yardie's reggae collection - artist pageFANTAN
MOJAH
HAIL THE KING * * * / 
2005 - Greensleeves - studio - discs: 1Straight from the first listening it is clear that this set stands among the best releases of the new voices in 2005. Owen Moncrieffe comes from St. Elizabeth parish and is reported that he grew up influenced by the Maroons culture. Once in Kingston he proved his skills with a couples of tracks that were welcomed with success. The top producers that helped Fantan to come out from the shadows were Andrew "Prento" Prendergast from Black & White and Joseph Bogdanovich of Downsound Records. This debut set presents the hits produced by the above mentioned plus some other material made with different producers. The songs presented here consist of conscious lyrichs songs with a New Roots approach. The songs that I feel the most strong are: "Thanks & Praise", the tough and marvellous "Rastafari Is The Ruler" (with Mr. Flash on vocals), "Murderer", "Corruption" and "Will I See You Again". The rest fits quite well inside this full length product. A special mention goes to the Nyahbinghi opening of "Hail The King" which express Fantan Rastafari beliefs. This song is repeated extended later. In these days this use of the Nyahbinghi music is something quite common between conscious Rastafari artists. It seems as a necessity to firmly declare that they belong to some sort of pure approach to life. Fantan plays a tune with Jah Cure ("Nuh Build Great Man") as is happening with other artists that want to help Cure with his standby situation due to his long stay in a Kingston prison untill July 2007. The slow "Love Grows" is a beautiful Lover's Rock tune. This album delivers some good songs and confirms Fantan as an artist to keep an eye on. |