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| Bustin' Out (Heartbeat, 1994) 1994 was a time when all the major labels were throwing their hats into the dancehall ring, snatching up big names like Buju Banton, Shabba Ranks, Patra, Tony Rebel, Tiger, and Terror Fabulous, and leaving lesser names for smaller labels like Heartbeat. Enter Fleshy Ranks, a competent yet unspectacular and only marginally popular DJ who may not have gotten this album released had it not been for the "dancehall invasion" of the time. The opening two tunes, "Unbottled Wine" and "I Love My Woman," embody the hip-hop hybrid that many of the major-label dancehall releases tried to force on the public (thus in part dooming the invasion), but the rest of Bustin' Out remains true to the dancehall sound. Lyrically, Fleshy stands out from other Rankses by avoiding the sexuality of Shabba and the violence of Cutty, but he also avoids the charisma and vocal uniqueness that helped make these two so successful. Fleshy is just bland, and by-the-numbers dancehall tidbits like "A Yuh Start It," "Leave You Gun At Home," "Woman Wha' You Want," and "Same Mouth" reflect his lack of star appeal. Most everything is familiar and expected, from the well-worn Bam Bam riddim on "Give Her What She Wants" to the ol' dancehall ballad ("Love Her for Real") that was the craze for way too long after Mad Cobra's "Flex" hit it big. Still, this isn't a total dog of an album. On "Jah Jah a Call You," Fleshy actually shifts his delivery into a likeable old-school, U-Roy-ish stylee that might've served him better in the long run. "Rude Boy Business," riding the Smile riddim from the Gregory Isaacs song of the same name (also popularized by Garnett Silk's "Hello Mama Africa" and Beres Hammond's "Come Back Home") is a decent track as well, although Fleshy basically carpetbags on Courtney Melody's original song, adding his DJ version at the end of a 7-minute discomix. There's little that made Bustin' Out stand out back in 1994, and there's even less today...unless you're a masochist for mediocre early '90s dancehall. |
| Track Listing 1. Unbottled Wine 2. I Love My Woman 3. Rude Boy Business featuring Courtney Melody 4. Yuh Start It, A 5. Jah Jah A Call You 6. Leave You Gun At Home 7. Love Her For Real 8. Give Her What She Wants featuring Screwdriver 9. Can't Test 10. Show Mi Dem 11. Woman Wha' You Want 12. No Coke 13. Good Lyrics 14. Same Mouth 15. Reggae Gon Pon Top featuring Parow |
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