Ini Kamoze – 51 50 Rule
Reviewed by Sadie O., 6/5/09
The latest by long-time gangsta dancehall sing-jay star. The first few tracks seem to be aimed at the BET Urban market, but tracks 5 and after are much more upful. Some very odd and interesting lyrical bits, and mostly electronic riddims, spiced up with some pretty decent harmonies. A bit quirky, really, but lots of interesting stuff.
No FCCs detected – a couple quite suggestive bits, but you have to be pretty good at deciphering patois to get them….
1. 3:50 ***trumpet intro, then gangsta chat, then slow dancehall crawl. You can totally picture the way the music video would look… That said, it’s got some nice syncopation and a pretty compelling sound.
2. 4:21 **very minimalist slow electronic dancehall without much bottom end, sort of stream of consciousness “rumble” lyrics. Flows into next track.
3. 4:28 **slow dancehall riddim with hand claps, fractured gangsta lyrics. Almost hypnotic.
4. 4:26 eyeeeew. Urban sleaze with female vocals. Suggestive…
5. 3:48 ***downbeat “acoustic” riddim with a touch of nyahbinghi, rather sad song about… how gangstas have made life so dangerous. Hm….
6. 4:08 ****strong midtempo swingy riddim, Rasta lyrics. Different sound, quite cool.
7. 3:56 ****rootsy (albeit electronic) midtempo skank, about life in jail – heavy lyrics.
8. 3:29 *****quite jaunty midtempo electronic bubble, sociopolitical rant. Extra star for the line “I still can’t spell/what the hell/they put in my ice cream swirl.”
9. 3:34 ****dedication intro, minimalist downtempo dubby dancehall skank.
10. 4:06 ***slow dancehall, warning about bad living lyrics.
11. 3:27 **R&B intro, slow dancehall, fairly interesting sound.
12. 3:25 *****midtempo electronic dancehall, no idea what he and Sizzla are going on about, but it’s a really fun sound.
13. 3:38 ***midtempo rootsy skank, all about how his babe isn’t a skanky ho.
14. 4:47 *****dancehall salsa (not reggaeton, as you might expect), lyrics in Spanish and English. Quite sweet, really.
15. 4:01 ****(actually “Out of Jamaica”) really cool swingy downtempo skank with horns, praise of Jamaican music and culture. Rather strange little bridge…
16. 4:22 *** (actually “I Wish”) sweet little midtempo love song. I usually hate love songs, but this is really quite nice.