Tribute to Dancehall - Review of Sean Paul - Dutty Rock

I'm a dancehall reggae junkie. I'll admit it. I've been this way for years.

I still remember when I was just a young lad and happened to come across Buju Banton's Til Shiloh in a used cd store one brisk, autumn Sunday. I can't exactly recall what compelled me to browse through the reggae section that day, but I did and proceeded to buy a used $6 cd from a man I'd never heard of in my life. When I got back to my dorm and threw it in the cd player, I played it off to my roommate like I'd seen him in a Vibe magazine a few months ago in that small paragraph they devoted to reggae artists.

Instantly, within the first couple minutes, We were hooked like junkies selling sexual favors to get our next hits. Shivers ran through me as Buju's raspy voice echoed,

"Strange, this feeling I'm feeling
but Jah love we will always believe in
I know you may think my faith is in vain
Til Shiloh we'll chant Rastafari's name..."

These words meant absolutely nothing to me at the time, but now (as I just wrote them from memory), after years of listening to Buju, Beenie Man, Shaggy, Lady Saw, Capleton, Bounty Killer, and on and on - these words symbolize that first romantic date of a 8-year love affair I've had with dancehall reggae.

Over the years, there's been good times and bad. But to be honest, the last few year's of the relationship have been, well, disastrous. The listening between us had disappeared. I felt like dancehall just didn't want the same things in life that I did. We were moving in opposite directions, and our goals and dreams together were falling apart. The bad times were far outnumbering the good ones, and other potential opportunities were beginning to look a bit more, well, attractive. I won't lie to you, things were on the rocks, and I was ready to pack up and leave.

Dancehall, pleaded "no, don't leave, give me one more shot. I'll change, I swear."

I'd heard that about a hundred times before, but I thought, how could I just throw away 8 years just like that? I hastily replied, "Ok Dancehall, but this is it, one more chance."

And dancehall handed me Sean Paul's Dutty Rock and I popped it in the cd player.

It didn't take long for me to realize that dancehall truly did still care about me. Dutty Rock was magical. Sean Paul's voice reigned down like the signing growlers of old. A new sound of brilliance that paid tribute to the old-school dynamics that made me love this music.

I was skeptical at first. "Gimme the Light" was played non-stop a couple months back on MTV and "Get Busy" was following in its footsteps. My initial thought was this couldn't be real dancehall. There was no way in hell that MTV would give that much airtime to any dancehall star. I even saw his sell-out ass at MTV Spring Break this weekend.

But upon hearing even just a couple songs, the truth was in the pudding. Catchy hooks are his trademark, just like his dancehall brothers before him, but Sean Paul can have crossover appeal without his music giving way to mainstream influence.

As you dig deeper into Dutty Rock, he tears off layer after layer, making you forget about the mainstream hits, and focusing on rasta jams like "Like Glue" and "Can You Do the Work". What makes this cd so special is it's appeal to just about any lover of music who's open to trying something new. I'm not saying this cd is for everyone. All I'm saying is that don't let the evil forces at MTV turn you off on a really good example of new school dancehall music. Take a chance, and if you like it, drop me a line, and I'll send you cd after cd of the artists that created and influenced this very style of music.

Oh, and you're probably wondering what happened between dancehall and I? Well, let's just say, Dutty Rock was the band-aid that stopped the bleeding.

We're thinking about long-term commitment....