Reggae’s modern stars would likely be called too experimental to have run with a lot of the preceding generation of leading players, but that said, there’s something really special about what’s going on in the genre right now, and artists like the independent Robert Minott are the reason why. Instead of leaning in on a commercial concept, Minott and the other underground stalwarts rising through the ranks in the industry at the moment are experimenting with every element of their genre’s sound that they can without going too far away from a central theme, and in the new single “Feel Good,” we get some of this player’s most inventive stuff yet.
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Let’s start with the most obvious element in “Feel Good;” the liberal use of R&B and funk elements in the construction. While some of the more puritan music fans out there will tell you that Robert Minott is being overly ambitious with his blend of loud, attention-getting aesthetics in this release, I think the funky beat and the overwhelmingly soft lead vocal are what give this track so much of an edge above the competition right now. This is a song that doesn’t live in a box but sets fire to it instead.
The bass isn’t as imposing as it could have been in this scenario, but at the same time, I can understand and respect why Minott wanted to do something a little more casual and relaxed in this arrangement. There’s nothing worse than a fat bottom-end bearing down on a classy lead vocal like this one from start to finish, and luckily for us, the man at the helm of the “Yuh Mek Me Feel Good” project shares my sentiments. He cares about detail, and if he didn’t we wouldn’t be getting as killer a work in this release as we are.
Although it’s worth noting that the production quality here is more than a little top-notch, this is hardly the reason why the “Yuh Mek Me Feel Good” feels as polished as it does. There’s a lot of mechanical goodness just to the way the lyrics are laid out, and from a critical perspective, the balance in this song alone is reason enough to give it a lot of well-deserved praise. It’s an effective piece, and something I can tell Minott didn’t draw up in some last-minute attempt to make his debut solo album full-bodied, complete, and not lacking in well-roundedness.
If this is just a sample of what Robert Minott has coming our way next, there’s going to be a lot of excitement around his name in reggae and beyond this coming autumn. His is a style that couldn’t have been more tailored to the time we’re living in if he wanted it to be, and given the current market for reggae, the experimentation he’s bringing into these studio sessions might be all he really needs to get out of the underground and into the primetime spotlight a lot sooner than any of his closest rivals left of the dial will. The bottom line? “Yuh Mek Me Feel Good” is where you need to start with this artist.
Chadwick Easton
The music of Robert Minott has been heard all over the world in partnership with the radio plugging services offered by Musik and Film Radio Promotions Division. Learn more https://musikandfilm.com