Sweet Sop and Maroon Riddims

Review

As its name suggest, this hit rhythm will slake your sweet tooth reggae yearnings. Everyone knows Nanko’s hit song, ‘Lucky You’ on the Sweet Sop, but this special compilation energetically blending never-before-released electrics from the Sweet Sop and
Maroon rhythms. And it is a screaming success. The songs on the compilation bounce, throb, skip and burble along. The topics are very coffeehouse – pro-tree, pro-Marcus Garvey and pro-freedom.
Jah Cure’s ode to the underappreciated ‘Conga Man’ is a solid gem of a song, carved in pure reggae oak. Sizzla yearns for freedom on ‘Free’, the folksy vocals of Little Hero inject hope with ‘Rainbow’, while Turbulance calls the oppressed to action with the stirring ‘Wont Give Up the Fight’. Angelee’s feathery angelic vocals float on air on ‘Giving It All to You’ are in direct counterpoint to Anthony B’s growling ‘Bun Dem’ which heaps blazing coals of metaphoric fire on evildoers.
Other standout songs include the tentative, tender ‘I Sweet Sop’ by the ever-creative I-Maroon, Luciano’s beautifully delivered ‘Jah Is Greater’, but it is Richie Spice’s plaintive ‘Motherland Calling’ that will strike a chord with anyone who has ever felt displaced or lost in this silly crazy world of ours.
Taken collectively, these DSR-produced tracks reflect reggae in its purest form, music that is very much national sound track of Jamaica rather than just annoying background music through which to survive the work day.
Great ambassadors like the late Joseph Hill and Desmond Dekker can rest assured that
the legacy is not lost and that reggae is alive and well in the homeland.

Track Listing