Ini Kamoze - Lyrical Gangsta

Excellent Album

This album was a favorite of mine in the 90's, and I recently bought a copy from here because my old CD got ruined. The music is timeless, not an album that sounds like it is stuck in the 80s or 90s, but rather an excellent collection of brilliant beats and lyrics.

I am admittedly not a reggae aficionado, however I find myself drawn to some Bob Marley (Buffalo Soldier is a favorite), as well as other reggae tunes from the last 30 years. I do however appreciate this album in its entirety.

My favorite tracks (they are all good!) are How U Livin and Hole In Ya Head.

I have purchased the newly released album (2 cd album - remastered?) and like this album better.

If you are looking for dance beats like Here Comes the Hotstepper song - this album is not for you! September 14, 2007

I GUESS IT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR.

I'm no Ini historian and can't critique all of his career and recording choices, associations, releases, etc., as more astute reviewers may be able to; but I do know what is 'good', and this cd is great! - For ME!If you like HARD BEATS: It's loaded!If you like your beats Funkedified: Definitely!How about a rapper that's "Lyrically Well-Endowed" and has a morbid sense of humor: No doubt!'Want more bass-thump than probably most of your other cd's?: I hope your system can handle this! Yes, I know that each & every note, beat, lyric, melody, and theme won't appeal to everyone; but there's so much "over the top" to funkin' enjoy on this cd that I NEVER travel without it in my drive-by arsenal.So, a very definitely easy Five Stars. January 17, 2007

Ini Kamoze's Failed Brilliance

In 1984, Ini Kamoze released his self titled debut album on Virgin Records. "Ini Kamoze" was the most promising debut album in the history of reggae and may well be reggae's finest conscious roots album, bar none. Unfortunately, the album never sold well and Virgin Records never remastered it from the vinyl to compact disc format. Kamoze moved away from roots reggae in the mid-eighties and embraced the ubiquitous Casio driven electronic riddims of dancehall music. Ina Kamoze had a few hits in Jamaica with this new sound, but his promising career was ebbing when "Hotstepper" appeared on the soundtrack of Robert Altman's 1994 film "Pret-a-Porter." "Hotstepper" was an international hit and is about the worst song Kamoze ever wrote. The songs on "Lyrical Gangster" are tepid, third rate dancehall offerings that personify everything that is wrong with reggae, since the rise of digital riddims. Virgin Records should release 1984's "Ina Kamoze" in the CD format. It is criminal that this masterpiece should not be available to Kamoze's fans. Kamoze should get back in the studio with Sly and Robbie and make a dubwise, conscious CD, while he's young enough to recapture some of his early promise. I have little hope that Ini Kamoze will resurrect his career, but stranger things have happened, mi idrin... March 21, 2002

Surprisingly good - but watch out

I actually picked this album up by mistake. The fact that there was a track called "Hot Steppa" and the album was released in 1995 made me think that this was the one with Ini's big hit on it. In reality it's the followup album (released in the same year in order to confuse people).

Even so, this is quite a good album with decent dancehall performances by one of the lesser-known stars of the 90s. It isn't worth a 5 star rating for a couple of reasons, one of course being that it lacks a huge track of the calibre of "Here Come The Hot Stepper".

Another reason is that of the two collaboration tracks, one at least is quite out of place (the one with rapper Nine) and the performance by Guru is hardly in the right place either. Nine is quite a clumsy rapper and seems to trip over his lyrics every so often - however he covers this up by raving on about "the real core" or somesuch. While on a solo cut his lack of skills wouldn't be as easy to pick up, when performing with Ini (who on this track - "Hole In The Head" - delivers a spot-on performance) it is all too easy to see the problems.

Guru could never be accused of being clumsy with his rap, however, the blend of cerebral rap with Ini's vocals really doesn't gel to any great extent - thus making the track somewhat disjointed.

However, this really is Ini's album and much kudos must go to him for turning in a stellar piece of work. It is clear to see that, unlike some dancehall acts of the same period, he had assimilated influences from other genres of music (RnB and rap in particular) but, unlike Shaggy, had not allowed them to take over and detract from the dancehall roots of the music. On many tracks he emits various calls which in a dancehall would obviously be followed by a response from the audience - something which Shaggy and the more commercially successful dancehall acts have not done on their studio albums.

Another slight problem with this album are the interludes ("he Jus Jokin'" and "Trust Me"). While being qute short and thus not doing this very much, they do detract from the cohesion of the album all up. However, this is very hard to do when the album has such great works on it as "Hole In The Head", "Listen Me Tic", "King Selassie", "Hotsteppa", "We Don't Love Em Doe" and "Don't Burn Your Bridge".

All up, an album of comparable quality to "Here Comes The Hotstepper" and one that proves that Ini Kamoze is far from a one-hit wonder. June 2, 2001

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