"Big up yourselves each and every time - welcome to my round up of the latest tunes all-up-inna-di-place. Now as a gay rasta (yes you don't have to tell me I'm white but so is Newton Faulkner and he's blessed by Jah) a lot of my compatriots seem to think dancehall is a bit of a niche-within-a-niche. I'm also accused by the heathen dem of supporting artists who push a violently homophobic message. Hopefully with my regular updates fromma di island I can disabuse the world (one love) of both of these notions, with some great tunes and some conscious commentary explaining this artform propa-propa. So let's get on with the top five...
5. Stacious & Suku - Nuh Worry: is a proper tranny anthem. Let's face facts, one very small element of the appeal of dancehall is the strong female women MC ladies who we all think we are sometimes when we are wining up pon di juice. Stacious stomps down the catwalk on this one - 'tell a gal say nuh stain mi name wit her breath' is also a good unrehearsed throwaway putdown (if you are a female impersonator in a fight in NYC). This is on the Ant'z Ness riddim for those that care (I & I do).
4. Tommy Lee - Tom & Jerry: This guy is really bringing the fyah at the minute. He is to summer 2012 as Popcaan was to summer 2011, ie someone with a slightly distinctive delivery and a massive basket of tunes. Except Tommy Lee is much more left than Popcaan; think Lil' Wayne compared to Drake. He's not afraid of a silly voice, de English accent dem, and evoking scenes of extreme violence. In Tom & Jerry, he might be talking about anything. I haven't the faintest mi say. I'm pretty sure he doesn't say anything homophobic though so one love.
3. Beenie Man - Clean Heart: You can always rely on Beenie to come to play. But he doesn't just bring a huge tune, he brings a message dem. Hard work, a clean heart and a clean mind, and treating yuh woman like a queen. Also keeping your ting clean. This is on the Overtime riddim and Beenie only just snatched pole position on this over the Energy God, Elephant Man, because of his positive message of personal hygeine, and because Ele is once again dressed like an acid-drenched leather-daddy nightmare version of Krusty the Klown.
2. Popcaan - So We Do It: It feels like Popcaan has been around for as long as Mavado now, but it was only last carnival when Only Man She Want was making mi fi wine. This heater is on the Kling Klang riddim, which is a lot like nailing an entire bottle of poppers and sticking your head in a sub-woofer dem. Truss, I did it once in Fabric, Skream was DJing and mi nearly whitey. This riddim is going to cause some serious prarrrrblem in carnival this year, as it really comes into its own on the street-shaking soundsystem. I'm pretty sure Poppy is talking about sex here. You can check the lyrics and ting if you like though.
1. Chronixx - They Don't Know: The only way is down after the Kling Klang, yuh si mi, and rising star Chronixx has just the one. This is a plaintive tune about how hard it is to be Chronixx - his worries include doing stage shows while his mum frets, having an interview which his dad doesn't know about it, and washing his own shirt. Let's face di facts dem: it's all a metaphor for the fear of coming out. And onna di island, this is an even bigger deal than you could imagine. Still, his advice is to be honest to yourself and have a good old cry. Which is better than the 'It Gets Better' bumbaa nonsense dem Obama has been putting about.
We've created a playlist on behalf of Anton, you can find it here
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL88411A40EF78D51F&feature=plcp