You might know Linton Kwesi Johnson. He's usually referred to as a dub poet. While the dub part of that description may apply to some of his stuff, the stuff I like is more just spoken word over dub-less reggae. Toasting, rapping, storytelling, reciting, narrating, testifying, Check out the video. While he's not exactly Action Man on stage, just crank it up and go about your business for an hour. You will be sucked in. His pacing, meter, or whatever you call it, is so good, really, fucking art. Even the a capella bits. You guys, this is the shit.
The first one below, "Di Anfinished Revalueshan" is a killer, and for the life of me I can't figure out why I like it so much. Admittedly, my exposure is limited to his first two LPs and a few other early cuts, so the intro to this one was a little disconcerting, being a little more polished than I expected. But when his vocals kick in, it's off to the races. His delivery, the horns, the trombone solo and the guitar fills make this a candidate for a personal song of the summer, twenty some odd years after it was released. Ordinarily I'd feel a little guilty about referring to a song by a socially conscious artist as such, so I thought I'd dig into the lyrics. After finding them online and seeing the transcribed patois, I just threw up my arms and let the song take over.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Linton Kwesi Johnson - Di Anfinished Revalueshan mp3 at The Explosive Generation
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Sonny's Lettah mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Linton Kwesi Johnson - All Wi Doin' Id Defendin' mp3 at No Globe
Visit:
LKJ Records
Linton Kwesi Johnson at Wikipedia
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