Monkey Marc’s back with another quality release, kicking off 2018 with yet another impressive riddim following last year’s scorching “No Surrender” project.
The lead single, the socially-conscious and culturally-comparative “Yaad N Abraad,” finds a heavy digital instrumental providing the launching pad for an explosive lyrical display from Dre Island. The hard-hitting video is well-worth watching as well.
This tune is, at its core, a blunt condemnation of contemporary socioeconomics, with Dre Island spitting fiery line after fiery line. “Light bill, water bill, everybody cry; gas rate, land tax gone sky high” concludes with the poignant cry: “more guns than shelters for the homeless child.”
As the catchy hook – nicely delivered in the pocket of the towering bassline and crashing drums – makes clear, this is not a Jamaican concern but rather a global crisis of inequality. Has everywhere become the oppressed equivalence of a tenement yard? Is our society failing before our very eyes?
Yes, blood flows, police are ineffective at best, and the media lies, yet there’s still a sense of optimism: “so physically, mentally you haffi strong; can’t weak heart when you out inna Babylon; got to stay focus and know your direction; ’cause outta Rome full up a nuff demon.”
The instrumentation here is brash yet grounded, certainly digital (released on Digikillaz after all) yet still possessing an organic soul. Half bubbling, half assaulting, subtle sonic warfare this is not. Hopefully, a dancehall near you is ready for truthful devastation.
Make sure to stay locked in as four other talented Jamaican singers take their turn on the riddim as well: Iba MaHr, Aza Lineage, 5 Star, and Earth and the Fullness. No wrong answers for which one’s your favorite!
More info:
Monkey Marc Facebook
Yaad and Abraad riddim on Bandcamp
The Groove Thief
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