yardie's reggae collection - artist pageNATTY
KING
NO GUNS TO TOWN * * * / 
2005 - Insight Records - studio - discs: 2The 2005 was a very prolific year for the Jamaican music and especially for the debut album sector. Natty "The Man From The East" King is one of the artists that came out with a brand new set. Kevin Christopher Roberts was born in the small community of Bath, St. Thomas (if it happens that you are visiting the eastern parishes, do not miss a visit there). Bath is famous all over the island as the place to cure a lot of diseases thanks to its hot water that spring up in the hills. Than it is famous for its marvellous Botanical Garden which is home of the first Bread Fruit trees brought to Jamaica from the Pacific Ocean islands. Now it will be known as the birth place of a new talent too. After this short informations about the spot, let's talk about Natty. Between 2003 and 2004 he hit the target with two songs: "No Guns To Town" and "Mister Greedy". So since the beginning these tracks represent a trademark of Natty King's consciousness approach to music and life. Natty started to sing when he was quite young. Since he attended the Bath Primary he sung at local events. Influenced by The Wailers, Burning Spear and Luciano he finally decided for the musical career thanks to his friend Steady Ranks who introduced him to Steelie and Cleevie. A first single came out ("Badness Hype") and after that a half dozen of songs followed. Later he met Jimmy Ricks (producer of this debut) and things started to change. He received immediate recognition both in Jamaica and abroad. This set is quite strong even if maybe seventeen tracks are a little bit too much since a couple of them are not impressive. The general mood is Conscious Reggae with some addition of Lovers and Dancehall tunes. The best tracks are all New Roots tunes: the title track "No Guns To Town", the musically (great bass line) and lyrically engaging of "The Way It Is" (featuring Trinity), the Rastafarian ode of "Pray", the irie "High High", "Survivor" (again featuring Trinity), the musically strong and lyrically as a travel (from Kingston to Bath) and historical guide "St. Thomas". This set clearly demonstrates that a new interesting voice has emerged. A good one indeed. Note: This special edition comes with a bonus disc with the videos of "No Guns To Town" and "Mr. Greedy". |