Mavado

Mavado is a study in contradictions: a dancehall emcee seeking to cross over into the American mainstream, who hasn't traded gritty street stories for "Shake Dat Thing" rump-isms like so many of his peers. This dis-track-penning bad boy often brings a biblical weight to his songs (he attended church every Sunday with his granny growing up). It makes his sophomore release a puzzle. Even when he starts talking about girls near the end of the album, his gruff intensity doesn't let up -- he sounds like he's fighting for his life.

Kingston, Jamaica, dancehall reggae gangster Mavado opens his second album reciting the
"23rd Psalm" over church piano, and closes with a version of "We Shall Overcome" for
President Barack Obama. In between, Mavado gets ambitious, undulating his lionesque howl
toward Zion, mourning lost loved ones, and braving the shadow of death as gunshots and
goth–rock belfry bells and skidding electro–beats ring out. Sometimes on Mr. Br... More >