The header kind of sells itself, doesn’t it? Except it should be noted that City Life represents more than just Sean Paul killing a new riddim and Eddie STATS getting a cool exclusive. City Life is a 2Hard production and as any hardcore dancehall fan will recognize, that means Sean’s manager and OG producer Jeremy Harding—who voiced him on “Baby Girl” and “Infiltrate”—has come out of semi-retirement to assemble this ideal SP vehicle for the instant classic “Beat of My Heart.”
In the process he did Jah Cure, Assassin and the assembled one drop crew a hell of a look. This beat answers some of the concerns I’ve had about Jamaican music in 2010—namely that it’s often positive or has an edge to it, but not both. For one thing, City Life sounds like electronic music and sounds like old school reggae at the same time and that alone is rewriting some of the rules that have made things so stiff-up lately. For another thing: Tony Rebel!
GP107 City Life blend
Jah Cure, “Every Corner I Turn” (2Hard)
Assassin, “Something’s Got to Give” (2Hard)
Queen Ifrica, “Times Like These” (2Hard)
Tarrus Riley, “Who is Responsible” (2Hard)
Tony Rebel, “Toy Soldier” (2Hard)
Elephant Man, “Let Me Be the Man” (2Hard)
Sean Paul, “Beat of My Heart” (2Hard)
Denyque, “Supergirl” (2Hard)
Natel, “Miles Away” (2Hard)
Wayne Marshall, “Telepathic” (2Hard)
I first caught rumors of the City Life from Heatwave’s Dan Bean. Next day, Max Glazer and everydamnbody was talking it up and before I knew he had relinked me with Jeremy, who I probably hadn’t seen since the Sean Paul cover I did for Trace magazine a few years back. End result, I've had copies of all the tunes above to juggle around with and amuse myself in the Ghetto Palms lab for the last few weeks—but agreed to keep them under wraps until today. Bam—world premiere! And the reason of course is that the riddim is dropping to iTunes, Amazon etc. this week so listen, enjoy and then click here or here to cop.
