Lyrical Benjie - Rastaman Style

Anyone who has a clue about what goes on in Reggae knows that European Reggae (wheter it comes from migrated Jamaicans on natives) is thriving and growing like crazy right now. The UK-scene has been strong since the 80ies and the German reggae vibes been going strong for a while now but what about Holland? It would be strange if Reggae was not big in the original country of legal Marijuana. They've been kicking it for a long time, in fact the first live reggae act I saw was the Dutch "Revelation Time".

One of the Dutch artists that has impressed me the most lately is Lyrical Benjie, a 100 % strictly Roots artist whit a powerful message and voice (you gotta check out his "Ten plagues" track, not on this release). He's heavily affiliated whit the soundsystem King Shiloh and to an extent also whit my Swedish natives in Shilo-ites. To my knowledge this is the first of 2 releases he has out (available thru Cafepress on Cd).

First up (of the 6 tracks) is "Rastaman style", an anthem like song praising the Rastafarian way of life and bigging up those who decide to live according to it's principles, it's a pretty upbeat cut, kinda relaxed but still whit a certain energy to it, very danceable. Next comes "Til Shiloh comes" and it's not about some certain movie stars much talked about son, lol :D It's about the message of Jah and the prophets who has chosen to preach it and how gods children must rise and create a new, righteous nation. Very informative and uplifting for shure. If we skip one (very good) track we come to "In the city" where Benjie sings"...tell me how you are living in the city or are the city living in you?" It's basically a plea to all folks to not let tough times in nasty cities get to them and to seek salvation in Jah, when times are tough as well as when they are good.

You might react to the fact that you have to pay full price for what at first may seem to be an EP, the 6 tracks included however, are often like 7-8 minutes long and include an extended dub so it's more like you get 12 cuts, kinda like those showcase albums which feature the song and then the dub mix right after it. If you are into modern roots music whit heavily religious (read RastafarI) lyrics this is a very good album from an artist who clearly have the heart in the right place. Lets support guys like this whit our wallets, if you want to he got a few tracks on Myspace to download.

Lyrical Benjie Myspace Page

The Official homepage