![\"I-Meditation\"](\"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/imeditation-attitude.jpg\")
<\/p>\nImagine, that there were some type of experiment, going on in some lab somewhere in Kingston, where the goal was to \u00e2\u20ac\u2122simply\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 construct a Reggae artist as close to perfect as possible. Check Out this review by the artist<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nImagine, that there were some type of experiment, going on in some lab somewhere \nThe artist I would make would be one who might have a fairly modern, \nActually, the \nRas Attitude is also the type of artist who, at his \nIn reviewing his work, \nThus, his next album, whatever it \nListening to the results of Dube’s and Ras Attitude’s combination on \nIt \nAll in all, a big opening here and I’m wondering what’s next.Next \nThe seemingly inescapable Jah Dan guests \nMary Jane! What can I say of ‘Mary Jane‘??? If \nThe addictive Gway is just a tune where \nThe Imagine, that there were some type of experiment, going on in some lab somewhere in Kingston, where the goal was to \u00e2\u20ac\u2122simply\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 construct a Reggae artist as close to perfect as possible. Check Out this review by the artist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.virginiareggae.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nin Kingston, where the goal was to ’simply’ construct a Reggae artist
\nas close to perfect as possible. If you were going to helm such an
\naspiring project, what qualities might you give this person? What type
\nof look might he have? How would he sound? What type of a figure might
\nhe cast? And would he even be a ‘he’ at all? Me? Well, personally the
\nfirst thing I’d think to do would be to make a Woman before coming to
\nmy senses and realizing that She already exists (her name is Etana)<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n
\nyet traditional look. The type of an individual who non fans of Reggae
\nmay not IMMEDIATELY know is a Reggae artist, but when they learn that
\nhe is, they’re not all that surprised. He would, likewise, have a sound
\nwhich might ‘match’ the look as his vibes would clearly be those born
\npost 1990, although he would definitely have an overstanding of the
\nmusic in its more traditional form and that would often come through in
\nhis output. He would be able to chant and sing and also have a
\nnoticeable EDGE to him at times and have a skill level which would
\nallow him to enter a studio and deliver effectively over almost any
\ntype of riddim. He would also be not too young, but relatively fresh
\nand still close to years which were full of the curious youthful
\nexuberance, which would also come across in his music.\n<\/p>\n
\nartist who I think I would ultimately come to create wouldn’t be too
\ndifferent from consistently OUTSTANDING Cruzan chanter Ras Attitude.
\nAttitude (alongside his good friend Batch as well) has been an artist
\nwho has so often exemplified what I feel is a STRONG and accurate
\nrepresentation of modern Reggae music. Of course, there are others such
\nas Lutan Fyah and definitely Tarrus Riley these days. However, Fyah has
\nnever been the overall artist in terms of singing as Attitude and, by
\ncontrast, although Riley does have an edge to him, I think we’re still
\nwaiting to see the results of what he might do should he approach a
\ntune and just LOST IT, a little. As a matter of fact, I would go as far
\nas to say that Ras Attitude would exist as a type of a ‘bridge’ between
\nthe two Jamaican stars as his vibes, in my opinion, incorporate a bit
\nof both of them.\n<\/p>\n
\nbest, listening to him makes him sound better. His music tends to come
\nwith a very MATURE vibes is what I mean to say and because that,
\nalthough he may not be as IMMEDIATE as some of his peers, there’s a
\nfairly good chance that some of (and perhaps even quite a bit) his
\nmusic may not grow to be as appreciated as it should be for several
\nyears. Trust me I Know.So,
\nwith such lofty accolades laid upon him fans should be able to ‘ask
\nfor’ and expect a bit more in terms of the quality of Ras Attitude’s
\nmusic shouldn’t we? And I’m not asking for the second coming of ‘Til
\nShiloh or Black Woman & Child, but wanting him to deliver GOOD and
\nsometimes GREAT material consistently and regularly isn’t asking too
\nmuch in my opinion. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear to be too much in
\nAttitude’s opinion either as after five studio albums (not including
\nthis release) to his credit, Ras Attitude has showcased himself to be
\nsimply one of the ‘best’ artists on the scene.\n<\/p>\n
\nI’ve used terms like ‘the potential next big thing’, ‘royal (musically
\nspeaking, of course)’, and ‘simply brilliant’ and he’s shown himself
\n(again, musically speaking) to be all of those things at times, but
\nsomething still seems to be missing doesn’t it? It isn’t the attention
\nfrom a wider audience who may not have been exposed to Ras Attitude’s
\nmusic, nor is it the same lack of exposure and in my opinion respect
\nfor the DOMINANT and IMPORTANT musical genre of Roots Reggae in which
\nhe participates. What I think has been missing from Ras Attitude’s
\ncareer (especially considering the way he makes music in terms of how
\nit is released to the general public, as he doesn’t seem to focus so
\nmuch on singles, like his Jamaican peers) is that one BIG album that
\nseparates him from ‘himself’ to a degree. Wonderfully, however, he’s
\ngotten very close and done so almost sequentially more and more in his
\nreleases. Save from the very first time anyone might’ve heard of the
\nchanter\/singer which was on his debut album, 2001’s Happiness which
\nfound him in a full on developmental stage, Ras Attitude’s albums, Love
\nLife, Holding Firm, Royal Lionage and Trodding Home have been almost
\nincreasingly MASSIVE, in retrospect.\n<\/p>\n
\nmay be, has to be looked upon and anticipated as potentially not only
\nhis best, but one of that given year’s best also. Meet I-Meditation!
\nThe three weeks or so between finding out that I-Meditation actually
\nexisted and getting my hands on it has been interesting to say the
\nleast as hearing bits and clips from it, I simply HAD TO HAVE IT.
\nI-Meditation is borderline SPECTACULAR! I knew it before I even ripped
\noff the plastic covering (violently) and sifted through the
\nwonderfully presented project: I was dealing with something SERIOUS.
\nI-Meditation comes via the California based Universal Balance
\nEntertainment, which I only know because they also released chanter
\nIshi Dube’s solid recent album, Lion Camp. Dube, incidentally, is
\napparently a player in UBE and he, rather surprisingly, takes an
\nExecutive Producer’s credit, as well as a technical Producer’s credit
\nas well (and that’s well surprising to me as someone who just heard
\nIshi Dube’s name within the last year or so for the very first time).\n<\/p>\n
\nI-Mediation, however, I can’t help but wonder now, what may have taken
\nthem so long to do such a thing as the chemistry the two have is
\nCOMPLETELY obvious from the very first tune, throughout. The only
\nquestion now is how quickly we can get it again as I hold very little
\nin the way of conditions when I say that I-Meditation is the BEST Ras
\nAttitude album I’ve ever heard. I
\ncan tell you right now that if you have never heard a Ras Attitude tune
\nand you’re thinking about picking up an album, I Meditation is the one
\nfor you as it introduces the listener to a WIDE variety of the talents
\nhe possesses. Introducing the same listener to Ras Attitude’s sixth
\nstudio album (by my count) is a very interesting brief intro with the
\ncleverly titled ‘Brass Attitude‘. I’ll leave the lion’s share of it
\n(all fifty-six second of it) to your ears, but the piece is a bit of a
\nspoken word style which gets I-Meditation off to a FLYING start.\n<\/p>\n
\nreaches new altitudes, however, with the next tune, the IMMACULATE
\n‘Disya Time’ which is ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS. The tune is my choice as the
\nbest tune on I-Meditation altogether because it brings both heavy
\nknowledge and such a SWEET vibes at the same time. The tune speaks of
\ngoing through very difficult times and what is necessary to make it
\nthrough such situations and, again, the song sounds LOVELY! I LOVE this
\nsong. Charged with keeping those vibes high (and succeeding) is the
\nmoving and similarly vibed ‘Ease the Pain’. This tune also ranks very
\nhigh as one of the best on the album (get used to me saying that) and,
\nas I alluded to, it follows Disya Time rather nice as it also speaks
\nabout the pains and the ills of the world and the people facing them
\nand what we all need to do to COPE and ultimately overcome. I also get
\nthe feeling that Attitude was speaking about internal pain as well as
\nthe pain of the world which is a nice vibes and helps make the tune a
\nreal winner. And then, as if wanting to change the mood up a bit,
\nthere’s the oft-hilarious ‘Mi Woulda Vex’ which co-stars producer Ishi
\nDube alongside Ras Attitude. Dube takes center stage with Attitude on
\nthe tune (ESPECIALLY ON HIS FIRST VERSE), but both are in a good form
\nand the vibes are on point and make sense, but they’re definitely done
\nwith a bit of humour which, at least in my opinion, make it sounds even
\nbetter (and you have to hear what Ishi Dube says about Barrington
\nLevy).\n<\/p>\n
\nfor I-Meditation are combinations. Outside of Dube, there are a few
\nother high profile combinations on I-Meditation as well. The first (and
\narguably highest profile) is ‘Whip Dem’ alongside the incomparable
\nEverton Blender. Attitude (‘appropriately’ so in my opinion) uses the
\ntune to give the first dosage of EDGE to his vibes and he sounds VERY
\nSTRONG alongside the Blender who is at his usual brilliance to my ears
\nas he call upon His Majesty to punish the corrupt people and forces of
\nthe world. Jah Sun is the second of three artists ‘repaying’ the
\nguesting favour (Attitude appears on the aforementioned Lion Camp
\nrelease from Ishi Dube on a nice tune by the name of Taking Over) to
\nAttitude as he and Lutan Fyah gave Jah Sun the best thing I’ve ever
\nheard from him in the form of the WICKED ‘No Bonez, No Blood’ tune from
\nhis Height Of Light album. He appears on the SWEETLY vibed ‘Why’ which
\nsounds so nice and if I weren’t very high on Jah Sun beforehand, I
\nmight need to go back and re-listen to a few things as his additions
\nhere are quite nice (and I love the vibes on this song. Norris Man does
\nthe same (Attitude was on ‘We Try’ from Norris’ Know the Road album) on
\nthe tune ‘Great God’ which is downright EPIC! The song is a praising
\nvibes to His Majesty and it absolutely HUMBLES the listener as one of
\nthe best tunes on the album.\n<\/p>\n
\non an arguably even stronger tune, ‘Sing A Song’, which has ABSOLUTELY
\nWONDERFUL Afrikan vibes thrown into to the mix to create a POWERHOUSE
\nof a tune. The song speaks of social and cultural issues and situations
\nand how MUSIC and songs can help you cope with them. At the end of Sing
\nA Song, I was singing a song and so will you, as the tune is simply
\ndivine and one of the finest you’ll deal with on I-Meditation (TEARS!).
\nYouts Dem is a tune which features the previously unknown (at least to
\nme) Ibednigo. The tune has a bit of Hip-Hop influence to my ears, which
\nisn’t a bad thing and the HEAVY vibed Ibednigo also adds a bit of a
\ndifferent sound to the tune and, by extension, the album as a whole.
\nAnd the last combination features the very recently very popular
\nWinstrong, from out of Suriname, on ‘Herbs Over Silver which is
\ndefinitely one of the best combinations and tunes altogether. The tune
\nurges all to put life into a real perspective and take a look
\nat things which can actually HELP and not the more material and
\nultimately less worthy matters on a BIG tune. And that’s just the
\ncombinations! Back on his own, Ras Attitude continues the BIG vibes.
\n‘More Love To Grow’ (which fittingly took a minute to GROW on me) has a
\nvery nice and serene vibes which honestly caught me off guard a bit I
\nsuppose. It kind of goes on (and I literally played through it about
\nseven times or so-) before you realize that it’s a VERY NICE song and I
\nlove the delivery in there also. The thing, however, about More Love To
\nGrow is that you’re REALLY going to have to dig into that song to get
\nthe message from it because the vibes themselves will undoubtedly
\ndistract you for awhile.\n<\/p>\n
\nyou listen to it as the title might suggest you should, then
\nyou’ll be OK. HOWEVER, if you’re distracted at all by the sound of it
\n(and the lyrics at times), then you might not rate the song very highly
\nat all, despite the fact that it’s EASILY one of the best songs on
\nI-Meditation altogether (and I laughed several times when it all
\nfinally made sense). The inspirational ‘So It Go’ is another nice one
\nwith a very LUSH and old school approach which really caught me and did
\nso in short order. To my ears, So It Go indirectly continues on the
\nmessage began on Disya Time and Ease The Pain and it expands it by
\nsubsequently DIRECTLY making the point that reliance on His Imperial
\nMajesty is the way out of the pain and struggles of life. The sound
\nthere is in nearly stark contrast to the BOUNCE generated by the tune
\nwhich follows So It Go, ‘Gway’.\n<\/p>\n
\nRas Attitude basically says, ‘if you aren’t trying to do anything
\npositive then stay the hell away from me!’ Indeed Ras Attitude (also it
\nincludes the unforgettable line, “. . . stop fighty-fighty and gwan
\nlook a wife). The tune ‘You’ is the lovers tune (which surprisingly
\ndoesn’t happen in the first fifteen tunes on I-Meditation) for the
\nalbum and that’s a style where Attitude does quite well here as the
\nsong proves to be very nice and, again, it’s musically entertaining as
\nwell as poignant and just all around STRONG. Closing the album is (DUH)
\nanother one of my favourites and if you don’t like this song then
\nsomething’s wrong (seek help)! ‘Where Would You Be’ comes with a gospel
\nstyle and it takes a minute to really get going, but there is a point
\nin the middle to latter stages of the tune where you feel like getting
\nup and yelling AMEN! Where would we be without Jah is the question of
\nthe song and the answer of the tune and it’s posed in such a HUGE form
\nthat you have to think about it. And love this song as a closer to this
\nwonderful album just the same. Overall,
\nRas Attitude has had some very fine album releases in his career, but
\nI’m full prepared to call I-Meditation the best of his bunch here.\n<\/p>\n
\nalbum does everything you would hope one of his albums to do at this
\npoint in terms of bringing together not only a very strong collection
\nof tunes, but also showing Attitude’s varied style to its absolute
\nbest. I also love the production (biggup Ishi Dube) as well as the way
\nin which it is put together. The album has a very nice packaging and
\ncomes complete with a poster of Ras Attitude (which looks like it’s
\ntaken from a screenshot from his Trodding Home video), the flipside of
\nwhich contains lyrics to all sixteen vocal tracks (excluding the intro,
\nof course). I-Meditation is OUTSTANDING and to say that is above albums
\nlike Royal Lionage and Holding Firm and Trodding Home (which is exactly
\nwhat I’m saying) is a big deal. Ras Attitude, ‘The Prototype’, shows
\nhimself AGAIN to be in a very elite class of the most talented names in
\nthe business on the album and I still think he can do just a
\nhair better. If he does someday then maybe asking for the likes of
\nBlack Woman & Child or ‘Til Shiloh won’t be out of the question.
\nVERY WELL DONE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"