Elephant Man – (The Energy God)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/19/07
The Monster of Dancehall – should need no introduction. All high quality electronic dancehall riddims, almost none of the lyrics are understandable for most Americans. There are a couple of mild FCCs or FCCs in patois, and a couple of songs probably about sex, but I think most of the blatant stuff was bleeped beforehand. This is a brand new comp, but I don’t know the original dates of particular tracks – we already have 2 or 3 of them on other CDs. Lots of KILLER stuff here.
Very mild FCCs on 3 and 9, tracks 4 and 13 are probably naughty
if you know the lingo. Best tracks IMO 5, 7, 11, 16 and 17.
1. 3:23 ***chamber music intro, midtempo dancehall. Apparently a dance called “Log On”? Cool riddim.
2. 3:06 ***handclap riddim, a bit uptempo, bouncy and fun.
3. 2:39 NB: starts w/ “Who’s the Bitch now?” **slightly uptempo, minimal electronic riddim with chanting chorus.
4. 3:09 FCCs in patois… “Pum” is Jamaican for female naughty bits. Fun minimalist riddim, and probably few people will have any idea what he’s saying, but probably just as well to exercise caution.
5. 3:41 ****fun midtempo boopy riddim, hyperactive rap – great lyrics, as far as I can make out.
6. 3:58 **slow dirge riddim switching to hard midtempo electronic dancehall. Odd thug lyrics – don’t know whether he’s for or against bad men…
7. 3:15 ****rather uptempo, irresistible syncopated riddim. Seems like it’s probably naughty, but not speaking fluent dancehall patois, who can tell? Might be about giving her good music to dance to…
8. 3:21 ***midtempo riddim, exhorting girls to belly dance. VERY slight middle eastern tinges to the music, bit of handdrums.
9. 3:37 FCC (mild) “cut the crap” **slightly downtempo minimalist riddim, self-engrandizing, a bit of thug posing.
10. 2:54 **midtempo very minimalist electronic riddim (interestingly put together, though)
11. 4:15 *****insane baroque intro into fantastic midtempo bounce. Worth the price of admission alone!
12. 3:22 **midtempo bloopy riddim, lyrics pretty much indecipherable at any speed.
13. 3:06 *lots of people talking at start. Slightly downtempo riddim, duet with female vocals. “Two foot in the air” – hmm… probably not totally clean…
14. 2:54 **midtempo riddim – no idea what being online has to do with anything…
15. 3:34 ***starts with conversation, hyperactive riddim – inscrutable lyrics, but nicely goofy overall sound. PC? Dunno!
16. 2:53 ****very nutted midtempo riddim, vocals not right in the head either.
17. 2:56 ****nutted and nutted. Slightly uptempo, lots of drums.
18. 3:13 **dramatic intro, midtempo minimalist riddim – this must be one of the older cuts, as the rest of us are pretty much over “shizzle ma nizzle”…
19. 3:14 ***midtempo, pretty classic electronic dancehall, monotone rap. Extra star for crazy noises apparently bleeping stuff out…
20. 3:46 *unplugged, spoken eulogy for 9/11, dedication to firemen, midtempo, interesting take on the situation.