Artist: Gyptian
Album: I Can Feel Your Pain
Genre: Reggae: Lover's Rock, Dancehall/R&B
Release Date: Oct 21, 2008
Qualities: Soft
Mood: Love Making, Late Night
RIYL: Neo Soul/R&B but would like some hints of Reggae
Rating: ****
Gyptian effectively intertwines both lover's rock styled more traditional reggae tracks with stellar pop/R&B tunes. This albums contains a number of knock out chunes from the effective opening plead to ghetto youth's "Keep Your Calm", followed by the more traditional reggae number "Nobody Cry", and then the incredibly heartfelt title track. Two other highlights are the piano driven "Love Against the Wall", and the effective "Touch" which features Gyptian dueling with the voice of Yanique-Sasha. The album is very front heavy, and the second half is a less satisfying listen. Although reggae purists may be put off by some of the tracks that feature no trace of Jamaican music (such as "Love Against the Wall"), the tradition of being influenced/appropriating the sounds of American R&B and Soul has been a long standing one in Jamaica and is vital to the birth of reggae. With R&B dominating in American popular music today (largely from it's fusion with hip-hop), it's refreshing and great to hear a Jamaican accent and the vocal inflections that come with it (such as the satisfying "Oi" on "Keep Your Calm") added to the R&B sound. Gyptian's greatest weakness is perhaps his lyrics, which, for the most part, are overcome by the feeling of sincerity given by the recordings overall. However, it's hard not to wince at lines such as "I never knew I could love someone/That could be the chosen one". Or the ridiculous nyabinghi outing, "More Money" with "My people want more money/fi want pretty house and drive Bentley" (Although the sentiment is noble, I have doubts that Bentleys are a first priority in uplifting Jamaica's people). But regardless, Gyptian is creating heartfelt music here and this album is packed with enough hits to keep you coming back over and over. Cut a couple of the weaker ones and polish the lyrics just a bit and you'd have a classic release.
- Keep Your Calm *****
- Nobody Cry *****
- I Can Feel Your Pain *****
- Where's My Baby ****
- Love Against the Wall *****
- World Is Caving In ****
- Touch *****
- Thanks and Praise ****
- Too Bad Mind ****
- Sensi ***
- More Money **
- More Love ****
- Guide Me ***
