Major Lazer Goes Full Blown Jamaican
I currently have a Love-Hate relationship with anything OVO related. I'm not gonna get into it, but I have to be unbiased with my work on this blog, and the facts are: This song is huge! It is the kind of single a dude like PARTYNEXTDOOR needs to get the level of hype he deserves for the pen he has. Featuring Nicki Minaj, Major Lazer(Diplo + Friends) ensured this was going to hit airwaves consistently.
I also have a Love-Hate relationship with Tropical House, as to me it just sounds like very well compressed(mixed) Jamaican dance hall music with chopped high-pitched vocals all around. Dance hall is known for having certain levels of distortion in their mixes. Either way, this tropical sound gets the clubs jumping and the DJs are quick to give the islands credit for their sonic inspiration. I do hope we see more Jamaican producers & artists gain notoriety off this wave of sound permeating the html airwaves.
Back to this single though. It's super Toronto with terms like "Run Up" from PND, we all know Americans are saying "Pull Up" to equate the same meaning. "Pull Up" for Jamaicans would mean to start over lol. But, it's clear the song is meant to hit the Top5 with the hook being extra simple and catchy, and Nicki using her patois as much as any regular dance hall artist would..It is clear the wave of pop music has come full circle to what I know to be Jamaican culture (Hip-Hop wins again!!). Diplo has been a long time friend to the island, so this move isn't out of touch with his personal life. To be fair, 2/3 of Major Lazer are from the islands. All in all, This record gets my thumbs up, even though I can already hear the purist from all sides droning about this super poppy summer anthem.
