Zking of Hearts – Happiness (is in your heart)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 6/5/07
Slickly produced, often pop Reggae with a bit of dancehall, club and dub. Singer is from Antigua. He specifically states that he’s moving from roots reggae to pop and dance, the record is highly produced, there are lots of love songs, and the cover art is just plain silly – it should all add up to “sucks”, but it somehow doesn’t. Maybe the CD case is impregnated with THC, or something!
No FCCs – one “damn” somewhere, but it’s innocuous in context.
I like 1, then 3, 7, 9, and 12. Even the pop poop doesn’t quite suck…
1. 4:32 ****dancehall-dubby intro, then midtempo roots bubble, sweet vocals, all about solving the world’s problems with pot. Yay!
2. 3:52 **airy electronic chords intro, pretty pop tune about heading for the sun. After this winter, I’m feeling this song…
3. 3:27 ***Rasta exhortation intro, downtempo nyahbinghi-based Reggae. Simple, almost hymn-like, really nice.
4. 4:20 *pop with a one-drop, love song – this should suck, but somehow it doesn’t.
5. 4:09 *bouncy minimalist electronic dance beat, love song. Gets a bit dubby,
6. 3:50 **female chorus intro, then upbeat roots bubble. Chanted sermon – not bad, though. Bit of electric guitar.
7. 3:56 ***midtempo dancehall, all about pot. Bit of almost nursery rhyme, bit of Middle Eastern tune. Some toughness to the riddim, but really just fun and nice.
8. 3:51 **cool midtempo roots skank, very danceable. Love/seduction song with a bit of dub.
9. 3:45 ***uptempo skank, nice production.
10. 3:20 **uptempo skank, some electric guitar, actually (rather odd) Rasta lyrics.
11. 3:26 **electronic voice intro, rave riddim, vocals from track 7.
12. 3:26 ***same intro as track 11, same rave riddim, but no vocals. Dub of rave riddim actually is kinda fun… Am I going crazy?
13. 4:20 *slow vocal intro, winds up cracking himself up. Slow pop, happiness in spite of adversity lyrics. Some nutty whoops. Doesn’t suck.