Search - Macka Diamond :: Money-O

I Know Why You Are Here. . . But I Still Don't Like It. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 12/09/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"If all is fair in love and war, then I supposed Lady Mackerel is the yin to Vybz Kartel's yang. Walk through the miles and miles of tunes Kartel (and his peers as well) has done which are of a negative variety to whomever in particular, and eventually you'll run into Lady Mackerel, now called Macka Diamond. In the past 4 years Diamond has seen the type of career resurrection normally only reserved for a member of the Marley family or Ninjaman. She also came back to the type of fanbase which was starving for a new voice to be heard and say what you will (AND I WILL) but Macka Diamond had been one of the most celebrated feminine voices in all of reggae over the past few years.



Over the years the female presence in dancehall has always been small, powerful, but still small. We've had the Queen of Dancehall Lady Saw, being the most consistent face at the top of the pile as well as talented 'supporting acts' such as the supremely wicked Ce'cile and one of the best lyricists in the game, Tanya Stephens. There have been, still, countless faces coming, going and several I-Don't-Know-What-Happened-to-Hers: Such as teh on-again, off-again Queen Paula, Lady Patra and even Lady Mackerel. Even moreso, the young ranks of up and coming talents are amongst the strongest group reggae has ever seen as artists like Lady Spice and the Angelic Alaine figure to be big stars in just a couple of years.



And through all of that even Macka has managed to make her name amongst the first mentioned, male or female, in dancehall. Her topics are generally the exact opposite of a lot of the guys: Where they rhyme about using a female for sex, she'll rhyme about using a man for sex and his money (can't you tell by the conspicuously done title?). Macka is about female empowerment to the max!



It just sounds so much better when Saw, Ce'cile and Tanya do it.



Money-O is the combination of over a decade and a half in the business for Macka Diamond. The Kingston native signed a deal with Greensleeves (and like everyone who does so is now complaining about their lack of promotion) almost immediately after hitting the pinnacle of her career and climbing nearly every reggae chart in the world with her brand of feminine powered dancehall (there are 5-6 tracks here which were HITS).



But she's not as classic as Saw, not as polished as Ce'cile, nowhere near as gifted as Tanya nor even as explosive as Spice.



Macka's strength is in responding. The entire Money-O album seems to be a big slap in the face to the years and years of horrible mistreatment by many of the male artists in the dancehall. Which is certainly more than warranted at this point. And although I may be very critical, the album is not without its moments as with 10+ years in the game, Macka has definitely acquired some skills and nowhere is that evident moreso than on the hilariously clever Ugly Man over Vendetta's nice Sweat riddim. Ugly Man is somewhat similar to Ce'cile's hit Changez tune which she goes down the rollcall of dancehall artists and say why they aren't quite up to par, she hits old school dj Zebra the hardest saying "If ugly was a crime Zebra him fi stay inna handcuff!" Ugly Man is thebest track on the album by far.



Also check the somewhat out of place Murderer, showing a different side of the artist, Macka goes over Liquid's Petty Theif riddim to voice a song about anti-abortion, and as the album went on, I found it was the album I most constantly referred back to. I'd also recommend the Tanya-like Your Mistake, a song about having a man who is incarcerated, which rides a grogeous Nyah drum as Macka shows off the versatility.



And then there are the hits, which I am SO tired of (due to no fault of Macka's at all): Bun Him with the notoriously average Black-Er over Big Yard's Wild 2 Nite riddim; Chase Money over Dave Kelly's underused Bad Gal riddim; Lexxus & Benz over Firelinks' Chaka Chaka riddim; Done Already (1 of the other #1's here, the other being the aforementioned Bun Him) over the Thriller riddim; the 2 Cobra combinations and of course Mr Teki Back over the Miltary riddim.



I just dont like it for some reason! Macka's style is on more of a hip hop pace which is way she stays best with the older sounding hard pounding riddims such as Shams' Baddis Ting riddim backing one of the finest efforts on the album, No Fren No Mate.



Overall, I cannot recommend this album, but its largely based alone on my tastes. If you have been vibing along with Macka and enjoying the comback then by all means, go right ahead this is the album for you. Much of the newer material here is right along the same lines with just a few healthy surprises as well. For new fans, I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't tell you to go look at one of Lady Saw's albums or particularly Tanya Stephens' latest, Rebelution for the feminine spin on dancehall. Macka's brand is something we've heard so many times before, change the look and the gender and you already know what to expect."