Sizzla - I’m Gonna Give You Love

I started out writing this post planning to rave about this new Sizzla tune, but then got a bit distracted by what I think of Sizzla's artistic method, his unpredictable genius and the similarites he shares with grime godfather Wiley. But anyway, the tune first:

MP3: Sizzla - I'm Gonna Give You Love aka Request My Love (Black Blood Riddim)

This is one of those Sizzla songs that makes you forgive him for his numerous mediocre or even appalling releases. I've long been a fan of Sizzla's incredibly prolific, scattergun approach: I'm willing to wade through the crap as long as he continues to produce moments of genius like this. Or, in recent years alone, material like the Rise To The Occasion and Soul Deep albums plus singles like Live and Do Right, Chant Dem Down and Too Much Gang War.

It struck me that the approach of London grime producer, MC and entrepreneur Wiley to making music is not dissimilar. Both artists somehow manage to produce more albums or mixtapes than you think would be humanly possible, the contents of which are admittedly not always of the highest standard. But both occasionally produce these moments of genius, and when a tune's big, it's really really big.

From a commercial standpoint, it seems obvious that it should make sense to exercise more quality control. But it's kind of compelling when musicians lay out their creative process for all to see and allow listeners to hear the extremes of what they produce. When Sizzla's strained falsetto becomes a thing of beauty, as it does on the intro to I'm Gonna Give You Love, it's perhaps more satisfying if you've previously heard him ruin several perfectly good rhythm tracks with that same screech.

Both Wiley and Sizzla are also unwilling to sign away their considerable creativity to any one label, preferring to license individual projects to whoever seems most appropriate. I like the recognition implicit in this move that their urge to make music is too strong to be contained by the traditional music industry model of promoting one album at a time and staying out of the studio between projects. I also like the way that the big deals which turn out to disappoint (Sizzla and Damon Dash or any number of Wiley projects) soon become just more studio time in a long line of creative and productive sessions.

Anyway, ramble over and back to more specifics: the Black Blood riddim, produced by Mark from UK Cup Clash champions Bass Odyssey. At 147bpm it's right at the faster end of dancehall's recent exploration of tempos around 130/140bpm, and brings out the best of the MCs that ride it in terms of oral dexterity and clarity of diction. It's been interesting to see Jamaican producers working at these speeds, though I'm not always a fan of the rhythm tracks that seem to get stuck in something of an undanceable, half-time sludge.

Black Blood avoids this trap, marrying a dark, grimy undertow with a super hype garagey beat propelled by rattling background percussion, hypnotic synths and exuberant handclaps. There's other good cuts on the riddim from Charly Black, Dada and T.O.K. among others, though nothing I've heard so far has reached the bar set by Sizzla.

Posted by Gabriel Heatwave | Thursday 22 May 2008