Seemingly falling from the sky a few years ago, Jamaica's Elephant Man almost single-handedly generated an underground renaissance for the dormant dancehall scene, refueling the public's interest with a frantic mix of jubilant synth and street-smart patois. Now, in a world where dancehall wouldn't sound out of place in a Carnival cruise line ad, Elephant Man unmasks himself to the masses with his widest-ever commercial release, Good 2 Go.
To those unfamiliar with his work, O'Neil Bryan's hard lisp, ball-bearing flow and ridiculous rhythmic power amalgamates his own brand of dance music that not only tastefully borrows 80s rock choruses for rhyme schemes, but also accounts for his own personality. If Sean Paul is our generation's Shabba Ranks, Elephant Man is the incumbent to Bounty Killer's throne: he screams, coughs, chants and most amusingly, compounds his own private collection of asides-- ranging from common acknowledgements ("Yep!", "Okay!") to skewed slang terminology ("Shizzle!", "Let's dance!", "Good to go!"). No one else could've made this album, regardless of the commonality of the riddims chosen.
Conceptually, Good 2 Go breaks very little ground: Elaborating on the common bad-man lifestyle, insulting assailants of his character, and detailing the measures he'll take to receive various methods of copulation ("Apply the pressure, make she choke and cough/ Next time, watch your dark half") are the order of the day. But in the case of dancehall reggae, you've come to the game to watch the mascot jump through a ring of fire, not to see a triple play, and Bryan is as gifted a showman as you're likely to find in the genre today; his mastery over chorus and bridge explains his immediate draw to the club crowd, while his constantly evolving flow barrels from expedient machine gun to labored somersault bounce with little-to-no difficulty. With his humorous anecdotes and distinctive voice, there's reason he's become the hottest commodity in the commercial hip-hop world.
"Wine Up Yuh Self/Head Gone" stomps and claps into the scene with a heavy array of bass drum hits, violent chants ("Bring them, we choppa off they head!") and island bongos. The show is ultimately driven by Elephant Man's powerful choruses, seamlessly shifting from a rhythmic plea of insanity ("No, I ain't got no head") to a suggestion for dancefloor acrobatics ("Do it like a genie, wine up yourself"). In a club scene with lazy commercial rap awkwardly lurching through speakers and identity-confused R&B; acts pleading for acceptance, Elephant Man's straightforward party assault is refreshing.
Production is a less-than-balanced affair. With the majority of the production done by dancehall mainstays Vendetta, Baby G and the Blake brothers, it's hard to not notice sameness in Elephant Man's style of beat. Despite this, the disc is packed with standouts: the time-delay claps, muted cymbal crashes, register bells and "Tequila"-style guitar of "Real Gangstas"; the dizzy fainting synth and jungle drum set of "Fuck U Sign"; and the incredible Surprise riddim's background chants, dark synth hues and grinding low end on "Jamaica". Only a few offerings truly disappoint, notably Lil' Jon's out of place inclusion "Jook Gal" and the obviously commercialized light synth treatment of "Cock Up Your Bumper".
With a glut of boring non-dancehall guest performers (no Kiprich? Vybz Kartel?), a lack of Elephant Man's most triumphant riddim disc offerings (notably missing are the spidery galleon cannonball creep of "Gyal Alone We Love" and the staggering flaming synth ring and Eastern bounce of "Show Me"), a lame "Bumper" remix and a repetitive nature inherent in both production and content, the otherwise stellar Good 2 Go must be docked a few points. Still, while many dancehall proponents opting for either full-on commercial intermingling or hardline dancehall sensibility, Elephant Man is one of few artists in the field that can hold his own on either side of the battlefield.
