Rise

(4.5 Stars)I wouldn't have a problem at all were Jah Mason the type of artist like several of his peers who routinely released more than one album per year. Mason certainly has the vibes and lyrics to support such a recording schedule, but he prefers to not do so.Mason is infinitely overlooked and underrated to an almost unbelievable state, however, with last year's big hit Princess Gone, he figures to now become one of the artists on a higher stage as it has led to a big touring schedule and his first VP album of the same title. Luckily he hasn't limited himself to the typical productions squads and has returned to Nocturne Records and (presumably, although you wouldn't know it by looking through the album because their are no liner notes) Israeli producer Piloni. The label and the producer were the 2 factors which led to Mason's best album to date, the massive Never Give Up from 2004. Rise is not as good as that record is, but its still of very very high quality definitely to be heard.Rise's vibe is a little more dark and murky than Never Give Up's (which was dark as well, but not this dark). The production, for the most part, is cut down, you don't here the big spectacular sounding riddims, its maily Mason doing his thing. But honestly, as it turns out, the approach helps, as there are times on this record that Mason absolutely hits a masterclass with his flow.The best tune here is probably the super-combination which reunites Mason with his former mentor and boss Capleton from David House. The song is the title track. And as Mason is typically called a higher pitched and less animated version of the Prophet, the two work very very well together and it appears an actual combination, not voiced at 2 separate times, they actually acknowledge each other, its big, definitely need to hear that one! The other great material comes through combination with singer Zeno. The two tunes they do together I'll Never Break Your Heart and Them Come Friend You are very very good, kind of interchangeable, but very good nevertheless. And on I'll Never Break Your Heart you notice the level I was speaking of, Mason just goes after the simple drop as hard as he can and Zeno kind of brings the track back to center but Mason eventually can't contain that flow and they both take it together.Also good here is the hip-hoppish Wah Gwann, big big hard tune. Them Girls Want Bling, which scared me when I first saw it titled, assuming Mason had made a tune about typical things now, its not like that at all, instead it becomes a condemnation of such things and women who chase such things. Also check Music Them Want which ends the album on a very hard note (over the same riddim used for Sean Paul and Vegas' Haffi Get di Gyal).Overall, the album is about half pure roots, the second half goes almost totally hard dancehall vibes. But its still the Mason, still outstanding vibes, outstanding lyrics and the usual things that you've come to expect from the artist. This album is pretty hard to find and with the release (in a couple of days at the time that I wrote this one) of his big VP album, it'll probably be overlooked undeservingly so, but I have both, and its a little better. Get them both, but start with Rise if you can find it.BIG ALBUM!

very good