Reggae Taking Us Through Our Possibilities
Memory has failed me to confidently name who the interviewer was – and I would not want to guess – but it was a Jamaican
journalist and the Empress of Reggae was describing her artistic community as
being a public service, with the sacred mission of spreading a musical banquet for
listeners to grow in knowledge of good and evil and to conduct themselves with
regards to their own salvation throughout life. [1]“A person is a person through other
persons; you can't be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.”
This is a wording of the African concept of Ubuntu by the late Nobel
Peace Prize recipient, the Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu. He is on my
mind as today, December 27, 2021 he passed away from us, and what we can do now is reflect on his life’s work, and his impact on the world.
Released in December 2021 on the Mixcloud
audio streaming platform, the Secret Service DJs Life and Love Riddims Volumes
1 and 2 are chock full of this reggae food within the measure of one drop riddims
from the past 20 years. In this essay, I listened keenly to the package of
lyrical messages and found myself yearning for more storytelling in the music rather than be
left with delicious appetizers delivering sentiments and hooks. Let us look at what I
heard in the music.
The first track in the collection is
fittingly a sonnet to Jamaica with Chronnix’s “Smile Jamaica”, and he performs
a second track about romantic moments on a beach or at a riverside.
Having established an anthem for
country, the songs expound on romantic love and longing. To extend the thought
of spiritual food, this could be a mirror image of the biblical book Songs of
Solomon which does not tell a story but anticipates amorous love.
A standout track for its musicianship
qualities is Beres Hammond on “I Am Missing You” as a song of longing, but
there are others including Peter Morgan on “Nice and Slow”.
Admiration, promises, tender touches and romancing are united within
riddims, the sentiments divided by the individuality of voices. The grainy,
gravelly Chuck Fenda and Sizzla, the plaintive crooning of Jah Cure. The vocal technician
Wayne Wonder makes an appearance with “I Still Believe That You Love Me”. The
crisp pop of Sean Paul, melodious Denique and Natel delivered all promises of
love and devotion and happiness on the romance side of relationships.
Aside from these honey dipped
entrancements, there are the starchy staples of relationships. Jah 9’s “Brothers”
is an early salve to a man living under strain, a way to keep his spirits up
and to reward him for being committed to the family while assuring him that his
lioness is at his side, matching his best with hers. Etana and Queen Ifrica catch
up later in the mix with “My Man” and “Lioness on the Rise” respectively.
In a dish sometimes there are cuts and
pieces that are unwanted, perhaps a bit of gristle or in a vegetarian dish,
maybe the item was not properly peeled, Tami Chynn speaks of “Forbidden Love”
while Christopher Martin asks for strength not to cheat on his girlfriend while
Ce’cile promises to wait on her boyfriend who is away.
When it is time to put an end to a
toxic relationship Tarrus Riley kisses his teeth with the lyrics, “I won’t cry,
I ‘ll be fine, gwaan, go, don’t turn back.” Romain Virgo also speaks to reasons
for breakups with, “Though I know I need you more than
you ever know, girl, I think it's time to let you go. Though I know I love you
forever more. I'm for you, but you're for you. The
lyrics of Jah Cure in “Nothing” hints at an imbalanced love affair that needs to
be abandoned.
Ballads
that extend one thought into a story are not plentiful in the genre and this
leads to overreliance on a few committed to the format, and this is where the group
TOK shone. They first appeared on the “Guardian Angel” riddim with their self
identifying track and they feature throughout the collection, flitting in and
out as a host of prophetic heralds. Their
selection of social commentary topics varied from the plea for divine
intervention, facing hardships in the song, “So Cold” which is a walkthrough of
a life that seems to be out of control, but they will not sell out their souls.
“Footprints” describes how to seek comfort from personal faith after a painful
loss and also “Tears” urges a woman to carry on after ending an abusive
relationship.
The baritone of “Lonely Days” with
Fiji and J Boog is a torch song for admission of guilt, “I apologise for all
those lonely days and restless nights without me beside your side when my
insensitivity did not see the signs when all I wanted was to make you smile.”
Jah Vinci refers to “My Other Half” as
his motivation although his lover’s father is trying to keep them apart and his
daughter focused on her studies. His lyrics say, “She’s my motivation and I am
her inspiration. Who am I without my other half and her love is God’s perfect
creation.”
Self-affirming
music came through Richie Spice who urges listeners to “confident yourself and
motivate yourself’ on the track “Got to Make It” and Million Stylez sings “from
a far we a see them a come, pray fi a brighter day.” Etana also affirms, “If a
come dem come, let dem come cause I am not afraid, I am protected by the most
high.”
Along
with introspection are warning songs Chuck Fenda’s “Gash Dem” is the call to
vigilante justice and Queen Ifrica’s “Keep It To Yourself” warns against
committing iniquity and “Times Like These” describe ills in society. LUST
reminds us that the society is “Bawling” for equal rights and justice.
The
other group that featured prominently was Morgan Heritage, mostly about their
life and times such as the track “Talk dem a Talk” about the dearth of useful
information, again not enough nutrition for the soul when the lyrics say, “A
bare almshouse and strictly negative dem live fi chat ‘bout inna the media…dem
claims say good news nah sell no paper.”
Only one
song in the mix that was dedicated to the Mamma musical sub-genre, and this was
granted to Christopher Martin.
As lyrical vocalists go, Alaine had
the edge in the number of romantic tracks that she carried, no doubt due to how
her silky soprano contrasts with the deeper voices that were around hers. The
featured singers are masters of diction and phrasing in the Jamaican language,
but Alaine’s body of work performing in lead and backup roles gave her the edge
for selection in this double volume.
The
theme of the mixtape was Life and Love and the selector included enough sacred
music for a dozen One Drop Psalms. To try and explore the Biblical origins of
the tracks, Without any knowledge of what was in the minds of the songwriters, I
have matched key lyrics with suggested scriptural parallels.
Most of
these songs were to give encouragement but there was one that was an
admonishment, Jah Cure “Mother Earth” about the negative effects of human
exploitation of natural resources which can be matched with | Jer 2:7 “I brought you into
a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered
you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.”
Here
are the songs of spiritual help, nourishment and a call to holiness.
Jemere
Morgan and Gramps Morgan “Try Jah Love” Psalm 34:8, O taste and see
that the Lord is
good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
Natural Black “Far From Reality”, Mos’ a the people dem
livin’ in space and the spiritual one dem living by grace | 2Cor 12:9 but he said to
me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in
weakness. So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the
power of Christ may dwell in me.
Fanton
Mojah, “Thanks and Praise” Thanks and
Praise Jah Love is Here to Stay only Jan Love Bless me through my days. Seek
Jah first and everything after | Matt 6:33 But strive first for the kingdom of God[l] and his[m] righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
Gyptian Is
there a place where I can find true love divine? | 1 John 4:6-16 No one has
ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is
perfected in us.
Jah Vinci
“Wicked Heart” I am protected just like the Hebrew boys in the furnace, touch not
the Lord’s anointed | Psalm 105:15 Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no
harm.
Pressure “Jah Love” once you got
Jah love, nothing is greater | Ephesians 3:19-21 and
to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled
with all the fullness of God.
Ikaya
“Flyaway” Jah make me fly away like a million
sparrows | Matt 10:31 So do not be
afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows; Ezekiel 13:20 Therefore thus
says the Lord God: I am
against your bands with which you hunt lives;[c] I will tear
them from your arms, and let the lives go free, the lives that you hunt down
like birds.
The sole
ballad in this group of sacred music I would say is Sean Paul’s “Never Gonna Be
The Same” But those who pull the
trigger cannot take away the covenant the righteous have with Jah Jah | Isaiah 54v10 For the
mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart
from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who
has compassion on you.
These are
the short list of what I identified, but there is a real argument that more
songs would qualify as being for the purpose of divine reverence.
There was no music by Dexta Daps
within the volumes, and he could be argued as the most expressive male singer
of his contemporaries, not detracting from the established artistry of Christopher
Martin, Romain Virgo, Tarrus Riley, and others. Hopefully, he and the UK based
Dalton Harris will produce one drop recordings for future mixes.
All of the lyrics on these tracks use
popular and Jamaican language, and writing this article has given me a
challenge on how to keep the lyrics and my writing in English in good balance.
It is a challenge to the advocates for the official use of Standard Received
Jamaican. Words and phrases swirl out of usefulness, so to give them longevity,
they have to be protected as a written official language. I am not an advocate
for disappearing cultures, just stating that what you lef’ up, will be left
behind, or claimed by a new, more organized and disciplined force. A culture’s
existence is in direct proportion to the official use of its language in written
form.
This body of music prepared by Secret
Service DJs can be examined more deeply, along perhaps with other collections
by other DJs to determine what they are seeing of society and its values and
how we can see what is possible with what we have.
See listed mixtapes here on MixCloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/secretservicedjs/
[1]
Desmond Tutu 1999, No Future Without Forgiveness: https://www.librarything.com/work/61687/reviews/1638543
Resource for One Drop Riddims: https://riddimsworld.com/collections/best-ever-reggae-riddims/#
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