Word: jamaican
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Rancid, like the Clash before it, often looks toward the Caribbean for rhythmic inspiration; on this album the group wisely enlisted the help of Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton, who contributes guest vocals on the anthemic title track, Life Won't Wait. In the past Rancid's songs have dealt with issues of class and race in America; this album seems to have more of a global viewpoint, with lyrics that touch on Bosnia, Iran-contra and other foreign affairs. The real message, however, is in the insurgent energy of the music, the hammering drums, the fierce guitars: Resist, question...
Miseducation is a musical education. The CD's songs range from the Jamaican patois-tinged rap of Lost Ones to the unexpected hip-hop harmonizing of Doo Wop. Hill proves herself a master of many genres, but she's no dabbler--what makes this album a wonder is how personally she takes everything. Hill's songs detail, painfully, intelligently, her problems with manipulative men, her childhood in New Jersey, her decision, as a young single mother, not to abort her baby boy. "Sometimes it's hard to really make any statements when you know that the industry caters...
Pure reggae tunes are absolutely new to Rancid,although reggae influences were prominent onWolves and weave their way a bit morethrough the harmonies and crossover song thatpepper Life Won't Wait. Most prominent inconveying the genre are the title song, "WrongfulSuspicion" and "Coppers." Jamaican reggae starBuju Banton guests on these tracks, strengtheningthe new Rancid voice with an authentic tongue. OnLife Won't Wait, a good chunk of the vocalsare provided by Banton, although Armstronguniquely offers his gravelly, unadorned slur tothe mix. One of the best punk-reggae confluenceson the album, "Hooligans," will get you hoppingalong to the beat...
...Luciano Messenger (Island Jamaica) The Jamaican-born Luciano has a baritone voice as warm and deep as Montego Bay, and his songs boast ripe, mango-sweet melodies. His lyrics, however, focus on serious subjects such as poverty, spirituality and resisting oppression. The core of Luciano's brand of reggae is a smiling insurgency...
...story that comes closest to Wolff's stunningly rendered "Powder" is "Transactions" by Jamaican writer Michelle Cliff (No Telephone to Heaven, Abeng). As wonderfully bizarre as it poetic, it tells the story of a traveling salesman hawking American goods and culture ("Witch hazel. Superman. Band-Aids, Zane Grey. Chili Con carne...Camels") on a Caribbean island who buys a poor German girl that he finds on the roadside. Before taking the girl home to his sterile wife, they go to an enchanted spring/hotel/tourist attraction run by a woman with an obsession with Jet magazine...