Customer Reviews

Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Exactly how Sizzla fans waited the agonizingly long 91 days between Life and Sizzla's previous album, Stay Focus is an absolute mystery to me. How they consistently wait the 50 or so days a year between announcements of his albums is even more perplexing. . .

Seriously though, as 2004 comes to an end, Sizzla celebrates the release of his 6th official release (albeit African Children and Red Alert were basically the same album), with another greatest hits album to add even more fire, you kind of start to wonder if it'll ever end. Probably not. With an artist who seems bent on writing new songs everyday and record labels who seem bent on grabbing up enough of them to make albums and fans (myself definitely included)who seem to have virtually no problem with shelling out around $70-80/year for his music, why should he ever stop? And I suppose if his next 10 years in the business prove to be as fruitful as the first decade has, he'll be well beyond a HUGE 60 studio album catalog before he turns 40!

On to the music! Life is a pretty decent album. Its the definite followup to last year's Rise to the Occasion Greensleeves album, but is the literal followup to 2001's Black History album which was the last album Sizzla did which he himself was on the board for, he produces about 75% of Life and the results are mixed to say the least. This is by no means the artist's best (that seems to be reserved for Bobby Digital and Occasionally his producer Fattis Burrel) material, but its serviceable and if 'Rise' could do as good as it ended up doing, I don't see any difference with this one. The best tune here is Mortal Man featuring Thriller U (who I would definitely like to see in the studio more), also like Marijuana, Things Will Be Better, Haven't I Told You (aka For You) riding the massive I Swear riddim, We Got the Love and the really really good Jah Works oh and Jah Love too. Basically the first half of the album is really really good. The second half is pretty weird, the title track starts good but gets really crazy really quick. (Oh and for a second half good tune, has to be Born & Raised)
Overall, if you've been listening to this artist for awhile, you'll find some great vibes here and nothing that will shock you on the downside. Its pretty much what you've come to expect from Sizzla in the most recent years, notable spans of brilliance on one side and a virtual experiment on the other. All in all its still pretty good and will probably please much of the crowd which liked the suprisingly critically acclaimed 'Rise'. See you next fall for the next Greensleeves album, next summer for the VP album and in. . . about What? a couple of months maybe? for the next Jetstar album. . .

its is indeed a new and fresh album from the great sizzla, so expect good music. this is his first personal work of art, written,produced and recorded at his newly built studio in Judgement yard. Its definately a new era for him and music in general cause a whole lot tunes are gonna be flowing outta Judgement yard in the near future so you better brace for it. Big to sizzla for that achievement. Life is a great album , with some classic song.my favourite is HAVEN'T I TOLD YOU. My empress love it too.over all great piece of work. go cop it.

I have to congradulate Sizzla on this latest album which shows a broadening of this great musician's ability. This album departs from Sizzla's recent series of screaming harmonies and takes a turn towards rhythm and more concious lyrics. In the Cd booklet Sizzla writes, "I have put my heart and soul into writing these songs, truly this album is really the beginning of another era for me." I hope this is true. That voice of his is a gift from above. The lyrics of this album transcend the last couple of albums.

Best songs in my opinion: 'Haven't I Told You'(sweet, smooth sound), 'Jah Works'(nice beat, conscious lyrics), 'Ain't That Nice'(raw emotion, upful energy), 'Jah Love' (you will feel this one), 'When Nature Calls' (fresh sound), 'One in My Life'.

This is the fourth out of five albums that Sizzla released in 2004. While not his best offering of the year, it's definately a quality product. Here are just a few quick thoughts on each song.

It opens with the rootsy "Things Will Be Better", which lyrically and vocally is great, but the riddim is one of the weakest on the album.

Next comes "Mortal Man" with Thriller U. This is one of the best tracks on the album. I really love the looped piano part and the hip-hop styled riddim PUMPS. Thriller U's vocal parts are just great, too.

"Marijuana" is a really good, straight up, kind of upbeat, reggae song, although the F-bombs in the chorus kinda take away from the potential greatness of the song. Really love the bassline and the tone of it is just sick.

"Haven't I Told You" uses the same riddim Jah Cure used for "Good Morning Jah Jah". Although I really love Jah Cure, I think Sizzla did much better with the riddim. Pretty romantic song and the female backing vocals are beautiful. One of the only One-drops on the album.

"We Got the Love", although one of the more forgettable songs on the album, is still a pretty good song. Some really great lyrics and good melody but pretty basic roots reggae riddim. It's not a very special song but worth a listen.

The album picks up again with "Jah Works", the first actual Dancehall song on the album. Usually on his dancehall songs, you find Sizzla using his gruff voice but he sticks to his smooth voice on this song and it really just sounds great. I love the Riddim, I love the lyrics and vocals. One of the best songs on the album.

"Ain't that Nice" is a great one-drop roots reggae song about the undeserved kindness of Jah Rastafari. Great Falsetto usage on the beautiful chorus.

"Jah Love" is another great one-drop roots reggae song about the greatness of Jah's love in a Rasta's life and all the blessings Jah provides. Great melodies.

"Greater One" is a very different song for LIFE where Sizzla shows a bit of his gloomy, angry side over kind of a rap influenced riddim. It's a good song and brings some more diversity to the album.

"Stay in Tune" is a bit upbeat and has kind of dancehall style vocals over a pretty much rootsy sounding song, which ends up working great.

"When Nature Calls" is a pretty sexual but great Dancehall/hiphop styled song with a sweet falsetto chorus.

"Born and Raised" is another rootsy one drop song where Sizzla once again uses his Falsetto in the chorus. Although stylistically it's nothing like the song 'Ghetto Revolution' the chorus definately brings memories of the song since both choruses say "born and raised in the ghetto..."

The title track to me, is r&b and kinda hiphop in a way....on the chorus he uses his smooth vocals which came out great and on the verse he uses his very gruff voice...it's actually one of the only times he uses it on the whole album. This song definately has some of the best lyrics on the whole album. Kinda funny how he released two songs in 2004 called "Life" tho.

"Perfect Lover" is one of my favorite songs on the album. Great use of Falsetto and sexy lyrics. Great dancehall influenced Lover's Rock song.

"One and Only" finds Sizzla....pretty pissed off. It has pretty bad sound quality for some reason, whereas the rest of the album has top notch sound quality. Kinda seems like it was slapped together really quickly. With some better prodcution and mixing, I think it would have been a better song.

I don't know what the hell is going on on the final track, "One in My Life". Pretty bad sound quality once again, kinda cheesey 3/4 riddim, although the sounds in the background are pretty cool....The vocals are too loud for some reason and just sound kinda weird...I really just don't know what was going on on this song. It seems slapped together...It kinda has a creepy feel and makes me feel funny when I listen to it... In a way it's a good closer coz it leaves you thinking....But I think they coulda picked a better closer...

"Life" is an overall roots-reggae styled album with a little bit of dancehall and a little hiphop influence on some songs. Most of the songs are really strong with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 of the riddims being a little weak. And I honestly think this album was originally supposed to be 14 songs but at the last minute they decided to throw on the last two, based on how they sound.

Although it wasn't the best album of 2004 for Sizzla, it is definately a great album you can listen to over and over again.

Great album from Sizzla! I would put this album in the same class as Black Woman & Child and Da Real Thing. He gets a little experimental with this album, but that turns out to be a good thing in this case. My favourite tracks are "We've Got The Love", "Jah Works", and the title-track "Life". The production on the album is top-notch. This album didn't grow on me, I loved it as soon as I pressed play!

Everyone gets too caught up in Sizzla. When he drops an album, it isn't in accordance with another album, yet the comparisons continue. Life is a great album. The stand out track that hit me first was Marijuana. Explicit yet simple lyrics always do it. When Nature Calls and Jah Works are also very tight tracks. On a whole the album is hot. Jah Knows Best, Speak Of Jah, Stay Focus, Red Alert, and now Life, also there was an underground album Good Morning; they are all very different and unique in their OWN way. Regardless of who produces it, its quality music that no other artist can match. I personally don't know what people are listening to, but I hear lyrics and songs from him that are just as good as songs from Black Woman & Child and Praise Ye Jah. To me Kalonji gets better and better. Look forward to March when Reality drops. Peace and Blessings In the name of the MOST HIGH.

I give up i guess. sizzla put out some albums that shot him straight to the top, and now after buying his last few and hearing that this was "the one" and that sizzla is back i was unpleasantly surprised. if you want good sizzla for your money go buy "black woman and child, good ways, freedom cry, or royal son of ethiopia". this album has one good song in my opinion, track one. not enough to make an album. throw on any of the others i just mentioned and let them play all the way through. play this current album and you will offend the people around you. too much cursing and senseless lyrics as well, like "we dont give a f@#k we just smoke the marijuana", derr sizzla. blessinigs flow mr kalanji and much respect for an artist experimenting, but enough experimenting allready. that beinig said sizzla is in my opinion still one of the top artists out of jamaica, but not since royal son of ethiopia.