THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES …
"While there is life, there is hope," says dancehall
reggae star Super Cat, "but the struggle will always continue, because life
is a struggle. We have to struggle day to day to make ends meet. And in
whatsoever you are doing, you, you have to put forth great effort to see
success."
Super Cat had already seen success in Jamaica and beyond with
a string of dancehall hits when he released his first Columbia album, Don
Dada, in 1992. With it's dynamic mix of hardcore DJ reggae with
hip-hop and roots reggae, that album set the dancehall scene on its ear and
ruled the reggae charts for more than a year, introducing Super Cat to new fans
around the world. Don Dada was a tough act to follow, and Super
Cat devoted over a year in the studios of Kingston, Jamaica, New York City, and
Los Angeles, California to the production of The Struggle Continues,
an album that packs as hard a punch as its predecessor while breaking new
stylistic ground. "When you're talking' 'bout Super Cat," he says,
"you're talking about an artist who likes to create different patterns and
sounds, not following' other people. "
The Struggle Continues
ranges
from the tender sentiments of "Turn" to the fierce anti-gun lyrics of
"Warning". From the vintage dub-reggae sound of " 'A' Class
Rub-A-Dub " to the classic New Orleans R&B of "My Girl
Josephine", a 1960 Fats Domino hit reproduced with amazing fidelity by
singer Jack Radics with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare's Taxi Production
crew.
Tackling topics from race to romance to religion to the Los
Angeles gang scene, the album delivers potent messages to a variety of crunching
beats. "It's got reggae, it's got R&B reggae; it's got rock 'n' roll
reggae; it's got hip-hop reggae, and I would say pop reggae, too," explains
Super Cat. "While I was out there touring', I attracted different
audiences, so I realized I have to start thinking' on a broader scale,
entertaining' all the fans that I have collected over the years."
The Struggle Continues
begins on
a pulsating power note with "Dance", where Super Cat chants over
rhythms laid down at the H. C. & F. Recording studios in Freeport, New York,
by Norris Webb and Paul Sutton, the keyboardist and drummer of Cat's then
regular live back-up group, City Heat. "I see the whole world is
dancing", he says, "so I'm gonna start my album dancing." The
party continues with "GirlsTown" , produced by Erick Sermon at The
Music Palace in Hempstead, New York. "'GirlsTown' is about a youth from the
ghetto finding himself in a sophisticated place and tryin' to pick up a
girl,"explains Cat. The video for GirlsTown was filmed on location at the
newly opened Fashion Café in New York City and based on a script written by
Super Cat.
Produced by Super Cat at Kingston's Mixing Lab studios, the
love song "Turn" displays Super Cat's gentler side. But then comes
"Warning", a ferocious anti-gun song, recorded at L.A. 's Amercayan
Studio, that throws down a metaphorical threat to rival deejays over a hammering
hip-hop beat supplied by DJ Muggs of the rap group Cypress Hill. The mood swings
abrubtly, this time to penitence, on "Forgive Me Jah". "No man is
perfect on the face of the earth," says Cat, "so I could never
complete this album without giving praises to the most high God, Jah Rastafari."
"My Girl Josephine", the album's most surprising
track, also appears on the soundtrack of the movie Ready To Wear
"Growing up in Jamaica, Fats Domino was a popular star" says Super
Cat.
"So when I said to Jack Radics, 'What you think 'bout
this song?,' Jack said, 'Yo, right now this is the thing.' While Radics sings
the original lyrics in pure New Orleans style, Super Cat improvises his own
mocking commentary. "He's singing about a girl he knew way back when,"
Cat explains, "and we get to realize that both of us is seein' this
girl." " 'A' Class Rub-A-Dub", recorded by Philip Smart and
Produced by Super Cat in New York, features two reggae legends, singer Sugar
Minott and Deejay U-Roy.
"Daddy U-Roy is one of the greatest dancehall reggae DJs,
" says Super Cat, "so I said, why shouldn't I bring the man to the
rostrum, to show the new generation that this is where it's coming from?' Over
the echoing, dub-style rhythm track, Sugar Minott croons to the melody of the
Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," while U-Roy and Super Cat
scatter barbed taunts, recreating the explosive atmosphere of a sound system
clash.
"Too Greedy" is Super Cat's bitter reflection on the
crack epidemic. "I see it roaming all over the four corners of the Earth as
an agent of destruction," he says. The song was recorded at the H. C. &
F. Studios over a new version of Studio One's classic "Real Rock"
rhythm, the instrumental backbone of dozens of reggae hits. "South
Central", Super Cat's mordant take on the L.A. gang scene is the original
un-adulterated reggae version . "I'm just sending a message that it is we
who are destroying our own dream," says Cat.
On "Ready Back,"
Super Cat freestyles the lyrics
over an original rhythm track by the City Heat Band. "In Jamaica," he
says, "the culture come back , and the people who lost dem faith find it
again. Most of the people who used to deejay about guns just a couple of months
ago, they are now turning forward to the positiveness."
"Every Nigger Is A Star" is affirmation of
pan-African pride. "It was stereotyping in the early days to call a black
man a nigger," says Cat, "but now it has become accepted by the youth.
So we just turn it around and make it positive, to show them that no weapon that
rise against us shall prosper." The album concludes with
"Settlement," an anguished cry of the heart. "There's a lot of
people who will give you encouragement while you make your way up the
ladder," Cat says, but as you take your eye off them, they are trying to
fix you a plot. So "Settlement" is just a man letting off his
wrath."
From the flash of the dancehall to the grit of the mean ghetto
streets, The Struggle Continues cuts to the throbbing heart of the
groove. Super Cat's deep, powerful voice lasers through pulsating layers of
rhythm, flipping quick-witted rhymes with the nimble ease of a verbal acrobat.
For those who can't follow his lilting patois, he's provided a transcription of
lyrics, an unprecedented innovation in dancehall reggae. "I have to take it
a step higher," he says, "because a lot of people really want to get
into the music but have problems overstanding the words."
Now, with The Struggle Continues, Super Cat has
made his strongest effort yet, a milestone of dancehall reggae that will , to
quote "Dance" "keep people moving-keep people dancing" and
stimulate your mind as in "South Central"'s "Come mek we deal
with some education". But though the rhythms are contemporary, the message
is timeless. "The roots is always there," he says. "Time changes
things, but it's the people who demand what they want. And I would say the
people are just gaining forward their faith , 'cause roots-rock and
rub-a-dub-reggae never go nowhere. Reggae is African-Jamaican music; one of the
only real music with cultural substance. It's the only music in the world that's
got something to teach a nation that was scattered abroad in slavery. You see,
other music sing about love, love, love -What is real love? Who is looking at
the progress of life, especially for the people who are living in bondage, the
underprivileged? And while there is life, there is a struggle."
In The Studio-On the Charts-In Concert-On The Net-On The Set
Presently, The Don Dada is in the process
of creating the Wild Apache Production facility, a recording and rehearsal
studio in New York.
Super Cat has self produced on his
foundation label (Wild Apache) a string of singles –
"Jah is Real" (WAPACHE-007), "De
Man Is Alive" (WAPACHE 009) , "Word
Sound And Power" (WAPACHE-008),"Long
Longi La La" (WAPACHE-011), "Sexxy
Go Check It"(WAPACHE-012) and the hip hop reggae "Sweet
Argument" (WAPACHE-014).
The dynamic teaming of Super Cat with the
rock group Sugar Ray soared to the top of the charts worldwide with the smash
hit "Fly". Perpetually on the road, the Super Cat live concert has
touched down across America, Europe, Japan, Central America and the Caribbean.
Now fans can access the Official Super Cat
/ Wild Apache Productions, Inc. web-site on the internet at www.super-cat.com.
As a dancehall reggae DJ from groundation,
The Wild Apache is now assembling his own sound system
The Struggle Itinually – Super Cat
moving forward !