Mr. Vegas – The Hits
Reviewed by Sadie O., 1/23/09
10 years worth of top Dancehall hits by the original “sing-jay”. Most riddims are very electronic, often with soca beats, and pretty creative. Apparently Mr. Vegas did his first vocal track shortly after having been hit in the jaw with a pipe, so although he wanted to be a singer, he settled for creating the “sing-jay” style, which is sung DJing.
Some admissions – I didn’t know Mr. Vegas was the voice behind a lot of these, and I can’t make out more than a couple of words in most of them. As far as I can tell, there’s a couple of somewhat suggestive tracks, but no clear FCCs… I like 1, 7, 9, 17 best.
1. 3:32 ****minimalist electronic dancehall with poits (yes, that’s “poits”), monster hit. Chances are you’ve heard this, and didn’t know who it was. Now you do!
2. 2:57 **slightly ominous sounding intro, uptempo soca-dancehall, totally danceable.
3. 3:25 **odd cobbled riddim – part gunshot beat snare beats, part acoustic guitar.
4. 3:11 **uptempo electronic riddim, boopy keyboards, high speed rhythmic vocals.
5. 2:54 ***downtempo lopsided electronic dancehall with fun cobbled elements, party lyrics.
6. 3:35 *a bit downtempo roots reggae riddim, sad love song, very commercial chorus although the lead vocals are sweet.
7. 3:39 ****several spoken voices intro, then irresistible electronic swing, different version of a familiar pothead anthem. Fun!
8. 3:33 **fun midtempo electronic soca riddim, R&B female chorus, fun lead vocals.
9. 3:15 ****minimalist, fun electronic dancehall, contrast of very high and very low vocals.
10. 3:46 **downtempo soca-dancehall, huge hit with female chorus, all about wiggling your booty on the dance floor.
11. 3:39 downtempo swingy skank, love song, singing rather than sing-jaying – very commercial sound.
12. 3:27 ***chanting and huffing intro (well, how would YOU describe it?), minimalist downtempo dancehall with chant/huff chorus. Bagpipes! Huh!
13. 3:05 **minimalist syncopated dancehall, vocal duties shared with Sean Paul – they are apparently competing for the same hot gal.
14. 3:13 *Oh my… There’s a lesson for all of us here. Riddim seems largely composed of game beeps, and the lyrics are… direct.
15. 3:21 ***fun, familiar boopy downtempo electronic riddim. I’m pretty sure he’s asking the girls to jump up if they know who their baby’s father is… Ah, Jamaica!
16. 2:51 ***midtempo synchopated dancehall, tough “bwoh bwoh bwoh” chorus.
17. 2:53 ****starts with Elephant Man coughing, then midtempo lopassed riddim, fun interplay of vocals, all about pot! Yay!
18. 3:28 ***rather ominous boops in the riddim, huge hit, perhaps along the lines of My Adidas?