Words By DJ Arems
Brooklyn-born, Oakland-based conscious dancehall reggae pioneer Rocker-T will release his new album, The Return of the Tru Ganjaman, June 17th. The 19-track project features collaborations with the legendary Mykal Rose, Prezident Brown and U.K. reggae star Gappy Ranks as well as up and coming artists Mr Williamz, Skip Wicked, Mama T, Ras Indio and Jah Wave. Look for the CD on Luvinnit Productions, Rocker-T’s independent record label as well as digitally on Itunes and the like.
The first offering from the album, premiering worldwide here on LargeUp, is a roots and culture chune that will have lighters flicking in the air from Jamaica to Germany. “Disgrace” opens with Black Uhuru’s Mykal Rose delivering his signature ad-lib vocals on a simple, yet catchy, chorus that will stay on your mind for the rest of the day…”Babylon dem a big disgrace, dem nah want di yutes dem fi progress.” The song stays solid as Rocker-T drops a heavy verse filled with gems on the dutty ways Babylon keeps us down, and U.K. deejay Mr Williamz locks down the final verse giving praise to Jah in the most high. The production on Disgrace is in a dubwise style with huge, lumbering bass lines and masterful horns echoing in the background… this could easily be a big riddim for 2016, were some other artists to voice it. As Rocker-T says, “You fi bless and not stress di yutes dem progress.” Do the knowledge, put this one on repeat and tun it up loud!