JUNIOR GONG DOES IT AGAIN!!!!
Four
months in a row now! Junior Gong is still New Mexico's top-a-top on a
combined September/October chart. No tune seems to be able to shake the
young dj's dominance in the Southwest ! VERY strong this time around is
Birch's "churchical" MY SWING riddim, represented by STRONG
tunes from Assassin, Elephant Man, TOK & Kiprich. Hallelujah! As if
that weren't enough, Christopher "Langman" Birch is rockin'
the area with yet another production entitled BOUNCE. Out on Greensleeves,
as well as on the In The Streetz label, the project is similar to the
120 bpm, clappin'-style riddims like COOLIE DANCE/KOPA and obviously mixes
well with them. Capleton is counter-acting the "Put Your AK Ova The
Wall-trend" here, calling for an end to the senseless ghetto violence
that is plaguing Jamaica, while Voicemail control the title-track of the
album. After a slow start, Jah Snowcone's APPLAUSE is holding out rock-steady
in the area, with Assassin & Sizzla leading the way. Mista Wilks MARRY
WANNA riddim has been licensed for distribution by Greensleeves and re-named
the ICE CUBE. While the music isn't exactly dancefloor material here in
NM, there are so many GREAT tunes on this riddim, that I still predict
big things for it out this way. Wayne Marshall's title-track dropped out
this month but Lefteye's "No STD" has risen to the #3 spot and
Red Square's "Bad From We Born" climbed up to #9. Damian Marley's
"Hey Girl" is by far the best tune aside from "Welcome
To Jamrock" on his new album. Wicked, wicked dancehall beat (I wish
for further tunes on this music) and an excellent combo vocal performance
with an unknown female counter-part. The album "Welcome To Jamrock"
set a new sales-record in its first week out on the streets (for a Caribbean
album), selling 86 000 copies in the first seven days alone (and barely
out-selling Kevin Lyttle, who held the record so far). Yet Sean Paul's
new long-player "Trinity", which hit the market the following
week, has taken over the current record (with over 110 000 copies selling
the first week). Both albums seem to be heading for platinum, which is
good for the further growth of reggae and dancehall music! On
the rootical tip, my favorite release comes out of California this month!
Local artists Soul Majestic went down to Jamaica to record their new album
("Until That Day") and the first single "Stand Up"
(featuring Anthony B) sounds absolutely magnificent & is worth the
purchase of the album alone! Roots to the bone!!!! Special Delivery Music
did a nice re-creation of the Itals INA DIS YA TIME riddim and Sizzla
hits our charts with his "Good Over Evil" (every time!), while
further selections from Lukie D & Natty King are barely bubblin under.
Don Corleon's SEASONS finally charts again (with TOK & Sean Paul)
yet is not really achieving the impact of the DROP LEAF (which was MASSIVE
in NM). Beenie Man's "From Jamaica" on the JAMWORLD riddim has
been well received, while Luciano's "Silver & Gold" re-enters
on the HARD TIMES. Great new material & artists out there right now:
look out for Gyptian & the 10 year old (!!!) QQ on the SERIOUS TIMES
riddim! Until
such time,
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
