Black Woman & Child (2024 Remix)

Miguel Collins, far better known as Sizzla, played an intriguing role in reggae history. He began recording in the late 90s, at a time when Jamaican music was dominated by digital sounds and ‘slackness’, and the classic reggae styles of Peter Tosh or Bob Marley had been overtaken by dancehall, with its furious preoccupation with guns, drugs and sex. As a leading exponent of what became known as ‘conscious dancehall reggae’, he set out to bring the two approaches together, matching dancehall energy with the social and religious concerns of the classic era. He was, after all, a devout Rasta, a member of the Bobo Ashanti sect who would lecture his audiences about the life of Marcus Garvey. This album was originally released in 1997, when Sizzla was only 21 years old, and it’s remarkable for his confidence and maturity. He has a powerful voice, and the ability to switch effortlessly between slinky or driving melodic passages and songs that are dominated more by rapid-fire toasting. His lyrics are often thoughtful and angry, while the backing matches live instrumentation with re-versioned riddims borrowed from earlier artists, so the driving ‘One Away’ echoes that classic by The Abyssinians, ‘Satta Amasa Gana’. A reissue that still sounds fresh and powerful.