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Rating: Reggae fascinates me primarily because it originates from Jamaica, a fantastic land full of history and culture, and also because it is one of the few genres that has nothing to do with other genres.
It is free from preconceived patterns, it is free in itself, containing typical Caribbean rhythms and tropical sounds. Lastly, reggae is tied to a movement, the Rastafari movement, a social, cultural, and religious expression of a people full of significant ideologies.
Reggae touches many people who were not born and/or have no idea what Jamaica is, because reggae, as Tanya Stephens argues, is the voice of the masses, the voice of poverty, the music of the fragile who are the majority in the world.
From Sound Systems, that is, mobile discos, came the dancehalls.
Dancehalls (the good ones) in my opinion are more beautiful than a concert and a nightclub put together, the dancehall is a festival held in fields or large open spaces, with powerful amplifications that blast reggae to a multitude of people, who are somewhat high, dancing to the dub rearrangements, often managed by DJs, but other times by true representatives of international reggae or raggamuffin music.
DanceHalls originated in the late seventies, and they generally deal with digitally rearranged reggae, so often it is the raggamuffin that handles the musical base, but nothing stops the DJ from alternating hip hop music as well.
When you are taken, when you become music, in the dancehall you explode, your soul leaves your body and manifests in rhythm, and without consciousness, you begin to jump, to shake, because reggae penetrates and possesses you, especially if you help your mind open up thanks to external stimuli.
Among Blacks, rasta, nomads, dogs... when you are in a dancehall you feel like you are in another world, a mystical and nonconformist world where man is free to move and handle himself in his own individual nature, where the music affects your entire bodily system, especially your psyche.
Yellowman, Super Cat, Barrington Levy, these were the first representatives of Dance Hall, and these parties, this kind of "alternative disco," have allowed many reggae enthusiasts to create music and thus become famous. And so many local DJs, who organized dancehall for Saturday nights, began to achieve more and more success until they recorded albums and became famous.
This is the case of Tanya Stephens, Jamaican, a woman who with her songs created a personal style, reggae mixed with blues and certain hip hop standards, with which she began as a young girl to follow the organizers of Dance Hall and Sound System, standing in line, grabbing the mic, and singing.
Those who saw her among so many men called her a whore, but soon Tanya with her voice that encapsulates the essence of that kind of communication expressing a deep state of mind, won the hearts of many people, reaching the release of her fifth album in 2006.
I don't want to talk about this latter one, nor about the already more famous "Gangsta Blues" which allowed her to be known in more parts of the world, but about her second album: "Ruff Rider", which in my opinion, among all, is the purest, that is, the least contaminated by the various musical trends that today are almost necessary to mix in order to move forward.
In "Ruff Rider" Tanya Stephens has a powerful and loaded voice, striking that skillfully moves on the rough riddim, the bass lines present in a tune, as noted in the cheerful and danceable "Draw fi mi finger".
The Bashment vibe, typical of a music still teetering between reggae and raggamuffin is particularly evident, and "Handle the ride" has precisely those typical Caribbean and tropical rhythms already mentioned, Tanya transforms her tones, delighting the listening also with gentle highs.
"Part Time Lover" is loaded and great in DanceHall, with a great base of alternating digital rhythms that include a sax sound, a fantastic song that only a black voice can manage, in "Cry and bawl" she is accompanied by Jamaican voices.
The music shows a bit of a jazz alignment with the gentle warm and passionate "Wuk fi gawn", and the desire to dance returns in "1-1-9". the most beautiful song of the whole album is "Tink It Over", with a wonderful base from which many artists have drawn inspiration, it is the most motivated and energetic song in which also manifests a gospel spirit.
Still to note, the most reggae song of all is "Man fi rule". One could say that almost no reviews (or very few) exist on Tanya Stephens and her albums, because the music in question is anything but commercial, and it's well known only if you frequent those environments previously described, I therefore recommend it to those who know what I'm talking about, to others I warn that approaching this type of sound is not easy at all.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 Big Ninja Bike (03:40)
Aye Gadaffi
Diss is nat a pain ting you know
An diss is nat a boast to you fren dem down de lane ting
A juss de works baby
(Chrous)
Me want a man way have a big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Na waan no flim flam
Way nuh have de right gear
Spen de whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
Big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Na want no flim flam way na have de right gear
Bounce me whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
(1)
Honda 50 a push over
Dem bike dey caan reach Hanover
Caw nuff man juss get leff ina me duss
An me tell dem fi run fi cover (wha me say)
Before you mek anodder speech
Mek sure you bike carn reach
Cause me nuh warn you pick me up
Fi carry me a Negril and broke down outa Treasure Beach
If a wan ting me caan stan (aye)
Is a boastful man
Way a tell gal how him full a stamina
An caan run a good furlong
(chrous)
A wha me say me want a big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Na waan no small one
Way nuh have de right gear
Spen de whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
Big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Na want no flim flam way na have de right gear
Bounce me whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
(2)
No lickle Honda 50 caan park ina me space (hell no)
Some man say dem a dads but dem juss lose de race (laugh)
Laugh afta dem cause a time dem a waste
Dem disqualify me fling dem outa de race
Well its a cute F2 me a search fa
Or 11-50 Honda
Because da gal nar ride no scooter (aye)
A wanda way tek a yute ya
Waan come walk barefoot like Muta
(you better stap an listen to da trute ya)
Chrous
A juss de big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Na warn no small one
Way na have de right gear
Spen de whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
Big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Na want no flim flam way na have de right gear
Bounce me whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
(3)
A kawasaki me a cry fa
Suzuki me wait de whole night fa
Zuki have de 4-59 tarp fi ton tanya in a big rida (aye)
Fram you never back fire (aye)
You never puncture no tire
Fram a you have de skill an you never yet spare
Me back you cause me no you a no liar
Chrous
You have de big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Juss de right wan
Way have de right gear
Spen de whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
Big ninja bike fi me ride pan
Nuh want no flim flam way na have de right gear
Bounce me whole night pan you divan
Gee me de right slam
Cause da gal ya no care
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