If your parents don't listen to Hot97 or haven't walked outside in Brooklyn, London, or Guyana since around last Valentines Day, they may have never heard "Hold Yuh." The drippy not-quite pop or hip hop or dancehall love song made Gyptian a presence on urban radio internationally but the ballad, first played hard by New York based Caribbean music DJs, never received much major mainstream pickup. One lovers year later, anyone can watch Gyptain perform over at NPR, the home of fair-minded flames, who taped him at the desk of Bob Boilen from All Songs Considered in Washington, DC for their Tiny Desk Concerts. He sings "Hold Yuh," "Beautiful Lady," and "Nah Let Go" accompanied on guitar by a guy who looks like he may be Manu Chao's cousin. Radio folks have amazing mics! Call home and tell your mom to find her best headphones. As she watches Gyptian grab at booties in the air and hears him purr perhaps she'll feel they were never apart, that she's the girl who's made him the luckiest man in the world.
