TELL ME A KINGSTON STORY

I hate VYBZ KARTEL. 

Why you ask?

Because that mother f'er released his latest drop, Kingston Story, as a digital only copy. (Sure Ce'Cile did the same thing with her latest, but I could never hate her!) 

I never need a reason to paste up a pic of this lovely lady

 I heard this collection of tunes is the essence of summer listening and up here in the north corner we only have a couple of weeks left of that warm season. I don't wanna be left out in the cold. So that tabloid darling Vybz made me do something that was completely against my untrusting cheap bastard nature, I purchased a handful of intangible MP3 files. I even signed up to online service. Yeah. I figure I can't continue fighting the future! While I was desecrating my morals, I picked up his EMPIRE SUMMER as well. Oh the shame...

Why am I so against online downloads only? 

Well for starters...

I am a used vinyl and compact disc seller. An independent mom and pop underground music store. I'm pop. My music habit has always been bought and paid for by pushing great "like new" used music on unsuspecting ears. My habit has a huge appetite.

Now...

 It's not like I am gonna come across a few crates of old MP3 files tucked behind a stairwell in someones basement. I spent half my adult life slinging pipe wrenches in peoples basements. You would be surprised what homeowners forget what's stashed down there! 

Alright back to the mother f'er whose fault this all is. VYBZ. That tattooed cartoon character straight outta of a big budget sci-fi movie. (The one where he portrays a brilliant but mentally damaged soul survivor.) 

The music? The usual topic of girls and what he likes to do to girls. That much hasn't changed. Vybz's amazing flow has evolved into a more subtle sing song stream of lyrics these days. Is the hard blunt of gangster rhetoric he uses to bludgeon our ears into submission beginning to fade with age? Or is it wisdom? Maybe success? VYBZ delivers all those odd and clever vocal mannerisms that add a difficult depth to his work. Is KINGSTON STORY a worthy successor to say...THE TEACHERS BACK? No it's not meant to be. This is something unique and yeah it was worth losing my innocence.

Epilogue... I'm still leery of MP3 only copies and this is why...a day later for reasons unknown to me I had to re-load the site's download manager into my applications folder. In doing so I deleted all traces of two MAVADO singles. F-ck off! I'm not blaming the online music service but they need to make the process idiot proof for all of us technically challenged idiots. I'm going back to using my stone tools.