DJ Wicz

Occasionally a new reggae artist will come out that gets people excited about roots music again. Many years ago it was Sizzla, leading a 90's revival of conscious artists. More recently it was Warrior King and more recently still, I Wayne and Turbulence.

Ranaco is one of the newest singers out releasing conscious tunes. The terrific Jamrid site (www.jamrid.com) tipped me off about him a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to track down some of his singles. I am about a year late, but I did manage to find two of his bigger tunes, "Nah Run Well" and "Sixty Queens." Had to get them all the way from Japan in fact.

"Sixty Queens" proves it is always handy to have a Bible around when listening to reggae. The title is a reference to the Old Testament's Song of Solomon, a chapter which has been mined before by many writers and singers (Sizzla's "Black and Comely" is a title pulled from these chapters). Ranaco nicely takes these lines and turns them into a conscious love song:

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number
My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her (Solomon, 6:8)

It doesn't require as much Bible study to get that "Nah Run Well" is all about the "wicked ticians" (politicians) turning Kingston into a place of violence and struggle.