Reggae Album Reviews | MARIA JACKSON 27 MAGAZINE

A few weeks ago veteran reggae artist Mikey General introduced me to a new artist, IfaTunde Orunmila. Though he currently resides in the UK, I met IfaTunde while he was visiting loved ones and hanging out with Mikey in Jamaica.

Upon meeting him I was given a complimentary copy of his new album “Melanin.” I promised both men that I would listen to the CD and give my honest opinion.

While listening to it I was struck by how different it is from other recently released Rasta-reggae albums I’ve had to review. The difference, I felt at the time and still do, is in the lyrical content, the message. I was honestly expecting to hear a lot of praise and acknowledgement for Rastafari, but I didn’t get that at all.

The album starts with IfaTunde introducing himself by letting us know that he is a “Struggler.” He gets into his background and laments on why he won’t give up. From there, the next few songs are all about educating his listeners on the importance of loving and respecting each other and not neglecting and/or mistreating our youths. There is of course the title track “Melanin,” which highlights the uniqueness of the black skin, as well as a couple of tracks in which he is thanking the ‘Creator’ for all his blessings.

All and all I’m fascinated with this album because I find that it has an inexplicable power. Maybe it’s IfaTunde‘s spirituality that’s quietly on display. In the early 2000’s, he traveled to Nigeria and Ghana where he was initiated into the ways of the Orishas (Òrìṣà), which is a Yoruba way of life/tradition. It is there that he got the name Ifa-Tunde; meaning the oracle has returned.

Musicians featured on this project includes: Trevor Bonnick (Skatta), who is the lead singer for Inner Circle. He played various instruments, provided harmonies and mixed the entire project; Benje “Donovan” Belnavis (bass guitar); Paul “Titus” Green (rhythm guitar); Steven “Lenky” Marsden (piano) and Shanti (harmonies). It was mastered by Delroy “Spider” Thompson at Anchor Studio in Kingston, Jamaica.

As if all the aforementioned isn’t enough to solidify “Melanin” as a great record, it also boast collaborations with Mikey General, Skatta and Shaddu. All songs were recorded at Cube Music JA.

Click here to listen and download “Melanin” from iTunes.

Review by @MariaJackson27

On Tuesday November 4^th 2014 Jamaica once again showed why it is and will always be the home of authentic Reggae music. It is on this day that singer Nesbeth released his five tracks EP entitled VICTORY.

The EP starts with the track “Marijuana” then goes into track 2, “Jah Jah Handpick”. Some may consider both songs as ordinary records that do not stand out in any way. However, all that changes once you get to track 3, (the EP title track) “Taste Victory” which was produced by DJ Frass. It is very difficult to listen to this song and not move something on your body, whether it’s rocking your head or stomping your feet, the beat demands that you respond. And Nesbeth for his part is absolutely captivating on this record. Both his flow as well as his words will have every listener locked in. “Taste Victory” is a beautiful song in which the artist talks extensively about all the difficulties he has been through as he now celebrates what he considers to be VICTORY.

In track 4 Nesbeth takes you even deeper with the song “Hundu Lay Lay” which he produced himself. Warning, this song is strictly for righteous warriors and fighters, it is not for passive indecisive souls. On this record Nesbeth addresses the issues of conformity, the attempts of world governments to have us all acting, looking and sounding alike. He touches on topics such as freedom of speech and self hatred, specifically amongst Africans and people of African descent. The beauty about this record is that all the aforementioned was nicely done on top of well played keke drums. It is difficult to effectively describe this song, one simply has to listen and feel for oneself.

The final track on the EP is “Even Though” produced by Merrick Shaw. The minute this song starts it literally takes you to a different place and time. For each listener the journey will be different but for all it is guaranteed to be a pleasurable one. Once this song ends you begin to wish that there is a track 6 to skip to and it is for this reason that the review is titled; Nesbeth’s Victory EP should have been an album. The feel of this EP starts out very ordinary but with each song it builds into something spectacular.

MJ highly recommends that everyone gets a copy of VICTORY! It is distributed by Zojak.