Canada has a large, vibrant community of Jamaican immigrants and this has of course meant a very much alive Reggae scene whit plenty of artists, soundsystems and concerts. It's this scene that has given birth to the Jamaican/Canadian Dj Jahranimo. Just like others before him he converted to RastafarI a couple of years ago and this is something that is very visible in his artistry. What I did not know when i bought this CD was that his "Rap" influences where just as visible. Even though I love both Reggae and Rap I don't like when artists mix the 2 styles together to get some sorta bastard offspring (there is an truly horrible collaboration between Mad Cobra and Geto Boys who exemplifies everything i hate whit this cross pollination). But I guess there are exceptions to all rules and this may just be that exception to my disliking of "Rap/Reggae".I pretty much bought this album on the strenght of the first song "Opposite" alone, it's a very good tune talking about those who are the "......opposite of everything that's right", exposing and discussing their wicked plans. It's one of the most rootsy tunes on here, very uplifting and catchy and would work perfect for any conscious soundsystem out there. Id love to go totally crazy on the dance floor to this tune. Next up is the heavily influenced "Up deh" who is way more representative of Jahranimos sound than the first song. It's very digital and bouncy sounding but most definitely whit a Rootsy message bigging up all church goers.
Fast forward a few "Hip Hop" sounding songs and we come to the title track "Real life", a biographical song about his upbringing whit his Grandma in Jamaica, his mom and all the tribulations Jahranimo went through growing up. It has a slight touch of R&B and would have been the perfect crossover pop hit whit it's soft but always qualitative sound. I really like this song and the lyrics feels very relevant and honest. After that it's back to the "Hip Hop" sounding songs whit "Must get betta" where Jahranimo spits uplifting rhymes about how things must get better when things feel as if they have hit "rock bottom". The beat is minimalistic and on a whole this is a song that tend to stick to your mind.
It takes a while for Jahranimo to find his way back to the Rootsier songs but it happens on track 16, "Jah jah love" that he does whit label mate Kirk Davis who has a very Yamie Bolo sounding voice, surprisingly enough i mus say that the more "Hip Hop" influenced songs sounds a little bit better even though this is not a bad song. Next comes "Judge not" who is as "Hip Hop like" as it gets on here. The album ends whit a remix of an earlier track, "Dance nice".
Over all i must say that this is a very good album, nothing for the fans of traditional or even newer Roots Reggae, the lyrics about Jah might be there but not the beats/music backing. At first I did not like "Real life" at all but it grew on me and turned out to be such a great album i just had to review it. One could tell that Jahranimo loves women (who doesn't ?) and many of the songs on here are dedicated to them. However, this is done in a respectful and positive way, you will not find no raps about hoes, bitches and sexual positions on here. If you're looking for a "Hip Hop" sounding dancehall album whit strong positive lyrics this is a good choice.
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