Words by LargeUp Crew
Back when Spragga Benz was making a name for himself as a crossover dancehall artist, moving between the worlds of Jamaica and New York City in the mid 1990s, General Levy was making similar waves in the U.K., bringing his yardie chat style to genre-defining jungle and drum and bass tracks.
For the first release from his new alliance with Easy Star Records and his upcoming Chiliagon album, Spragga tapped Levy for a high-BPM, drum and bass banger which brings back that feel of the ’90s when dancehall was cross-pollinating with, and inspiring, different music genres.
The tune is one of many collaborations with U.K. artists on Chiliagon, which is due out later this year via Easy Star, Buttercuts Records and Spragga’s own Red Square label. Others who appear on the album include Rodney P, Illaman, Killa P, Harry Shotta, Acala and “If Yuh Ready” producers Hype and Fever.
“If Yuh Ready’ is inspired by a desire to record with someone whom I regard as an icon in UK reggae,” Spragga Benz says of General Levy. “My music is my medium of expressing the joys and sorrows of life and the hope of a better world.”
For the video, Spragga naturally headed to Notting Hill Carnival, the mecca of U.K. Caribbean vibes, to collect footage of floats and the massive crowds that dot the annual soirée. Watch here: