Exile Di Brave - The Journey Begins (EDB Entertainment/Self-published)

Exile is what in Jamaica is called "hands on"; a self-made artist and video director who before he started focusing all his time and effort on his music, made sure he had a university degree in engineering to his name. Like Kabaka Pyramid, Exile Di Brave was initially fascinated by hip-hop and, for a while, was a member of rap trio Narrating Hostile Conditions, but shifted his focus to reggae when it became clear the genre was better suited to proclaim his Rastafarian influenced vision of the world. With 'The Journey Begins' the singjay from Portmore delivers a fine second long player ('The Calling', his 2013 debut effort unfortunately did not reach us). Real misses we didn't find on 'The Journey Begins', as Exile maintains the same level throughout. In selecting the absolute "boom tune" on this album, yours truly didn't have to think twice, because even though 'Till A Mawning', a song over a revamp of the Boops riddim, made us doubt for a few seconds, the earworm on 'The Journey Begins' is 'Love Changes', a tune over the I'm Not Getting Crazy riddim (think Frankie Paul's 'Worries In The Dance') that can put a dance floor on fire in seconds. There are also quite a number of duets on this album, of which 'This Generation' with dub poet Ras Haile Malekot and 'Save The Children' with Juba Lion & Black Indian impressed the most. Exile Di Brave will be present at this year's edition of Reggae Geel where he'll be performing on the Yard stage on August 1st.