BIG BAD AND TALENTED

PREZIDENT BROWN

  1. Big Bad And Talented
  2. Lion Heart
  3. Lazy People Nuh Come A Dance
  4. T.L.C.
  5. Fatal Attraction (featuring Ebony)
  6. Informer Fi Dead
  7. Yard Rock
  8. War Ting
  9. Out Of Control
  10. Free Way
  11. Lean Pon Mi Fence
  12. As Bare As You Are
  13. Big Bamboo 

Review by Chuck Foster, published in The Beat :

As the music of the ’90s turns more and more to the songs of the ’70s, not just for inspiration but as the main provider of backing riddims, some of today’s newest dj’s, by virtue the tracks they are chatting over, sound more and more like Trinity and U Roy. In the case of Prezident Brown’s “Big, Bad And Talented”, that’s good. Where these young guys get these deep voices is another question entirely, but Brown seems equally at home with the rolling U Roy style of the title track and the subdued Shaggy-styled “T.L.C.”. With the exception of two slackers at the end (the hoary “Big Bamboo” and the derivative “As Bare As You Are”) the Prez. keeps to the high road of consciousness and away from the ranks of gun and pum-pum lyrics with a good mix of love songs (singer Ebony guests on one), journalism (“Informer Fi Dead”, “Yard Rock” and “Lazy People Nuh Come A Dance”) and message music (“War Ting” and “Out Of Control”). I particularly enjoyed “Lion Heart”, which takes a positive page from an earlier era and makes it relevant today.