Less than two years after "Reign of fire", his last international album for VP, Capleton returns with "Free up", an album that, instead of the 15 unreleased tracks announced, collects mostly singles from the past two years. Released on Penitentiary Records, "Free up" does not have a tracklist as watertight and serious as the VP albums, but it nonetheless holds a few essential tracks from the "Prophet"... while we wait for the famous unreleased material. You should not, moreover, rely on the tracklist to recognise the tracks on the album: all the song titles have been changed and some (deliberately?) misspelled. A lack of seriousness that casts doubt on the credibility of the opus, especially as the credits are reduced to the bare minimum. Yet the content and selection are rather good, with mostly roots tracks: you have to get to the 10th track to find the first dancehall rhythm.
"Free up" opens with Open uno eyes on the Real Rock of the Kickin' label, followed by Fire. It is in fact the song Fire is burning in combination with Moses I, but the singer from David House is still not credited (this track had already come out on a compilation from the same label). You will therefore need a good aural memory to recognise most of the tracks. Some do stand out: Small world is none other than That day will come on the Hard Time riddim, Love mama, a well-known single on the Irie & Mellow riddim from the Kickin' label, Invasion (now Invation), which gives its name to the riddim and on which we first heard Fantan Mojah's famous Hungry, or Oh my (titled Love) on the Real life riddim, better known for Little Hero's cut Inna di ghetto. On the dancehall side, we recognise Full up on the Tap Dance riddim and Free up, which gives its name to the album and to the In the streetz label's riddim. Despite an unclear, even suspect, presentation, the musical content of "Free up" is well up to scratch. This interlude between two VP albums will therefore have the merit of offering a stage in Capleton's long recording career, with some of his best tracks from the 2005-2006 period.
