MARLEY'S GHOST (Rap (re)discovers its reggae roots)
		Rob Kenner - Pulse! May '94
	
	Any self-respecting DJ knows he can't step inna hip-hop jam
without a fat stack of ragga- muffin selections in his crate. After
ruling block parties and jeep posses for years, reggae music has carved
a niche on legitimate air- waves. Shabba's "Housecall" (1991) and Mad
Cobra's "Flex" (1992) laid yardie flaves over smoove grooves, scoring
heavy radio play and the inevitable gold records. Super Cat's scorching
"Ghetto Red Hot" (1992), remixed by Brooklyn DJ Bobby Konders over a
rough hip-hop track, became an instant classic. Soon after its release,
Chaka Demus and Pliers busted "Murder She Wrote" (1993) internationally
without changing a single note of their original Jamaican recording.

	One thing's become perfectly clear: Hip-hop-heads are fiending
for the rude-boy style. And the lesson has not been lost on American
rap artists, many of whom now sprinkle their songs with flavorful
snippets of faux- Jamaican slang. Latifah's "U.N.I.T.Y." and K7's
"Zunga Zeng" owe both their titles and their melodic hooks to Jamaican
singles by Josie Wales and Yellowman, respectively. There's nothing
wrong any of this, as long as props (and papes) are given where due.
reggae and rap are rhythmical fruits with the same roots and a long
history of cross-fertilizing one another. Even the late DJ Scott
LaRock's immortal piano pattern on BDP's "The Bridge Is Over" is based
on a Jamaican standard from the Studio One era, Marcia Griffith's "Feel
Like Jumping." This doesn't make the BDP cut any less of a hip-hop
anthem.

	The bond between reggae and rap artists runs deeper than
borrowing bass lines and lyrical riffs. The whole idea of chatting on
the mic over records originated in Jamaica with foundation Djs like
U-Roy, King Stitt and Dennis Alcapone. Mobile sound systems and
dual-turntable mixing were also jamaican innovations. Years later, when
Kool DJ Herc hauled his set to the Boogie Down Bronx and musically
freaked the locals, he helped invent what recording executives would
one day know as hip-hop. Herc was Jamaican, too.

	Over the years, a handful of pioneers worked to bring the
reggae and rap styles together: Asher D and Daddy Freddy, Slick Rick,
Doug E. Fresh and Papa San, Masters of Ceremony and Don Baron,
Just-Ice, Heavy D, PRT and Chubb Rock. Today, a new breed of
raggamuffin hip-hop is being built on their efforts. The best new
artists come from the heart, not worrying so much about what category
their music falls into. The cookie-cutter approach is played out:
Splicing basic hip-hop beats together with Ja-Fakin' lyrics just can't
work. The key ingredient, as always, is originality.

	Shaggy's "Nice and Lovely" (Virgin) has that. The follow-up to
the Brooklyn lyricist's worldwide smash, "Oh Caro- lina," is a warm,
jazzy duet with singing partner Rayvon that serves up music instead of
just beats. Also on the abstract, metamusical tip is Jamal-Ski's
Roughneck Reality (Columbia), which may prove to be one of the most
brilliant and bugged-out experiments ever attempted in the
ragga-hip-hop genre. The tracks are beyond categorization: human
beatboxes and stand-up bass lines blend with digi-grooves, as funky
horns and audio bong hits float through a thickly layered tapestry of
freestyle lyrical textures. Prime cuts include the "Jump, Spread Out"
remix, the X-rated but light-hearted "Poom Poom," and "Ragga Youths," a
duet with former Black Uhuru front man Michael Rose. And don't sleep on
Red Fox, the Flatbush rude boy with the 20-megaton thermonuclear voice
box. In "Ghetto Gospel," a standout cut off his Elektra album, As a
Matter of Fox, Red rips rough lyrics over soul-stirring church-choir
harmonies.

	Mad Lion leads the pack of straight-up raggamuffin youth
dropping the raw vibes over ill jeep beats. "Shoot to Kill" (Nervous),
a blood-soaked urban night- mare voiced over KRS-One's "Black Cop"
riddim, recently shot to number three on the Billboard chart. Lion
continues to drop singles on undaground Brooklyn labels like Spinna's
Choice and Massive B, Bobby Konders' imprint, which has been the source
of some of the rawest reggae hip-hop on the planet. Case in point:
Burro Banton's "Boom Wa Dis"-a single taken from Konders' NYC Badmen
album-is one of the wickedest ax to drop in years.

	The evolution has now come full circle. These days artists like
Buju Banton and Patra are working best U.S. hip-hop producers.
(Dancehall veteran Cutty Ranks has even been signed to gangsta rap
pioneer Priority, promising a future Cutty/Cube duet.) Mean- while,
there's hardly a producer in Jamaica who isn't experimenting with
hip-hop riddims. The results vary in quality, but every so often, a
jewel like Mega Banton's Soundboy Killing" pops out. Mega, a
gruff-voiced Buju disciple, first voiced his lyrics ("I have never
heard a sound play so pretty and so clear ...") over "Real Rock," a
perennial reggae track. But then some genius had the idea of laying
Mega's frenetic voice over a dreamy Barry White break beat. The result
is a musical non-sequitur. But who cares if it makes sense, as long as
it moves the crowd?