The idea of compiling Sizzla's best tracks is hardly new, given how prolific Miguel Collins has been (46 albums or compilations, wildly uneven, in 13 years since "Burning Up" in 1995). "The Journey" is not (quite) a VP Records release, although VP was behind two convincing similar projects ("The Story Unfolds" and "Words Of Truths") at the start of the decade, but a Greensleeves one, now a VP subsidiary. The real draw of "The Journey" is its bonus DVD, with a documentary shot by RETV inside Judgement Yard itself, Kalonji's stronghold, nestled in the green heights of August Town.
The DVD, which also includes two videos (Thank you mama and Rise to the occasion), opens the gates... in red, gold and green... of his community, where elders and children live side by side. The tour of this peaceful hillside home is punctuated with musical excerpts (concerts and sound systems) and an interview in which "Dada" appears surrounded by his "brethren", among them the singjays Joseph Shepperd and Bobo David. Between two recipes from the "chef" of Judgement Yard and fleeting but touching encounters with Tallis and Mama Lou, his parents, we discover a relaxed, smiling Sizzla. Positively hilarious, even, when asked what he would do if he were elected prime minister or president for a day: "I'd prepare everything, right now, to go back to Ethiopia! Straight away!" "A man without a nation or a land is nothing at all," he adds, more gravely. The film ends with a fiery a cappella of "Stage show", with Kalonji in the thick of the crowd.
A second interview, conducted last year by London DJ Robbo Ranx at Judgement Yard, deepens the picture. Thirty-five minutes of rich conversation in which Kalonji discusses, among other things, his opening up to the US market through collaborations with Jay-Z, Foxy Brown (Come fly with me), Damon Dash... He frowns, even gets angry, when it comes to answering the ban on his performing across the Channel, in the "Queen's land". Sizzla simply won't stop. He holds the cameraman back: not even the torrential rain that suddenly pours down on Judgement Yard stops him. "It's natural!", he cries, before finally slipping away.
This DVD, a kind of initiatory journey into Sizzla's universe, gives more depth to the 21 tracks selected by Frenchie, all roots except for the excellent r'n'b number Give me a try, the centrepiece of "Rise To The Occasion" (2003, Greensleeves). Besides a handful of fairly recent tracks (The solution, released this year on the Paradise riddim, Africa prepare on the Black board riddim, Show more love on the Africa riddim, and Like mountain), "The Journey" gathers nothing but classics. The essential contemporary cuts (Haven't I told you, Be strong, Thanks and praises...) echo the founding songs of Kalonji's career (Praise ye Jah, Black woman and child, Good ways, Love is divine...), making for a complete and pleasing mix of his discography. There will always be those missing from the tracklist... One could name, in no particular order, the gems of "Da Real Thing", Why should I and Solid as a rock, here passed over in favour of the unifying Thank you mama and the sublime Just one of those days, or the indisputable Dem a wonder and Taking over. One might also regret that a few (underrated?) Kalonji albums have no representative on this tracklist, notably "Speak of Jah" (2004), which features the terrific Vision, "Bobo Ashanti" (2000, The world), and finally "Good Ways" (1999, Mockries and phrase).
