Customer Reviews

Power Cut Riddim Driven

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An older fan of reggae music, who hasn't necessarily been keeping up to date with today's ridiculously fast paced world of dancehall might find the release of the Power Cut riddim album to be a bit strange. While you yourself can rather easily go and check to see the still crazy release schedule of riddim albums in this day and age (this, even despite the apparent abandonment, or at the very least cutting back of Greensleeves Rhythm album series this year), THIS one in particular might confuse a few of you older reggae heads. Why? Of course nothing is odd that this one is from VP, another piece of their very solid Riddim Driven series, but the production house is none other than Big Ship Productions. Big Ship Productions of course has been made known and notable by legendary singer Freddie McGregor. McGregor has been in the reggae business for over 40 years, establishing himself as one of the finest and everlasting talents in all of not just reggae music, but music altogether. McGregor made his way to his lofty status singing songs like Push Come to Shove, Africa Here I Come, Stop Loving You and his most noteworthy Big Ship (for which his label is named, obviously). McGregor has been one of the most consistent vocalists over the years, as he has basically never taken a very long break during his career as have many of his peers throughout the years. McGregor's name is held in the same esteem as (especially in Jamaica) as such names of his peers such as John Holt, Cornell Campbell, Gregory Isaacs and the beloved Jimmy Cliff and Beres Hammond and deservedly so. McGregor also has recorded for some of the finest producing talents the island has ever had to offer over his legendarily long career, names like Niney the Observer, Coxsone Dodd and Bobby Digital. McGregor's style is that of the stereotypical (in a good way, a mighty good way) singing Rasta man (farrrrr removed from this release), his advantage has typically been his writing, with his pen being amongst the truly sharpest of any singer any reggae singer has ever had. McGregor started his label, Big Ship, in the early 1990's and has done most of his noteworthy recording since that time on his own label. Besides doing production, voicing and promotion for his own material, later, Big Ship Productions had began voicing and producing for different talents. What is perhaps the greatest peculiarity of this release is that McGregor's career actually began before his teenage years, and the absolute leader of his label is a mere 16 year old kid.

The McGregor name and reggae lineage has been cast into the very capable hands of Freddie McGregor's teenage son, Stephen `The Genius' McGregor. Stephen isn't at all known for his work on stage or behind the microphone, he is strictly a production prodigy. The wizard behind some of the harshest and craziest vibes of the past 2-3 years, Stephen McGregor has become one of THE producers in the dancehall industry, rather quickly placing his name alongside the names of such current greats as Vendetta, Scatta and Daseca, and in the future even, perhaps alongside current dancehall legends such as the Bros. Kelly and Donovan Germain. Stephen's credits also, rather shockingly, did just about everything outside of gaining an executive producer credit for his father's most recent studio album on VP, 2005's Comin' In Tough (in retrospect, it's absolutely ridiculous to see all he did on that album at a then mere 14 years old!). Since then, young Stephen has made his name: Firstly, as an apprentice to the sick producer Scatta, then being taken under the wing of DJ/producer/promoter, Delly Ranx. It's also odd that most probably (myself included, as are many DJ's on Caribbean radio stations) attributed the riddims coming from Delly's Di Ranx Productions to Delly Ranx himself, having virtually no idea that the true `genius' behind the vibes was a then 15 years old Stephen. His vibes? There is a certain feel that comes with listening to A LOT of dancehall music, you can almost just listen to a riddim and have narrowed down a list of 2-3 names for the identity of its possible creator, every producer has a very signature style: Such as the bounciness of Tony Kelly's riddims; the hard drop feel of his brother Dave's excellent creations; the very free-flinging, almost lucidity of Lenky's riddims; and finally the well structured yet crazy masterpieces that comes out of Vendetta's studio. Stephen McGregor's style is probably best described as high tech warrior styled dancehall. The first big riddim which McGregor actually helmed was the somewhat crazy and ridiculous yet aptly titled, for his age, Cartoon riddim which shaped what would become his eventual vibe. The riddim which really launched Stephen into the spotlight was definitely the Red Bull & Guiness riddim. The RB&G was an almost embellishment of a riddim to the high powered degree, and while Stephen had done so much fine work on the matured and natural sound that was his father's Comin' In Tough, the RB&G sounded exactly like something which could have come directly from the mind of 16 year old (although very few, if any at all outside of McGregor would have the capabilities of actually producing such a vibe). Following the Red Bull & Guiness (which was so massive it actually produced two albums, one for VP and one for Greensleeves which contained more than 20 tracks) was the MASSIVE Ghetto Whiskey, which sounded like a slightly tormented version of the RB & G, and finally the 12 Gauge album which sounded very similar to its predecessors, only slightly heavier than both.

Incidentally, and again, oddly, the young producer's riddims act as backdrops for some of the most hellaciously violent pieces, with their style. And going back to my original point, can you imagine that the man who would produce Big Ship, would ultimately (although indirectly) be associated with this type of vibe. The Elder McGregor (who actually owns the label and studio) has obviously conceded to the vibes of the day being for the youths and has also conceded that his son is amongst the most talented in the genre.

Stephen Mac's latest masterpiece thankfully abandons the well worn vibes of the previous three riddims (which had gotten to the point making the 12 Gauge riddim album almost unmistakable besides a couple of tracks) and, although it definitely retains his normal vibes, the Power Cut is a monster all of its own. It also apparently abandons Delly Ranx, as he is completely absent from the 15 artists who voiced the riddim for the album (and I don't recall hearing a tune by Delly playing either). And just like its 3 older brothers, it backs some of the craziest and most violent tracks you'll ever hear, but as a track itself, I love it! The Power Cut is a sleeping giant of a riddim which has one of the coolest intros you'll ever hear with a very old sounding wisp of a start. The riddim actually became the backdrop to one of the craziest physical and lyrical unlikely wars dancehall has ever seen (and with the revolving door styled motley crew that has been dancehall's history, that's saying something definitely), with lyrics demon Vybz Kartel being pitted against. . . Odd hit making singer Mavado. The pair had previously recorded together during both's stay in the Bounty Killer led dancehall group, The Alliance, but bad blood came with Kartel's exit from the group and the battle would eventually escalate to the point where the actual lost of human life was attributed to the duo's violent lyrical reactions to one another, before a very public (which was seen on local television) settling of the score. Besides that, the riddim backs some of the stereotypical gun toasting and boasting names one would expect (alongside one very very unlikely one) on such a riddim, so of course expect the names like Bounty Killer himself and disciples Busy Signal and Aidonia (who is now more of a Kartel disciple following his own exit from the Alliance as well). The young McGregor's style of production is just one that seems to encourage such vibes (and not saying that as a diss to the young Genius, just a fact) so much so that the absolute worst offering on the riddim is Norris Man making a complete 180 from the Persistence days offering the viciously slack and hardcore Love the Girls (it sounds EXACTLY like the type of thing you might hear from Sizzla, in terms of tone, but I can't imagine even Kalonji in his foulest of sessions would record something like Love the Girls), although I've in the past given room for such artists, Kalonji and Capleton most notably making such tracks, I even have to say, I can't support Love the Girls at all and think it was a complete mistake by Norris Man (although he has returned to form easily since recording it, launching the wonderful Captura album).

From one end to the other: The best track on the Power Cut riddim is Aidonia's insane Bush Caash. `Donia' also scored the biggest shot on the Ghetto Whiskey riddim with War Monga showing himself without a doubt to be the definitive voice for the next generation of gun tunes as Kartel was (and probably still is) and Bounty Killer was before him. Aidonia almost seems to rhyme too fast at points and you lose exactly what he's saying, but Stephen's style of production was MADE for Aidonia (incidentally, Scatta previously mentored Stephen as I mentioned, and was the one who really brought Aidonia to prominence at roughly the same time), for further evidence, one need only check McGregor's next piece, the Tremor riddim album (to be released very soon also by VP) also has Aidonia to thank for its best tune with the sickly wicked Gagga. Aidonia's main rival as the voice of the new generation (as far as DJ's, singer Mavado may have an edge on the both) Busy Signal also scores a huge shot with his effort which became the title track of the riddim. Its typical Busy when he's at his best: He's not very melodically gifted, but he says about as much that can be said in his time, his track almost comes and goes entirely too fast, but in his brief time, Busy does a crazy job handling the Power Cut. The war between Kartel and Mavado ultimately proved to be a draw with both scoring major damage lyrically against one another, `Mavado deemed Kartel (birthed Adidja Palmer) `Informer Palmer' and `Adidja the Bleacher`; while Kartel stopped referring to Mavado altogether, instead calling him `Mafraudo'. They score equally well against one another on their tracks here, Mavado with his crazy violent (and detaled) Top Shotta Nah Miss and Kartel with his typically huge and crazy Start War and Dead.

Missing on the riddim is up and coming lyrics genius Bramma de Bomba whose Last Man Standing (which you can hear on his first official international mixtape Welcome to UK) is absolutely sick and may actually challenge Aidnoia's Bush Caash as the best tune recorded for the Power Cut and unfortunately it didn't make the album. But capably replacing de Bomba is the upstart Einstein who scored a nice sized local hit with his Caliber (formerly known as Rise di Machine). Again, not surprisingly, Caliber is a viciously violent track but Einstein makes almost perfect usage of the piece. Other pieces to check out include Craig Dennis' excellent Talkie Talkie as the singer attempts to (and actually does a good job) suck a melody out of the riddim and he comes off very Akon-ish and does a fine a job on one of the stronger pieces on the riddim. Also doing a good job is dancehall royalty Lady Saw on her Nah Stick, giving the violent piece a woman's touch, of course Saw ruins the changeup by doing a violent track herself (in her own way though) but one of the better ones here; the up and coming Chino who is actually Stephen's older brother does nice on his tune top Rankin which is actually a pure girl tune; and finally, the only artist attempting to do something different than bust the biggest gun on the riddim is shockingly Sean Paul. Paul's Get it Right boasts an anti-violence and corruption message which definitely works and perhaps gives insight to those to record on future Genius riddims that yes, you can do something different on the riddim (would have loved to see artist like Capleton or Spragga doing exactly that on this one).

Overall, I'm recommending the Power Cut riddim to a very select crowd. It definitely helps if you've been paying attention to Stephen McGregor's other productions, if you liked any of them, this one is for you. Besides that, only dancehall heads need apply (and that implies the first group I mentioned doesn't predominately include dancehall heads, which it does) . The Power Cut is only for you if you can find the joy in listening to the back and forth style harshness which dancehall can sometimes create. I would have liked to see Stephen do a few more mixes on the riddim, the only real variation comes on singjay Kari Jess' solid Dem Gyal, but that should perhaps come with time, I also fully expect him to eventually pick up the mic himself at one point. The Power Cut on its own merits it's a wonderfully hardcore dancehall track, one which hardcore dancehall fans can't afford to miss.