Rankin Scroo – Solid
Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/9/08
Conscious Dancehall/Reggae by Bay Area singer and producer. Almost all of the riddims are entirely put together by Rankin Scroo himself, and although they’re interesting and mostly eminently listenable, I miss having some interplay of musicians. Vocals and lyrics are quite strong.
No FCCs detected. I like 5 best, 1, 7 and 13 also quite good.
1. 4:05 ***starts with ticking and yells, then forceful dancehall.
2. 3:36 *starts with a bit of praying, then very mellow slow organ-based skank. Religious lyrics with female backing vocals.
3. 3:06 **often-used acoustic guitar nyahbinghi riddim, cool dancehall vocals
4. 4:00 tabla intro turns into bouncy midtempo skank, very commercial production. Love song.
5. 3:53 ****fine downtempo one-drop, simple but with layers of instrumentation, solid lyrics.
6. 2:56 **somewhat downtempo skank, political diatribe.
7. 3:40 ***downtempo organ-based skank with a bit of nyahbinghi drumming, some falsetto dancehall vocals a la Sizzla.
8. 4:23 **long intro, very sparse electronic riddim.
9. 3:35 execrable love song, custom made for BET, with sugar coating.
10. 3:37 *downtempo sparse dancehall, dance number, all about the girl’s body – but actually rather fun.
11. 4:07 **downtempo roots skank, Rasta lyrics.
12. 4:11 *downtempo electronic dancehall riddim, religious lyrics.
13. 5:00 ***slightly downtempo skank with bouncy syncopation, Rasta lyrics.
14. 3:50 **another sparse electronic dancehall one-drop, strong lyrics.