Various – Asap Riddim

One of the most impressive and CONSISTENT of outfits making big Roots riddims and remakes is one Irie Ites Records from out of France. Even before we get into their tracks, I can sit here and think of full blown albums for artists that Irie Ites Records has done throughout the years that have stuck with me from the likes of King Lorenzo, the great Mark Wonder and, going wayyy back, Ras Mac Bean (Pack Up & Leave, big underrated, under-known gem of an album), but despite working with names like those and even the likes of King Kong and Perfect Giddimani (more on him later), the label is probably best known still for dropping a very impressive string of big riddims. With a history dating back to the early 2000’s, nearly two decades in, despite all that has surely changed around them, it appears as if things’re as they normally are at Irie Ites…. and that is a great thing.

A quick look back at the vault of riddims produced by Irie Ites shows reveals some STELLAR releases. Largely working with the legendary UK duo, Mafia & Fluxy, Irie Ites Records has delivered farrrrrrrr more than their fair share of big tracks over the years. Standouts have included the Borderline [“It’s time fi reach di borderline! No need fi hesitate, cause I don’t really wanna be late!”], Zion [“Mi haffi hail di King, King! A pure love man ah bring, bring!”], Only Solution [“Only my Jah can save the world”], the Strange Things and several others… I could really go on and on (the Rocking Time!) (HUGE underrated song on the Rocking Time that never got its push, Who I Am by Chezidek.

Riddim albums and compilations, in general, for the most part just aren’t going to receive as much attention as projects from single artists (if they did, can you imagine how much money VP Records and Greensleeves may’ve spent (and MADE) back in ‘da day when their respective overactive series were at their peaks???), but apparently no one ever told Irie Ites as they go all in on putting their projects together and then bringing great notoriety to them. The ASAP may be one of the finest in that regards as, like I said, quite a few people have spent quite a while waiting on it and, though the competition isn’t great these days, one could well make the case that it is IMMEDIATELY one of the biggest riddim albums/Reggae compilations of the year thus far. That’s even before you dig into the music and once you do, you’ll soon come to see that notoriety isn’t the only thing that the ASAP has in common with many of its older siblings. It’s been awhile (and I don’t feel like looking it up to see exactly how long it’s been) but, once again, Irie Ites shows themselves to be amongst the very best when it comes to dropping a TRULY big riddim.

As it gets started, Irie Ites Records’ latest creation, the ASAP Riddim puts one of its best feet forward (WHAT?!) in the form of Raggamuffin by Anthony B (I was about to call it “previous single” out of habit, but… damn near every song here is technically a previous single). This tune, I’ve been on for the better part of a month and a half or so and I’m convinced that it was a vibe, at least to some degree. It does have kind of a loose direction, but Raggamuffin also goes in so many other areas and does so quickly, that I just get the feeling that Anthony B heard the ASAP and constructed this wonderful and FUN tune around what he heard. The results are, easily, amongst the biggest winners here and should you think it was THE biggest song, well that’s an easy opinion for you to backup because it’s outstanding.

UK veteran Brother Culture is always working hard and this time it is his intent to Build up a House, courtesy of the ASAP Riddim. This one kind of surprised me a bit because I listened through it a couple of times and just enjoyed its old school Dancehall appeal (which is just Brother Culture’s style) before I really began to tune it in and when I did, what I found was a rather clever repatriation tune.

Cah first thing mi do, mi set di foundation
Then mi fill it up with concrete, mek mi house stand strong
And next thing mi do, mi go an fell timber
Then mi use good timber to plan di structure
Then mi go and hire cement mixer-
And a contractor and two labourer
Mi build up mi room dem one-by-one
Then mi roof it make out of corrugated iron
Round back yah fi mi house mi woulda build a goat pen
Keep one dozen goats and a hundred chickens
Di house yah weh mi build is gonna in Africa
In di front room mi want a air-conditioner
Wi waan some lawyer, construction worker
Wi want some doctor and hard worker
CAUSE EVERYONE TOGETHER’S GONNA BUILD AFRICA

And rounding out the opening of the ASAP Riddim is a tune which I was well looking forward to hearing and is one, I think, that they saved for the album’s release date as the mighty Chezidek blesses us with The Game. Chezidek is not only one of the two artists appearing on the ASAP who I most associate with Irie Ites (of the ones I just listed, he voiced all of them; the Zion, Borderline, Rocking Time, Strange Things and Only Solution riddims, respectively), but his album was Timeless with The Ligerians, so there’s an IMMENSE amount of chemistry at play here and you can hear it. Chezidek, for me, has been one of the genre’s finest and most reliable stars over the past decade or so and his effort on the ASAP sees him rolling right along at a typically very high level.

Hello, hello this is the show
You must be up and ready to go
No time to practice, you should know
Action-time, just let it flow
Oh yeah, we do it because we love
And we do it because we trust
And we looking up above
Cause we rising from the dust
And the children coming after, there’s a duty here for us
Let us shine the light more brighter
LET US DO IT BECAUSE WE MUST
No more searching for no answers
It is in the wind that blow
Cause the mission already started
Pushing forward, space to grow

Said it’s all in the game
There’s no loss, there’s no gain
Sometimes laugh, sometimes cry, joy and pain
Said it’s all in the game
Take it all, don’t complain
Whether dry, low or high, is the same

Every drip and every drop
Gi dem everything we got
Every thing we got, every-everything we got
When wi ah win dem haffi clap
Wi haffi beat dem like a bat
Every inning some a dem ah nyam dem like a snack
WHEN YOU SPRINTING ON DI TRACK, DON’T FORGET AND DON’T FORGOT-
SAVE SOME OF DI FYAH FI WHEN DI TEMPERATURE DROP
BODY STRUGGLIN, CONTINUE AND DI PRESSURE NEVER STOP
WHEN YOU THINK IT DONE, YOU HAFFI GO RUN ANOTHER LAP

A fine example of that would be a piece that I’ve enjoyed from the very first time I listened to it about three or four weeks ago now, but has grown on me even more since then, Jah Mason’s splendidly GREEN Mother Earth. You can take the tunes about social and political consciousness and even self awareness and spirituality — running immortal themes in Roots Reggae music — and they are all poignant, important and crucial if we’re to make a change in the world, but if we do not treat the world, ITSELF, good – well then we won’t even arrive at the point where we’re capable of having the discussion of how well we treat one another, because there will be no “one another”. We need a rock to live on first. The Mason is sick, literally, in seeing how things are going ecologically and he’s going to tell you about it and THRILL at the same time.

The earth is sensitive, so earth is life
THAT’S WHERE I’M FROM, SO TREAT HER RIGHT
No litter di street, it better ah sweep
That’s a good sight
Di drastic plastic ah black out di pipe
Lotta garbage mek di day turn night
When you dump inna di sea a dat di fish dem ah bite
Let’s keep di earth clean
Mother Earth can smile for di loving children and child

Look what dem doing to Mother Earth
You know, mi just caan stand it
Pollution inna di earth and dem ah destroy di planet
Doing to Mother Earth
You know, mi just caan stand it
THESE THINGS MEK MI WAAN VOMIT

Let’s work together
Mi seh ‘YES’ from now on
Recycling – dat a di latest vision
Every individual know your mission
Pollution every time when mi ah watch di television
So pledge to di earth and then you make your decision
Calling on di government, no matta di religion
No yellow tape and mi seh no red ribbon
How dem ah act lik dem stubborn?

Look what dem doing to Mother Earth
You know, mi just caan stand it
Pollution inna di earth and dem ah destroy di planet
Doing to Mother Earth
You know, mi just caan stand it
THESE THINGS MEK MI WAAN VOMIT

Mi tell dem seh TIME OUT
All these things mi ah FIND OUT
A east, inna west and mi seh ALL SOUTH
These are di things mi haffi talk bout
Wi nah like fi si garbage inna MY ROUTE
So mi haffi speak up outta MY MOUTH
Jah Jah Mason going back to MY ROOTS
So mi haffi hang on and is MY TRUTH!

Irie Ites return to the fruitful shores of Trinidad and this time they come back with the sweeping social commentary Redder Than Red and the damn dependable but damn underrated Jah Defender. While not too dissimilar to a few of the songs on the album in its lyrical approach (and there’s nothing wrong with that), Redder Than Red features the Defender producing a sterling vocal performance… he always sounds good, but the tune is very easy on the ears and strong lyrically as well. Jah Defender has enjoyed a good 2022 campaign with a few tunes and, significantly, a brand new EP, Jah Movements, but Redder Than Red is probably the single best tune that I’ve heard from him in some time.

I would have also complained, and even more so, had Irie Ites Records not included a clean instrumental version of the ASAP Riddim but, thankfully I don’t have to do that because they did. The ASAP is a lovely modern Roots track with a dash of electricity and… this infectious other sound that I can’t quite describe accurately. As a riddim, alone, it ranks highly in the annals of anything they’ve done. It’s one of their best and it plays a nearly perfect backdrop to several big tunes, which is all you can ‘ask’ of a riddim.