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| Popmatters. |
 ew dancehall records this year will sound like Busy Signal’s D.O.B., released July 13th on VP Records. With most Jamaican dancehall deejays content riding hot riddims and singles as well as relentless touring, dancehall albums are often retrospectives of an artist’s tireless yearly output, stitched together with little conceptual framework or structure. This formula may seem familiar; rap music in the US has recently functioned with a similar business plan, churning out mixtapes, rapping over Top 40 instrumentals like dancehall deejays ride riddims. Rap albums more than dancehall records have attempted work within a conceptual framework, though the use of familiar rap tropes like girls, money, and cars often result in the most commercial success for practitioners of the form. Up until recently, the same couldn’t be truer with the breakout dancehall success stories in the US and in Jamaica. Sean Paul didn’t get to where he did by chatting about codes of Rastafari conduct or the importance of education for children, common themes in roots reggae and dancehall alike. Instead, he made club-ready singles that could be played next to the commercial success of rap and R&B. Perhaps taking cues from such crossover success stories like Sean Paul, Buju Banton, or Beenie Man—artists who were willing to recycle US pop subject matter into their music—other Jamaican dancehall performers began to follow suit. Consciousness, spiritual subjects, and proclamations for peace began to recede from dancehall lyrics and girls, gun-chat, and violence took precedence. These tensions between reggae’s embrace of politics and morality and a spirit of transgression come to a remarkable head in Busy Signal’s latest album, most if it achieved through an unusually varied sound palette and a comprehensive tour through reggae and dancehall’s vast array of themes. Known for his association with Bounty Killer’s crew of deejays called the Alliance, gun play, girls, and gangster thematics have been central to defining their aesthetic and popularity, Busy included. On Busy Signal’s latest record, gun-chat and gang-talk in “Nuh Fraid” seems at odds with songs like “Peace Reign” and “Nuh Boy Caan Buy Wi Out”, while a diverse sound palette underscores an itch for innovation that haunts the record....full text |
| Bbc |
| Busy Signal has never been afraid to mix it up, and once again he moves things forward, drawing inspiration from more than his immediate vicinity. The result is a set of songs that remain at the sound system dance, but are relevant on a broad and international level. Most immediately impressive is his innate tunefulness. Coming from Bounty Killer’s Alliance posse you’d expect a degree of musicality, and Busy Signal is dictionary definition singjay – his delivery is as close to singing as possible while still, technically, toasting. Not an easy thing to do, but Hi Grade, My Money (Money Tree) and Nuh Fraid bounce with all that taut musical energy you remember from dancehall’s first flush, before it completely abandoned the bassline. Busy Latino builds on reggaeton as a concept, going crazy Latin to end up something like what Gloria Estefan might come up with after a month or so on Hellshire Beach. Picante also has a Spanish flavour but uses it more as subtle shading, adding depth to the beats. Yes Dawg shoots dreamy synth lines through its rhythms; Hair Dresser Shop goes further, stitching itself together with multi-layered electronic backing. Opera employs a string section, and Gal Dem Song has a playground folk song quality that might well be used for whatever they call Double Dutch skipping these days....full text |
| Blogcritics |
| Two recent dance hall releases highlight two very different approaches to the genre. Busy Signal’s D.O.B. is full of high-energy songs about partying, while Capleton’s I-Ternal Fire offers a more mature and reflective perspective. Busy Signal’s third album, D.O.B., is full of raucous riddims, hyperactive rapping, and many odes to partying and getting it on. Much of the success of the album is owed to the producers, who include DJ Karim, Kalonji D’Aguilar, Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor, Shane Brown, T’Jean Bennett, and Andrew Myrie. They show some of the same risk-taking and experimentation that made turn of the century hip hop so exciting. There are latin riddims on "Picane" and "Busy Latino," and classical flourishes on "Opera." "Nuh Fraid" sounds like Southern club rap, and "Hair Dresser Shop" draws from American R&B. Several tracks offer up the distilled essence of dancehall, including "Summn' A Guh Gwaan," with Bounty Killer, and "My Money (Money Tree)." The latter is little more than a snapping beat with Busy Signal's Auto-Tuned voice filling up the empty space, minimalism at its best. Busy Signal rounds out his dancefloor movers with a handful of slower tracks. "Sweet Love (Night Shift)" is an update on the Commodores' 80s hit "Night Shift," and despite the cheese factor, Busy makes it work. He tries the trick again on "One More NIght," but this time around the source material (Phil Collins) isn't worth resurrecting. He picks a better song to rework on "Hi Grade," which references Tenor Saw's "Ring The Alarm" to praise the herb. The album ends with the ballad "Peace Reign," which proves that there is more to Busy than nightclubbing. Still, Busy Signal is at his best when he's getting asses to move, and the finest moments on D.O.B. are the uptempo ones. There's not much geared towards the club on Capleton's I-Ternal Fire. The dancehall veteran has put out over twenty albums, and his slack days are far behind him. His latest album sees him examining what is right and wrong with the world, offering up 15 tracks of reggae that draws from roots artists like Bob Marley....full text |
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