Elephant Man’s music is fun. Not only is the music enjoyable to listen to, but Elephant Man himself is enjoying his music. The music is usually not too serious, it has some form of gimmick, and it’s packed with energy. Add a energetic live performance and the formula is complete. As a modern day Dancehall artist, Elephant Man has used this formula to bridge his work from the late 90’s and has made continued to make himself viable. In the arena of gimmickry, Elephant Man is a force. He walked onto the scene with orange hair alongside Harry Toddler, Nitty Kutchie, Boom Dandimite as The Scare Dem Crew. Elephant developed catch phrases like “Good To Go,” “Shizzle Mi Nizzle,” and was known by the nickname of Energy God. The nickname relates to Elephant’s well known stage performances. In a 2002 interview, Elephant Man comments, “Mi is a man, so ya see me, ya see energy. Mi nah put on. Is just me dat. From mi a lickle yout it just deh ya in mi. The fans, they give me the name “Energy God.” They see mi climb pon de box, mi go up pon the speaker, mi go up pon the iron, mi jump in a de crowd, mi up pon de wire, up pon de fence. Sugar Minott, and Ken Boothe. Ken Boothe say, “Elephant, you a the ungo dj mi see who used to go like me in my time. Fit and physical.” Tiger and Lieutenant Stitchie used to jump too. We ah the young generation, so we take it pon the next level. It jus’ the vibe of the people, them enjoy themself.” Elephant can also chat slackness and was involved in a August 2001 SumFest event where the Jamaican government shutdown artists chatting slackness, while the artists were performing on stage. Elephant comments, “Jamaica the land of bad word y’know. Some people them ah try use we now fe make an example a what dem do wrong. Artists clash. When dem clash, bottle fling, people get lick. Then the promoter turn it over pon we an’ lef we inna everyting. I didn’t make no clash start. I jus’ curse one bad word, yes. Memba, a beer elder there inna a de show. It depends on how I cuss the badword, because I was just expressing my feeling when I was saying that Malcolm shouldn’t dead. Mi just a vex that Malcolm was dead an’ curse the badword. They just come up pon this profanity thing and everybody try to use the entertainer for bad example.” Elephant has been riding a path of prolific single recordings as well as popular tunes that are related to his slang and various dances that have been created. Some of the specific dance related “Ele” songs include: “Shaka Shaka,” “Limbo,” “Ova Di Wall,” “Wine for Me” etc. Beenie Man has described his own style as, “I ‘m like water, I can fill any space.” Elephant Man has that same quality with a lot to offer. Elephant has been able to maintain his value for Dancehall fans while making it seem natural and effortless, except when he’s holding a fat girl up in the air and grinding in front of 1,000 Dancehall fans. Selected Singles Discography: (Song Title, Record Label, Notes) 1. Bun Bad Mind, Stone Love 2. Jamaica, Stone Love 3. Deh Dem Bad, Renaissance, Distributed by in The Streetz 4. Pakistan, Renaissance, Stepz Riddim 5. Dead Over It, Renaissance 6. Rapid, John John, Jammy's Son, Target diddim 7. The Ride, John John, Chikita Riddim 8. Sorrow To the World, Q45 9. Higher Level, Q45 10. Afraid A We, Q45 11. Over Di Wall, King of Kings 12. Long Story, King of Kings 13. Propella, King of Kings 14. Dirt Bed, Daseca 15. Get On Up, Echo, Christpher "Birch" Production 16. Jamaica, Black Shadow, 2002 17. Do Yuh Thing, In The Music, Distributed by in the Streetz, Party Time Riddim 18. Hypocrites, In the Streetz, Free Up Riddim 19. Waste Man, Big Neck, Dist by Fat Eyes 20. Down, Big Ship, Stephen McGregor, Outbreak Riddim 21. Let Them Drown, Builders 22. Enemy, Fire Ball, 2003, Foot Step Riddim 23. Hands Dem High, Mac Dada, Mac Dada Production 24. Dance, Birch, Christpher "Birch" 25. Wine For Me, VP 26. It In Deh, Black House, Dist by In The Streetz, Middle East Riddim 27. Ghetto Youths, Mentally Disturbed, Prod by Ward 21 28. Somebody, Massive B, Bobby Konders Production 29. Shaka Shaka, Maverick, Prod by Wayne Wonder 30. Gully Creepa, SR, Creepa Riddim 31. Shake Up Yuh Body, Chiney K Riddim, 2007 32. Wine Up Pan me, Daybreak Riddim 33. Gal Wan More, Summer Bubble Riddim 34. Gal Set Away, Global diddim 35. Wild Shot, Greensleeves 36. Ready Fi Di Video, Gully Slime Riddim 37. Limbo, Limbo Riddim 38. Nuh Linga, Look Gal riddim 39. Nah Put Nuh Man, Me Mumma Riddim 40. More 41. Put Down The Gun, Statement Riddim 42. How We Do It 43. Man A bad Man 44. There I Go - Reggae Vibes 7", Produced by Jah Mike (Nude Riddim) 45. Father Elephant - Black Chiney Records (Kopa Riddim) 46. Chiney Thing - RMC Promotion (Blank Label) 47. Krazy - Don Corleon, Distributed by in The Streetz 48. Bad Man - Mad House (Fiesta Riddim) Rich Lowe, June, 2014
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Elijah Prophet by Rich Lowe 12/31/2008 Jamaican singer Elijah Prophet has built a solid foundation of reggae music singles over the past eight years. Now this Rastafarian youth who grew up with Garnet Silk, is ready to release his second album entitled "Soldier with a Cause." Elijah's first album was "King of Kings" and was released out of Germany on the Pow Pow Record label. This latest album offers a mix of reality lyrics and excellent musicianship as all tracks are performed by the six-piece roots band called The Uprising Band. In a recent interview, Elijah Prophet shared some of his experiences in recording his latest album with Tru Musik Records, "As soon as I came back from a European tour in 2007, the manager and the bass player from The Uprising Band came for me. They ask me if I'm interested an' I say sure! We start workin' from then. Soldier with a Cause album is different from the past album. All the riddims are not done by computer. I have the time to sing the songs. Things I don't like, I can take out of the song and redo the song again. I have the ability to do anything in the studio." The first single to be released is "Rainy Night In Summer." Although it sounds as though it may be a love song, it is a reality tune that describes two lovers hearing gunshots at night. These gunshots are from a neighbor's house and that neighbor has been killed by the police. The rain continues to fall as the two lovers pause to wonder who has died this night, so close to where they rest. To add to the moodiness of this track, this single also employs the atmospheric tenor saxophone of Dean Fraser. Elijah comments about the reality behind "Rainy Night," "It definitely portrays what happen in the garrison area, which we call ‘the ghetto.' Police tend to abuse a lot of innocent youth in the ghetto - not that every youth in the ghetto is innocent still. For instance, one man shoot after police, police will kill everyone in this side." The image of the neighbor lying in bed with his woman, hearing the gunshots, relates to a pattern of conflicting images in Elijah Prophet's music where he sings of "Johnny." We asked Elijah, "Who is Johnny?" "Johnny could be anybody. There's a Johnny who was a friend of mine who died violently. He wasn't a badman, just a hardworking guy who have a license gun and they kill him for the gun. All other "Johnny's" to me are anybody who try to do something different from the others. Johnny is someone who find himself in a sticky position at the moment." A prior single "Peace Party" also tells the story of the death of an innocent youth. "'Peace Party' was something I saw with my two eyes. These guys have wars for months, years. They say, ‘Let's sign some peace treaty.' The moment they sign the peace treaty, that's when everybody start to die. These guys say, ‘OK, now we can catch Mr. Johnny anywhere we want him because he think everything is OK.' That's how it go on and on and on." The Uprising Band has been together for five years. They work out of Rockfort, near Mountain View, by Kingston Harbour. Although this is a six-piece band, there are 30 or more people who comprise the Uprising "camp." In addition to the release of Elijah Prophet's "Rebel with a Cause," The Uprising Band has completed successful tours with singer Gyptian in Barbados and South America. The Uprising Band has additional albums coming out by Len Hammond, Easy Wayne, and a Dennis Brown tribute album by Fred Locks. Elijah says, "The Uprising Band is musically crazy. They have such genius. Everybody play their part, that's the nicest thing about The Uprising Crew." The Uprising engineer, "Volume C" provided his view on working with Elijah Prophet, "Elijah Prophet have a vibe - it natural. It's very easy for me to work with him ca' he's very experienced and he get a lot of exposure worldwide. There's a great energy, a nice spiritual energy." In closing, Elijah reflects (in present tense) on advice given to him by Garnet Silk: "Garnet is always a straight forward person. I love a person who don't play when it come to his work. Garnet always say, ‘Listen Elijah, no matter what - you have to do what Jah send you here to do.' An' I believe that 100% - rasta must be a rebel with a cause." |
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