Customer Reviews

Ras Portraits

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Were you to look up the term, 'Dancehall Singer' in an encyclopedia, you would probably find an individual who very much resembled Calvin Scott, better known as Cocoa Tea. The slight and dreadlocked Clarendon native with the sweetest voice in all of the dance has made an amazing career for himself by just fitting the stereotype, and then COMPLETELY blowing it out of the water. As one might expect the dancehall singer to be, Cocoa Tea is ultra laid back in his style and even cooler than the stereotype! Beyond the image are a whole heap of skills and experience to lay his trademark hat on, having voiced (and continuing to do voice) for some of the finest production talents Jamaica has had to offer over the last twenty years.

Recording for such producers as Fattis for Xterminator, Bobo for Star Trail, Bobby Digital and King Jammy's over the years has earned Cocoa Tea the reputation of oen of the best pure singers as well as one of the most dependable artists altogether. You wil probably NEVER see a Cocoa Tea show flop, anywhere, be it home, or abroad. All of this combined with his appreciation of his craft, and constant striving to still develop his style makes Tea one of my favorite artists, and he never spoils, armed with some of the strongest vibes in all of the dance.

Probably the most notable producer Cocoa Tea has ever worked with was Henry 'Junjo' Lawes. It was on Lawes' imprint, Volcano, where Cocoa Tea first made a name for himself and also made his first hits. He also made the 3 albums for RAS Records (Kingston Hot, Sweet Love and Rocking Dolly) from which the materials for this fine fine installment of RAS' nice series, Ras Portraits, were pulled. And while Cocoa Tea is an artist with a healthy dose of greatest hits albums on the shelves, none at all do a better joob at capturing the high quality pieces he did with the late Lawes.

The power of this album pretty much rests with the 3 MASSIVE tracks he did for Lawes, however, much of the supporting material is arguably just as fine. Check the unearthly sweet Louisiana. The song may be the first example of a song which I've heard by CT when he actually applies a sort of 'lift' to his voice instead of just his natural way of singing. The slight tweak makes the song so sweet you may need a note from your dentist to get through it! Also definitely check the highly addictive (took about 3 spins to grown on me) No Wanted Me, easily one of the best tunes here for the dancefloor.

I love the format of the Ras Portraits series. The very easily digstible 11 tracks and easy price make the entire series worth checking as it generally features some of the finer Jamaican singers who have recorded for the label (which is nearly every prominent roots singer of the past 20 years.

Also check the on situation where CT goes completely cultural on the album on the wicked wicked Gotta Know Rastafari, a very very big track! Check Kingston Hot over Lawes' well powerful Freedom Blues, which was actually a decent hit for Cocoa Tea and the title track of his very first RAS album; and I have to mention Jah Made Them That Way over the Answer riddim on which Tea actually invokes the melody of Michael Jackson and makes it work completely.

But, as I mentioned, the power here is between the three major hits Cocoa Tea and Lawes scored together. The opener, Rocking Dolly, is without a doubt one of the biggest of CT's career and was considered a rather large victory when RAS 'won' the song for its album of the same title. The you get my choice for the album's best song altogether, the wicked wicked Bust Outta Hell over Lawes' Love is Not A Gamble riddim. The song, which I've seen him do many time sin concert has always been one of my favorites from the very first second that I heard it and is STILL one of the first tunes I relate the artist with. And lastly, check I Lost My Sonia, the dancehall SMASH over Lawes' well traveled and well powerful mad mad riddim, which went a far way in establishing the name of Cocoa Tea as a force in the dancehall.

Overall, just as always when dealing with the Ras Portraits albums, I'm more than happy to recommend this one. For older fans of the artist, you may have all the tunes already, however, if you don't this is as definitely as great of an album as any to get them all together. And for the newer fans looking to catch onto this sweet sweet talent, definitely a nice place to start. Cocoa Tea and Junjo Lawes had a fantastic chemistry together and its a shame that Lawes passed in 1999 and they didn't have a chance to continue their works. Still, when I grow up, I want to be just like Cocoa Tea.