great deal of a particular topic but have no method of conveying that knowledge. That person is extremely well-educated but lacks the skill of teaching (in sports, for example, you quite rarely see a genuine STAR become a good coach or manager when their playing days have come to an end) (that individual is a skilled player, but not a skilled coach). When you know something very well or know how to do something very well and you can exhibit that fact, you are highly skilled. So with that being my definition of the word (and I'm now thinking of how close my definition may be to that of a dictionary, so let's see: Dictionary.com defines 'skill' as "the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, aptitude, etc., to do something well") (AND I AM DAMN PROUD OF MYSELF NOW!) I thought that we'd take a quick at look at some of the most skilled practitioners of a genre of music known as Dancehall. I think that we have a couple of different points of measurement in this case. On one side would be the very modern and almost futuristic gifts of Aidonia and Vybz Kartel before him. Someday someone may invent a time machine, we'll all be gone, but I would be very curious in what may happen if they scooped up Aidonia or Kartel and took them back to the 1980's to see what fans (and other artists, alike) might think of them. While I think artists, producers and musicians may've appreciated them to no end (knowing precisely how difficult it is to do what they do) I can't say for certain that fans would have flocked to them as they have in this era. That is a gift, specifically, belonging to the time in which it was birthed. On the other end of that scale is someone like Papa San who, quite literally, could rhyme about absolutely anything from the top of his head and could seemingly do so INFINITELY, without end. In fact, wherever he is right now (it's a Sunday afternoon as I write this, so he's probably in church), San could probably still do it, well into his fifties. Those are the bookends. In between those would be IMMENSELY gifted artists such as Capleton (Capleton is not underrated, in the slightest, but I think he may be in terms of his lyrical capacity. He's a genius), Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, and underrated favourites of mine General Degree, Mad Anju and Roundhead (the latter two of which are special wordsmiths, a fact reserved only to a select few dedicated listeners. You must really pay attention. Go listen to a tune by Anju at his best, then find one by someone else.... they will not sound the same). And DELICIOUSLY, today we look at someone else whose skill shines in 2021 just as bright as it did in 2016, just brightly as it would have shone in 1986, a truly THUNDEROUS talent, Agent Sasco.
Like I just said in reference to Mad Anju: Listen to a song by Sasco and then go listen to one by virtually any of his peers, unlike Anju's case, the shift may be a subtle one (Anju's style is one of a kind, he learned it on Mars), but it will be evident - they will not sound the same. Though fairly straight-forward -- words will arrive on the cadence and melody where you would expect them to for the most part -- you will hear something from Agent Sasco that you won't hear from anyone else and it has been that way for quite awhile now. Speaking in current terms, the DJ has been my favourite from the Dancehall over most of the past decade and, going forth, I would expect it to be the same for at least the next half. WHY? Skill is why. It has been apparent for quite some time, even going back to the days when we first came to get to know the Kintyre native as 'Assassin', a disciple of veteran DJ, Spragga Benz, and a member of his Red Square camp (biggup Bad Greg Hines) - back in da day when we all used to say that he sounded like Baby Cham (he does not and he never has). It was apparent even back then that 'Sassin was a different type of artist. Extremely early tunes he did (like 'Damn It', which was downright BREATHLESS ["Dem mussi come from another planet!"] and 'Yuh Nuh Coot' ["When yuh pass dem fi mask, yeah cah dem no inna fi yuh class. WHEN SHE AH GO A SCHOOL ONLY BLOOD TEST SHE PASS"]) seemed to forecast an artist who, although he was very much 'one in the pack' (he basically rhymed about the same things as everyone else (with the possible exception of ganja), was more concerned with furthering his abilities than developing some type of persona.
2005 & 2007
And he would progress! By the time Assasssin arrived at "Infiltration", his debut album release in 2005 for VP Records he was well on his way to becoming the talent that he is today. That was ULTRA obvious on tunes such as the brilliant 'Free At Last', 'Dem' ["Wi no waan no friend from dem. Ray Charles can si clear, seh dem condemn"], 'Respect Due' and the all-conquering 'Wandering Mind' ["And mi when do di calculation, mi ah wonda if emancipation is a misconception. And mi ah wonda if di process of an election is just elabourate deception. And mi ah wonda if AIDS is an infection or a biological weapon"] (SHIT!). That same release would also include hits such as 'Idiot Thing', 'Step Pon Dem', 'Girls Gone Wild' and the absolute genius 'As A Man'. Two years later album number two, "Gully Sit'n" would also arrive on VP Records and the soon to be completely renamed Agent Sasco was on his way (he would spend a few years basically alternating between the two names. Today he's pretty much fully Agent Sasco (a wise move - google recognizes 'Agent Sasco', independently, IMMEDIATELY. He doesn't have to compete with a billion other things called "Assassin" (movies and tv shows, other musicians, albums and songs, other people, paintings, ACTUAL ASSASSINS, kitchen appliances....) to becoming the force that he has become today. And I have to mention a personal old favourite of mine, 'Stay Like Bees', which was simply one of the most inventive and SMART tunes I have ever heard from any genre (has no context at all and is poor writing, but I had to mention it. It's been too long) (I feel better now). Sasco was so active and GOOD that it was awhile before we noticed that it had been a minute from the last time that he had an album released and it would be a full nine years between "Gully Sit'n" and 2016's "Theory Of Reggaetivity". The set would find the artist leaving VP and linking with Germaica Digital and doing so in a way which was quite unexpected although, in retrospect, another stroke of genius for the, by them, decorated veteran DJ. I actually recall initially seeing the title and being somewhat disappointed by it, because I just didn't like it. It sounded too creative, if that makes any sense, as if someone was trying just a bit too hard to get something over, but listening to it in its entirety helped it make sense (although, six years later, I still don't love it) (and is title is the ONLY thing that I don't love about it) (oh and its length). The album would come through in a style which wasn't the typical modern Dancehall that fans were used accustomed to hearing from Sasco on an album but, instead, was more traditional Reggae music. Although a first on a full release, it wasn't a grand deviation of sound for the artist as he had scored on such selections previously. Along with the aforementioned 'Stay Like Bees', he had most notably SCALDED with the mighty 'God Nah Sleep' across Birchill's delectable Cry Baby Riddim in the mid 2000's and other pieces as well. In fact, by the time "Theory Of Reggaetivity" rolled around, Agent Sasco had long distinguished himself as one of the greatest practitioners of COMPLETELY TOYING with the spoken word that the Dancehall had ever seen, a quality which he has even further cemented these days.
I'll get my sole problem with this one out of the way right now because I alluded to it a minute ago. "Theory Of Reggaetivity" is about forty minutes long. If you look at the list, you will see fourteen tracks, but three of them are intro/interlude types, with the longest of them being forty-nine seconds (the other two being just NINE!) - so it really only has eleven actual songs and one of those is even, technically, an intro (it is excellent, however, so I'm counting it as an actual tune). OBVIOUSLY it could have been longer, but with what Agent Sasco manages to accomplish in its brevity, it is truly captivating. "Captivating" is a very appropriate way to describe the opener and title cut of Agent Sasco's "Theory Of Reggaetivity". Despite the fact that it is officially listed as an intro, I'm going to call this one a full tune (two minutes and twenty seconds) and this full tune finds Sasco heading to the cosmos:
"What if I told you that the big bang was a big song-
Start the universe
What I told you that creation was VIBRATION-
The translation is through the word
What if I told you that energy was in the melody-
Soothing to your nerves
What if I told you time was in every rhyme-
Integral to the verse
What if I told you that gravity was a reality-
To keep the grounded in his sanity
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT THE FUTURE AND EVERYTHING BEFORE US WAS WRITTEN IN THE CHORUS
That mean mi tell yuh bout di theory of Reggaetivity
Mi ah warn dem bout di theory of Reggaetivity
Come and study bout di theory of Reggaetivity
You can feel di electricity
But positive, no negativity"
What he basically does here (which is exactly what an intro is supposed to do) is to set the stage for what you can expect to come following and it comes with the supposition that maybe at the center of EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE is a rhythm or some type of audio-regularity - like a 'big bang' or the beat of a heart. Sasco theorizes that, if this is the case, then that sound might just be Reggae... and of course he's correct, what else could it be??? So, with that being the idea we're functioning under, we then must trace the music and that is precisely what he does -- following an actual into, 'What Is Reggae', which features the DJ's daughter, LC (biggup LC) -- with 'Reggae Origin'. I thoroughly enjoy how this tune simultaneously acts as a song and a kind of a historical/sociological study. He asks, "Where did it all start? Where did it begin?", before launching into his thrilling examination ["Dung inna Jamaica Reggae born. Muss inna di hurricane season cause it keep di lights on. Mi seh two sounds string up inna lawn. Dawn, Reggae bawn and artist ah perform"]. It is as profound as it is exciting and, for what this song specifically is, I don't know that anyone else makes a song like this sound quite this good as Agent Sasco does. Next, in comes the trumpeting 'Health & Wealth' (which is billed as the 'Kingston Mix', but it is the only version of the tune I can recall hearing, personally). The first thing you will notice here will be that big and beautiful riddim carrying the song. It sounds like Sasco with a full band behind him and it sounds WONDERFUL! Aside from that, while it discontinues the project-like nature of the beginning of "Theory Of Reggaetivity", it does continue the extremely high quality level established. This is a piece about being humble and appreciative for what we have. You may not have everything but no one does and no one should, but what you do have is the capacity to be happy for WHAT YOU HAVE ["Biggup all di man dem pon di farm ah work. Weh have di cutlass, and di file dem and di fork ah work"]. A big tune and maybe one that went slightly overlooked on this album.
Following another intro featuring LC (who has gone onto record more with her father), we're kind of steered back in the direction of the opening salvo of tunes in praising Reggae music with 'Feeling Highrie'. This one was a VIBE! It comes off as a giant chorus (and its latter half is basically just that) and there is nothing wrong with that. It almost feels like Agent Sasco heard the riddim and just came up with a chorus in his head and later went back and added a pair of typically nimble verses and what resulted was a truly fantastic set and one which so perfectly fit into the landscape of "Theory Of Reggaetivity". Next was... some mess called 'Mix Up' which struck in over Shaggy's Heaven Bless Riddim. I mean... the song is two minutes and thirty-nine seconds long (it's a blip) (quite possibly the greatest blip of all time), but there're points during 'Mix Up' when you get the feeling that, if he had wanted to, Sasco could have just kept going without missing a beat for a few hours. And it's so straight-forward that it doesn't put in a place where you're immediately SHOCKED by what you hear, but it goes on maybe thirty seconds and you come to notice that you're hearing something truly special ["But music a wi love, it's like di work mixed with di habit. Mi tek it for a ride, it's like di chauffeur or a cabbie. Do wi owna ting so wi no care about nobody and up inna di Ranch, do whole a wi a mad somebody!"]. The tune was a single here and a decent sized hit for the artist as far its popularity, but for music nerds, like You and me, 'Mix Up' was probably one of the best Dancehall songs of the 2010's and it was the single best thing on this album. Holding the unenviable task of following up on that was the first of a pair of combinations featured on "Theory Of Reggaetivity", this one featuring the unknown (to me) globetrotter Elesia Iimura from out of Japan, by way of Australia, the infectious 'Crazy' (and its KNOCK). Iimura's name was completely new to me prior to this one (have seen her since then, however, as she and the Agent ran it back with 'Come For Me', a few years on). This one was a welcomed definitive changeup for this album as it is extremely modern in sound and focus in every way and it worked. If you came expecting a revolution, you left disappointed, but you left rocking your head and singing the hook whether you wanted to or not. If you want to trace the origins of Reggae music, at some point you'll find yourself having to head to The Motherland and Sasco makes that trip on the aptly titled 'Africa'.
"Dem tell wi seh AIDS come from Africa
Dem tell wi seh slaves come from Africa
Dem tell wi fi stay far from Africa
All dem seh a pure war dung a Africa
Mother of Civilization
One less than fifty-five nations
Look pon di glory, it's like di heart of di world
All part of di world - dem ah feel di vibration
Di Rastaman dem ah seh repatriation
Marcus Garvey did ah preach di migration
But dem ah tell yuh a no visa yuh need
FI GO DEH, YUH NEED IMMUNIZATION
Dem seh ebola dung Africa
Then what happened to di whole heap a gold wah, dung a Africa
Dem no tell wi bout di nightlife inna Africa
LIKE SEH A JUST JUNGLE AND WILDLIFE DEH A AFRICA
Yow, let's ask di people in di heart of di Congo-
IF A REALLY TARZAN A DI KING OF DI JUNGLE
Wi know seh every elephant a no jumbo
And a no everybody tall like Mutombo
Sure wi have di Queen dem and di King dem
NOT ONLY DI STARVING REFUGEE DEM
My African ancestors lived as free men
So hear wah mi ah pree then"
This one, fittingly, comes in with a beautiful African chanting vibes in the background and crescendos near its end when Sasco just begins firing off the names of various African countries (even including the CAR). As a whole, it is a delightful track and one which is best enjoyed with quite a few spins, although IMMDIATELY digestible as well. Next is a very clever skit called 'J-O-B' ["I need faith like J-O-B to get me through this J-O-B"] before we get to 'No Slave' which was the song on "Theory Of Reggaetivity" which popped most on paper as it featured Agent Sasco alongside the always compelling Chronixx. You see that combination and it either does something for you or you're just not a Reggae fan (you poor, lost soul you). Most fortunately what was written translated so fine to the actual music because 'No Slave' is.... like an EXPERIENCE. It's a PRESENTATION as much as just a tune (by a minute and a quarter, it is the longest selection here), with this golden Ska vibes to it (and you HAVE to have a piece like this to adequately attempt to tell the story of Reggae music, in my opinion) - the duo go in on a set speaking for every man and woman working themselves down with little to no reward. It also has an obvious connection to times of the past (at its core) and, again, Sasco and Chronixx seize the moment and deliver a top effort (and they did again just last year with WICKED 'Represent'). 'No Slave' is actually topped by the tune chasing it, which is my second favourite track on the entire album, the MAMMOTH 'Stronger'.
"You si di hard work and di struggle and di hustle
Build wi backbone and braincell and wi muscle
SO WI FIGHTING WID WI BRAIN AND NOT WI KNUCKLE
So wi nah go wilt unda di pressure, nah go buckle
Get fi understand seh disappoint a nuh nuttn -
Cause when one door lock about a million ah open
Well if a twelve wi work fah dat seh wi ahgo want a dozen
Wi only want wi own, no want no trouble "
"GIVE THANKS FOR OBSTACLES INNA WI WAY BECAUSE DI HURDLES TEACH WI FI JUMP
I MAN AH SEH IF EVERYTING DID SMOOTH EVERYDAY, WI WOULDN'T KNOW WI COULD OVERCOME
Cause if it don't kill wi-
I know it's gonna build wi
Gonna make wi stronger"
"LOOK HOW MUCH TIME A BABY FALL WHEN DEM AH LEARN FI WALK
WHOLE HEAP A GIBBERISH YOU CHAT WHEN YOU AH LEARN FI TALK
Lotta people love fi watch and love fi pass remark
And if a dem inna di test, dem couldn't pass dem mark
Don't forget where you ah come from, but no stuck in di past
Cause enough mountain to climb, whole heap a river to cross
Dem ah bawl seh 'time hard' but wi no grow so soft
SO YOU SI ANYTIME WI DROP, WI JUST GET UP AND DUST OFF!"
Agent Sasco TORCHES that thing! He eviscerates it. He puts it to the sword! He does all of that in a span of less than four minutes and, in the process, gives a powerful message that I always appreciate hearing: That failure and imperfection is PREFERRED for human beings ('progress is better than perfection' is the old saying) and a life lived in fear of making mistakes and fucking up, is not really a life at all, it's... something else. I don't know what the hell it is and I don't want to find out. The vibes on this one are damn powerful as well (you tell me, about eleven seconds in, when it 'awakens', that it doesn't sound like Bob is about to start singing) (it does), making for, again, potentially, one of the finest efforts Sasco has EVER turned in during his entire career. The sufferer's anthem 'Day In Day Out' has largely disappeared but if you missed it, you may (you do) want to tune it in. This song was a DAZZLING lyrical display for what it was ["I don't want much. My only desire is fi just keep mi pot pon di fire. Clothes pon mi back, respectable attire and fi be a father figure fi mi youths dem admire. But it's like, against mi, di system ah conspire - fi just keep mi dung inna di muck and di mire"]. It was yet another very pretenseless selection which did not offer much in the way of flare or tricks, but IT SO DAMN SMART! Sasco said things in a rhyme that you would just hear from a person going through tough times and did not add anything for the sake of the art. He was literally just TALKING and it all so happened to just fit in together so completely. It was one of the best songs on "Theory Of Reggaetivity", whether we realized it at the time or not. And finally was 'Country Bus' which was Sasco's cut of Chimney Records' riddim of the same name. I'm probably wearing it out, but I don't give a shit, 'Country Bus' was BRILLIANT. It was such a simple and BASIC song -- it was the artist's various observations during a ride to town -- but the way he crafted it and pieced it together made it unforgettable. We have many a fine lyricist in Dancehall and Reggae music, as I said, but I don't know that ANY OF THEM (NOT A SINGLE ONE) can make a song like this one sound as it does. It is truly on of a kind.
Overall, while Agent Sasco may not be one of a kind (because of a guy named Assassin, the more you listen to him, his talents become distinguishable from everyone else's. He won't bash you over the head like Aidonia or Saik with a torrential stream of lyrics (....okay, maybe some time he will) and he won't offer you cryptic time delayed concepts which will astonish you on an elevator when they finally reveal themselves to you in a couple of years, but what he will do, and what was crystal clear throughout "Theory Of Reggaetivity" is to provide music of such a lasting high-quality and CRAFTSMANSHIP that it is so obvious how much pride he takes in his SKILL. He's studied up on several other artists (maybe like all of them) and himself and has evolved the artform! What I mean is that, years from now, I am thinking that there will be several artists come up and we'll start comparing them to Assassin. We'll be wrong (as hell), but it will be our way then of throwing praise in their direction, saying that they sounded like this old lyrical juggernaut. I also want to go back and mention the cover photo of "Theory Of Reggaetivity" because it goes to illustrate my point (theatrically, of course) (then again, maybe not, actually)of theories and equations and formulas running through his head like some Dancehall scientist (biggup Scientist). In the case of Agent Sasco or Assassin what we just may have is someone who, in a manner which might not instantly grab your attention, is working on progressing an entire genre via pushing his own immense gifts to somewhere regular folks just cannot go. BRILLIANT.
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