Showing posts with label Dancehall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dancehall. Show all posts

Saturday 26 August 2017

Drake "More Life" (2017)


Canadian rapper Drake is arguably one of the biggest names in the modern scene and given the old guards distaste for him I never actually listened to the guy until Youtube's autoplay feature spun a few tracks. I like his style, its easy and inviting, with him being from my generation you can hear strong influences from the likes of Kanye West and Eminem in his approach to the craft. This newest release was possibly an odd place to start, the better lyrical themes revolve around a man who's climbed to the top and is now mystified to the pressures and contradictions of those heights, as he says you get praise on the way up and when you reach the summit everyone takes aim.

After four albums "More Life" is classified as a playlist, it even says "A playlist by October Firm" which I find odd given the lack of flow the album has. There are three or so different themes and ideas colliding here on a lengthy release that amasses eighty one minutes without a sense of direction. Between a collection of more "traditional" tracks Drake dives into swooning soulful vibes on tracks like "Passionfruit" as some subtle auto tune singing plays sweetly into a summery, jazzy laid back instrumentals fit for relaxing in the sun. Breaking up the pace, the inclusion of English Grime rappers like Giggs and Skepta sets a contrasting tone for another theme that takes hold, the "badman" raps, acting mean and menacing on the beat, dropping laughable rhymes like "batman! dun-nu-nut neh-neh".

The album opens with Nai Palm of Kaiyote Hiatus singing, a sample lift from their latest record, slightly confusing as it doesn't provide much of a link for the banging "Free Smoke" to roll of from. After a dark badman track with Giggs the album rolls into a groove with a string of indulgent songs boasting some Jazz, Downtempo and Dance influences to blur the Hip Hop lines as Drake flexes with tuneful sung raps. As the flow is broken up we get a track from Travis Scott, who's Rodeo album has massively grown n me. In his typical style we get what feels like a leftover beat, an insentient flute melody loops all the way through as excessive reverbs and auto-tuned vocals drone on. A cringey "skirt skirt" slang cries out in such a cliche way for these sometimes tiresome trap songs. Its a low point in that album that track to track goes all over the place.

"Teenage Fever" was surprising track, moody, slow and introspective vibes are pulled together for a fantastic chorus lifting lyrics from the Jenifer Lopez song "If I Had Your Love". Its a diabolical Pop song from the naughties that I never thought I would enjoy, even in this abstract way. After this point the music slowly winds down with spacious tracks that don't stir much of a reaction. The best of the record comes when it detours from the traditional "Hip Hop" song conventions. Drake's lyrics are also engaging when hes not singing, the perspectives on the turn of success speak loud and his engaging style leads you on a clear path through his thoughts. Its been a reasonable introduction in which the talent is visible but the arrangement of this record and inability to focus in a direction often dispels the mood some tracks muster leaving the impression of an hastily assembled collection of songs.

Favorite Tracks: Free Smoke, Passionfruit, Get It Together, Madiba Riddim, Blem, Sacrifices, Teenage Fever
Rating: 6/10

Saturday 13 February 2016

Shabba Ranks "Greatest Hits" (2001)


Who is Shabba Ranks? For me he is the definitive voice of reggae music, said from a perspective of ignorance. Reggae is a genre Ive never dabbled with much but of what its name conjures is this mans voice. Deep, rugged and slick his steady flow swoons smoothly through a thick textural dialect of slang and lingo in his strong Jamaican accent. I wonder if he is actually the artist that populates my mind from where Ive heard this music before, either way the story of how i found him is mildly amusing for a music nerd like myself. Its from A$AP Ferg's "Trap Lord" "Shabba", "Two gold rings like I'm sha-shabba ranks, sha-sha-shabba ranks" and listening to my favorite A Tribe Called Quest record and a few others I caught wind that Shabba Ranks was not some trendy slang but a person. So I proceeded to youtube for a pleasant surprise and before long picked up this collection of his best songs.

Listening to an artist wildly different from my norms was a lot of fun and I picked up on a few stylish distinctions about Shabba's music. On the instrumental front the songs vary in degrees between Reggea and Dancehall but on occasions come with a Hip Hop production style of sampled beats or even a 90s Dance track in "Mr. Loverman". Although not a proper record it helped to keep the record moving and feeling fresh while showcasing the appeal of his vocal presence which could easily extend further than these styles alone. "Ting-A-Ling" was a shiner, a big spacious track with minimal sounds alongside an already bare percussive backbone that shuffles snare and hi-hat between deep base kicks that sparingly kick to emphases the the undying flow of Shabba's indecipherable word play. He notably won a Grammy for the record this lead single was from.

So who would I be kidding if I were to talk about the lyrical content? No one. It will take a fair amount of time before I learn to decode Mr. Ranks's lingual annunciations but in the mean time I am enjoying the persuasive nature of his sizable verbal presence. The shifts in delivery, pace tone don't come to often but as long as I don't leave it on repeat I can enjoy his voice and the instrumentals for the seventy minutes that make up an impressive highlight of his career in music, of which he's been silent with since.

Favorite Tracks: Mr. Loverman, Ting-A-Ling, Rough Life, Roots & Culture, Shine Eye Gal, Twice My Age
Rating: 6/10