My introduction to reggae was through dancehall, and while it does have a special place in my heart, I found myself listening to it less and less over the years. Â Instead I turned towards the roots, and more conscious reggae music. Â Dancehall has been much maligned over the years for it’s so called “slackness” ( a term used to describe vulgar and often overtly sexual lyrics), and lack of positive messages. Â Conversely, the themes involved in real roots reggae have always been about positivity, peace, unity, and social justice (among other things).
Having said that, I do still listen to the odd dancehall tune, and this new release from Kabaka Pyramid is straight fire! Â Kabaka Pyramid is somewhat unique though in that he brings his socially conscious lyrics and hip hop background and fuses it with his reggae music. Â In a lot of ways, this track is very reminiscent of some of the tunes put out by Capleton or Sizzla in the early 2000’s.
When I was in Miami for the Protoje concert, there was an official after party at a club called Jazid. Â Kabaka was there on the mic behind the DJ booth, and spitting pure fire. Â He really had the club going with this tune, but at the time I thought he was just freestyling. Â Turns out he was giving the fans a sneak preview of this new track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UH8U1V0WBU