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DAMIAN MARLEY & NAS
Distant relatives
Release date :
05-17-2010
Label :
Island Def Jam/Tuff Gong
Tracklist :
01. As we enter
02. Tribal war feat. K'Naan
03. Strong will continue
04. Leaders
05. Friends
06. Count your blessings
07. Dispear
08. The promised land feat. Dennis Brown
09. In his own words feat. Stephen Marley
10. Nah mean
11. Patience
12. My generation feat. Lil Wayne & Joss Stone
13. Africa must wake up feat. K’Naan
14. Ancient people feat. Junior Reid (bonus track)
Listen :
Strong will continue As we enter
Related video :
Damian Marley & Nas - As we enter
Linked artist :
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REVIEW
Review written by Alexandre Tonus
on Friday, May 28th 2010 - 46 872 views
Here it is at last, this long-awaited album. Pushed back time and again (it was originally scheduled for 2009), the wait grew in step with the dread and the disappointment. Except that the result is here: "Distant Relatives" is indeed the hoped-for album, a real success at the crossroads of reggae and hip-hop, two cousin musics, as the album’s title suggests.
Nas and Damian Marley were not new to this. The two partners had already done Road to Zion in 2005, on Damian’s now essential album "Welcome To Jamrock". Then the three singles already released to keep us patient hinted at a fine joint effort. While "Distant Relatives" is very much of its time, when genres are breaking out of their boxes, it is also solidly anchored in its reggae and hip-hop roots. That allows it to vary the tempos and to build in high points.
On that front, it starts with a fanfare with As we enter, which brings the music of Mulatu Astatke, already noticed on the indispensable Ethiopiques, back up to date. Another gem is the sublime Patience on the sample of Sabali by Amadou and Mariam, where the successive flows of Damian Marley and Nas make wonderful use of the haunting rhythm. Let us also mention the terrific Land of Promise, the unreal Nah Mean, and Tribal War and Africa must wake up with the Somali rapper K’naan.
The guests too reflect this musical cross-breeding: K’naan, of course, but also Joss Stone and Lil’ Wayne (My Generation), Stephen Marley and even Dennis Brown, on the crushing version of Promised Land (Land of Promise), whose lyrics imagine "if Africa were the USA: then Ghana would be California, Johannesburg Miami, and New York would be in Somalia..."
Since their first meeting, Africa has been at the centre of Damian Marley and Nas’s music, in the sounds themselves of course (here a sample of traditional instruments, there another of tribal chants), but in the lyrics too, and there are countless songs that speak, one way or another, closely or remotely, of the African continent. But the themes of Nas and Damian’s lyrics are not limited to that. Restoring the prestige of their respective musics, they remind us that reggae and hip-hop were above all committed musics. Without ever falling into preaching, or claiming to give lessons, they spread a positive, intelligent message, one you would like to be emancipating ("Every man deserve to earn, like every child deserve to learn").
Even if some songs seem a little limper than others (In His own words) or may disconcert some with their slightly too dancehall (Dispear) or slightly too FM (Count your blessings) side, the whole is coherent and will be sure to win the widest of audiences. "Distant Relatives" is a real demonstration, and proves once again Junior Gong’s talents as a producer. Album of the year already? |
j'aime trop cet album!! il y a vraiment rien a redire 😍😍 junior gong & nasty nas 👌❤️
maîtrise géniale du flow et même le luxe d'adapter la zik pour le flow et non l'inverse
Pr moi c l album du siècle !! Big up junior gong and nasty nas
Bien, bien et encore bien. Que dire de plus, en plus d'avoir du son on a le droit a des paroles. seul hic, ces gars ont un flow trop rapide pour que je puisse suivre sans les lyrics devant les yeux c'est du to fast and furious!
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