|
|
|
Hear My Cry (Virgin, 1997) After months of searching for an album from Rayvon following the success of his hip-hop reggae hit "No Guns, No Murder," I gave up, only to stumble upon this album some two years after that song came out. As such, "No Guns" is so old, it's not even on Hear My Cry. However, there is other material here of similar quality. You could make an argument that Rayvon is one of the more talented performers in dancehall today, as he is equally adept at being a DJ and a singer. Indeed, while on "No Guns," he chats as a DJ, on one of his other most well-known hits, his duet "Big Up" with Shaggy, he sings. This combination keeps the album sounding fresh, with the tracks fairly evenly distributed between the two styles (There's perhaps a bit more chatting than singing.). Following the success of "No Guns," surprisingly few of the songs here have that hip-hop sound. Only three have such a groove, the best two of which -- "Party Vibes" and "Pretty" -- are produced by New York-based "No Guns" producer Funkmaster Flex. Other than "Pretty," Hear My Cry's best cuts are found on the first half of the album. "Girl Jackie," "Terminal Gate," and "Munchies for Love" are all top-quality dancehall jams, while the title track puts forth a nice modern roots flavor, and the Isley Brothers-influenced "Stallion Ride" is slow and sexy in the tradition of Mad Cobra's "Flex." The second half of the album is noticeably weaker -- particularly the sappy "Some People" and a completely unnecessary cover of the worn-thin "Get Up Stand Up" -- but overall, Hear My Cry deserved more attention than it got. |
|
Track Listing |
 |
Click pic to buy! |
My Bad (MCA, 2002)
Having risen to prominence in the '90s with Shaggy duets "Big Up," "In the Summertime," and "Nice and Lovely," Rayvon got his major-label shot in 1997's Hear My Cry. It didn't exactly tear up the charts, so there was little reason to believe he would get another chance at such mainstream success, but lo and behold, he scored yet another hit duet with Shaggy in 2001's "Angel." Suddenly, Rayvon is viable again, and a year later, we have My Bad foisted upon us. As can be expected, this album feels rushed and desperate, like a one-hit wonder trying to grasp onto the hot sound of the moment. We get a poor man's Usher ("Hit & Run"), a poor man's D'Angelo ("I'll Die for You"), even a poor man's Shaggy ("Damn"), plus the title track, a response to Blu Cantrell's smash "Hit 'Em Up Style" that seems to forget that such response records carry weight only if anyone listens to them. "Playboy Bunny" has a fun touch of dancehall, but we don't get any semblance of reggae again until the final three tracks on the album -- a drought that makes them seem better than they actually are (although granted, they do remind us that Rayvon is still quite a viable reggae singer, having seemingly abandoned his "No Guns, No Murder" DJ aspirations). Hear My Cry just felt more balanced musically than My Bad, and it more accurately captured the lighthearted nature of the Rayvon-Shaggy collaborations. There are some decent moments to be found here -- the sultry love song "In the Wintertime," the energetic dance number "Chronic (On the Inside)," the solid (if sub-Usher) "Hit & Run" -- but they pretty much all fall outside of the reggae genre, plus you have to subject yourself to countless references to chickenheads, two-ways, shorties, and the phrase "holla." Hopefully, if Rayvon gets another major-label shot, he won't treat his reggae base -- where he got his first taste of success -- as such an afterthought. His bad.
| Track Listing 1. Story of My Life 2. My Bad 3. Chronic (On the Inside) 4. Playboy Bunny 5. 2-Way 6. Hit & Run 7. In the Wintertime 8. Damn 9. I'll Die for You 10. Time to Shine 11. Nice & Easy 12. Do You Wanna Ride 13. Danger Zone 14. English Pound |
 |