Had
Sean Paul
and
Wayne Wonder
not made the dents they did in
urban
radio, most of
dancehall
-deprived America may have never had a chance to hear
Elephant Man
's brilliant
"Pon de River Pon de Bank,"
the only pure
track to crack the charts since the genre got more reckless and hyper post-
Shabba
. It's a fantastic single and
Good 2 Go
surrounds it in standard
album style: some killer, some filler, and at least one truly misguided moment.
singing to the tune of
Survivor
's
"Eye of the Tiger"
on
"Fan Dem Off"
supplies the misguided moment, but there are 19 other tracks to choose from with the filler being better than usual and the killer being just what kicking stereos crave. Besides the pumping and infectious
"River,"
there's the deep and ominous chant of
"Jamaica"
and a perfectly executed team-up with
Killah Priest
on the hypnotic and smoke-filled
"Who We Are."
Joel Chin
(a member of the family that started the
VP
label/dynasty) contributes production that is both quirky and breezy on
"Cock Up Your Bumper,"
with the usually brash
prattling on about "yellow underwear" like a tripped-out
Harry Belafonte
. Moments like this make
a good listen, but being a bit overstuffed and some bad production decisions (
"Signal de Plane"
fades out way too soon) keep it from being a classic. Of course, the rules of
don't really allow for
Sgt. Pepper's
-style opuses. A straight-up
album with the charismatic
's smart-aleck spin,
focuses on an energetic artist in his prime with little refinement. You can pick and choose your favorite raw, head-bobbing moments and grin away. ~ David Jeffries