A project that originally bore the seal of the late Makafresh, "Paris is Burning" is a rough diamond that had to wait on the consoles until the label was reborn as Chapter Two. Recorded with the eight Parisians of Donkey Jaw Bone, "Paris is Burning" is Derajah's first solo album.
Noticed in the past under the name Jah Youth with a 45 recorded on Sugar Minott's label Black Roots, then on the Inna de Yard acoustic sessions, Derajah drops for the occasion this nickname given by Chinna and takes back the one his father bequeathed him. Little Deraja Mamby, who used to hang around the sound systems, becomes Derajah and is keen to spread the good word. That of his convictions, largely inspired by the virtue and religious fervour in which his mother raised him.
The maternal influence does not stop there. She, who has sung in the local church forever, surely left him this stunning voice (from baritone to falsetto) as a genetic inheritance. The first seconds of the album leave no doubt about that. It kicks off with religious choirs on the title track, written with a vengeful pen… A post-apocalyptic song that is not unlike the productions of a certain Yabby You in its prophetic wrath. It is also a pleasure to hear again the riddim of Kiddus I's Graduation inna Zion on Burn them to Rass, or the excellent featuring with Big Youth (Run Run), as so many tributes to his other spiritual influences.
But this "Paris is Burning" is above all a view of the world from very high up. A view that is by turns conscious, merciful and accusatory. It is the vision of an upright man, anxious to faithfully reproduce the elders' code of conduct. Derajah opens up widely on personal themes, and speaks frankly of the murders of a friend (Mario) over an abyssal roots riddim, and of his sister (My sister) over a backdrop of melodica for the most touching song on the record.
Body, heart, but a little lightness all the same on Herb is for the service of man and its airy skank. Not to mention the powerful Oh Yeah Yah, with which he was discovered on Inna De Yard. Every time, an intense voice, perfectly controlled and terribly heady. "Paris is Burning", and the fire is apparently not about to go out…
