Up 2 di Time (Greensleeves, 2003)

Vybz Kartel, whose name begs the question, "Can one man be a cartel?," is the newest DJ of the moment in the hearts of the ever-fickle, ever-trendy dancehall audience.  I can see where his appeal lies, as his vocals lie somewhere in between Bounty Killer and Elephant Man – although frankly, I don’t find him as edgy as the former nor as fun as the latter.  His debut Up 2 di Time is hip (or didn't you notice the "2"?) and slick, but lacks much redeeming substance.  You can forget trying to find any messages worth hearing here; mostly you’ll find empty bragging and posturing, crass materialism, homophobia, and gun lyrics, alongside overly graphic sex talk.  Granted, this is nothing new for the dancehall realm, and looking past the lyrics, I could appreciate the catchiness of a number of tracks here.  The hits "Sweet Belly" and "Sen On" both feature striking India-influenced riddims (the sound of the moment), while "Badman Nah," "Who Knows," and "Start Well" are powerful hip-hop tracks (the latter borrowing the old school bass line from Whodini's "Friends" and the former two sounding perhaps a bit too much like Ward 21).  While there aren't the 20-plus tracks here that there are on other recent dancehall sets, 18 frankly is plenty enough to feel as if your senses have been sufficiently abused.  The bottom line, though, is that this album is targeted to a particular segment of the population, and if that includes you, then you'll probably enjoy it.  Needless to say, that ain't me.