Search - Various Artists :: Masterpiece

Very, very good album. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 02/01/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This one is all about Lenky. The magnificent producer of not only the Masterpiece, but the riddim that ruled the dancehall in 2002, the Diwali. And while, in my humble opinion its not as good as the amazing Diwali, its still very good and minus the Diwali, its the best riddim i've heard in a long time. Just like its predecessor the vibe here is so powerful its amazing. The only 'problem' with the Masterpiece if you can call it a problem is that its a tougher riddim to ride than the Diwali, so therefore, on the album, there are less really good tunes, as the Diwali album was virtually empty of bad tunes. However, there are very low points on the Masterpiece (i.e. Price Tag by Buccaneer, Real Good by Hawkeye, Have Some Fun by Desperado and Wine Baby Wine by Danny English and Egg Nog)(Zumjay's Shake It aint all that either. That being said, the good tunes on this one are very very good and virtually cancel out the bad ones. Elephant's Give Her It Good is a great tune for the dance, just pure hype on that one, Sean Paul's Ever Blazing, same thing, very very good, sick that it was left off his album. Beenie Man keeps it going on his excellent 10 Out of 10 which is very tight and somewhat playful. In my opinion the second best tune here is Raging Storm by Bounty Killer, the flows on that one is ridiculous. . . Second only to Tanya Stephens, who rules the Masterpiece, much like she did the Diwali, on her Own Man, she loses you with her flows. I also like Spragga's Dat She Like and remarkably Vegas' Uh Huh, as he has been making nothing of note recently. Check Chrissy D's Rock Me, which my mother loves and unknown Aisha's Critical, very good.
Much like the Diwali, one of the best tracks on the album is the final track which is just the riddim itself, or a mix that Lenky put on it. Speaking of mixes, Lenky does it like it should be done, changing the riddim on nearly every tune so no 2 sound really alike. Overall, I say get this one, especially if you really liked the Diwali, or if you're just a fan of modern ragga dancehall and you want to see wants going on, if you've lost touch.
Bigup Lenky and 40/40"