Snow
12 Inches of Snow

THE REVIEW

There is something about the nineties productions that has always fascinated me, namely, the search for a primordial and -why not- primitive beat.

The most obsessive reggae enthusiasts have always been prone to a certain ostracism towards more mainstream products, considered as watered-down versions of the genre.

Now, imagine a white Canadian guy bursting onto the scene with a hit single conquering all the radios. Stoning, right?

At the time when Informer made it big, Snow even ended up in jail. A serious charge of assault and attempted murder got him into real trouble for about a year. This guy saw his own song's music video for the first time on TV with the other inmates; unbelievable.

In the late eighties, Darrin was nicknamed -predictably- Snow, first by the Brown family who introduced him to these sounds, and later by his then-new friend DJ Marvin Prince. Raised in a multi-ethnic neighborhood, he was the Superb Notorious Outrageous Whiteboy.

Informer and Lonely Monday Morning share the same lyrics except for the chorus (the latter also has a nice remixed version).

The more hip hop root is expressed in Creative Child. The style is obviously, and as mentioned, very self-referential.

Darrin O'Brien, therefore, does not present anything watered down -on the contrary- the lyrics of this first album of his deal with rather delicate subjects (albeit in a dancehall sauce). And that's what strikes. As I wrote elsewhere, I find it highly cool that artist who succeeds in the aim of merging a melody and lyrics that seem so distant from each other by nature. Thanks also to MC Shan and the producer Edmond Leary.