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In the beginning of the year, London based artist Gappy Ranks released a mixtape reprising some of the best songs of 2012 on his Hot Coffee Music label. The title referring to his recent duet with Busy Signal: 'Money Finger'.
All 14 songs on this mixtape would undoubtedly make for a quality album, but the long player format is apparently no longer a top priority for modern day artists. Due to plummeting album sales, artists are forced to change their strategy and find original alternatives in order to generate enough attention for their releases. Gappy Ranks clearly took note.
In 2012 he released quite a lot: different singles, an EP dedicated to our favourite green plant and now this mixtape. But why call it 'Money Finger'? And what about that other title, 'Money On My Mind'? Is Ranks obsessed with money? A capitalist singer? Actually, Gappy Ranks primarily wants to reflect on the true value of money and how it can rule our lives. In real life, he claims to work hard in order to financially secure his future. Not that he absolutely wants to accumulate as much money as possible, he rather wants to make up for a time of hardship as tells us about his difficult childhood in London: "Never had a Merry Christmas, never a gift for my birthday, so if the money suddenly comes in, I can´t forget the meagre years!".
Gappy Ranks has a productive pen, his creative lyrics are always well crafted and he doesn´t settle for releasing hackneyed songs like many other artists do. Through his songs he really tries to share his stories and experiences with his audience. Good examples of this are 'My Life', 'Miles Away' featuring Khago, and 'Me Nah Ready Fi Die'. In an interview we did with Gappy he told us he's had a lot of negative experiences in his life. That is why he regularly addresses those who find themselves in a bad situation, to uplift them and to encourage them to move away from a negative down spiral.
'Money Finger' doesn´t only contain socially engaged songs however, it also features some of Gappy´s dynamite dancehall tracks like 'Wine Pon Di Edge', 'Party Town' and the club favourite 'Girl Next Door', an irresistible soca inspired riddim in collaboration with Gyptian.
The mixtape can be downloaded for free but should it be released as a full album, I would rush out to buy it!