Rank Reggae Rap
Reggae, world, R&B duo Mattafix return with a new album filled to the brim with overtly unashamed political preaching, cringe worthy wordsmithery and a relatively tuneless eleven tracks of musical hell.
Call me a cynical, embittered old hack if you will but I’m long in the tooth enough to know that harping on about Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur etc unconvincingly is as likely to destroy your credibility as bolster it. Sure Mattafix are against the conflicts but then what group isn’t? I’d be more impressed if the consensus of the music community as a whole was inherently bloodthirsty and these guys were the stray voice of reason amongst the realist, neo-con majority of their contemporaries. As it is they are jumping on the bandwagon a good three years too late and with lyrics as appallingly uninspired as ‘from the beginning there was war and sinning’ urgh really?
Lyrics and politics aside there are more pressing problems with Mattafix’s music. Their brand of urban rap/reggae just doesn’t sound very good. It dips from the mildly tolerable to the frankly comic • think of Shaggy at his very worst (and let’s face it he is dreadful at the best of times). Some respite can be found on tracks where backing vocalists find a space to ply their trade but in essence this simply shows up the original duo’s lack of vocal vitality. Its tone is staunchly serious throughout; from the forlorn mutterings on ‘Things That Change’ to the frightening ‘Memories Of Soweto’ and as a result it can feel like a moral sermon. If you like being preached to by all means give it a go but if it’s a relaxing laid back listen you are after don’t bother.
What would Mattafix sound like if they dismounted their moral high horse or developed a sense of humour? Better? Perhaps but their dated, unpolished rent a rapper sound will always struggle in battle with bigger more belligerent genre giants. It’s a poor piece of work all round and worse still its uneven ethical spin and content could tarnish the duo’s overall credibility in the long run.