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By Irie Nation
Walshy Fire, one of the producers behind Major Lazer, is a wilful, versatile man. On the one hand he's produced tracks that can fill dancefloors all over the world, but on the other hand he can just as well move his focus to a young artist from Jamaica. 'Royally Speaking' (downloadable for free) is a unique mixtape that he's made with singer Jesse Royal, another representative of the reggae revival, together with other torchbearers like Protoje, Kelissa, Chronixx, Kabaka Pyramid and Micah Shemaiah. Back to the roots, but with a modern twist. The themes he touches upon are topical and at the same time peppered with traditional influences.
Jesse Royal takes us on a trip through some of his best-known tracks, but for the occasion they've been given a makeover by Walshy. Songs like 'Warning', 'Modern Day Judas' or 'Greedy Babylon' are quite strong, but the flow of the album is too monotonous and repetitive. As a young artist Royal obviously still has a long way to go, but we predict that he will get there, judging by the allusions to people like Brigadier Jerry or Charlie Chaplin.