Di Genius releases 'Catalog' rhythm!

Big Ship's Stephen 'Di Genius' McGregor's latest rhythm release, 'Catalog', has more than its share of surprises.

The latest rhythm release since February's 'Bad People' rhythm, 'Catalog' features 20 artistes from across genres and generations.

Premiered last week on the radio, the rhythm will officially be made available this week on all digital platforms. When THE STAR spoke to McGregor he explained that the rhythm has an authentic '90s dancehall vibe but is still relevant to current dancehall music.

He said: "I came up wid my song on the rhythm, Nah Forgive Dem,one day from just vibing melodies in the studio, and I had the idea for the music in my head and when I started to compose the track, I thought to myself 'nah this too bad to be a single'. Also a lot of critics been talking about all current producers inability to produce 'authentic dancehall'. So a part of the decision was to shut dem up and show them that the 'now' crop of producers are capable, and they've been silent since."

comeback

The rhythm is named after the song of the same name by dancehall veteran Terror Fabulous who makes a surprising come back to music after years of being away from the spotlight. Still in prime form in Catalog, Fabulous talks about having "nuff gal inna mi catalog." On working with Terror Fabulous, McGregor said, "the vibe was great, it was amazing to see how easily he recorded and most of the recording was done in one take."

Another surprise is the producer's father Freddie McGregor making an appearance on the dancehall rhythm with They Don't Know. The smooth-sounding singer stands out on the compilation, singing, "Big Ship a sail and we tougher than di average. Tell dem sey Big Ship a we set di trend."

Catalog features all three of the McGregor men with No Gyal from Chino and Stephen McGregor's second single, Nah Forgive Dem. McGregor sings, "dem neva kno sey mi serious, di boy dem tink sey dem smart but I'm di genius, so none of dem can't gimme no talk."

Other veterans on Catalog include Capleton with Stage Show and Beenie Man with Sketel Shadow.

badmind

The topic of 'bad mind' is a popular one with Laden's Red Eye, Bramma's Dem Anuh Fren, Wayne Marshall who warns to stay away from "dutty minds" and Elephant Man with Worry Dem.

For the females, Aidonia represents with We A Tek It Off, deejaying, "some bwoy a buy clothes a gi gal and a we a tek it off... the skirt weh yuh buy, a we a tek it off."

Assassin also goes on the 'gyallis' route with Dem Sick and Mavado's You Know What It's Worth will also have the girls dancing. The rhythm also has songs from Savage, TOK, Voicemail, Tony Matterhorn, Singing Sweet, Flippa Mafia and Macka Diamond.

Next from the Big Ship is the 'Labwork' series which was made available on digital platforms on Tuesday.

'Labwork' is McGregor's own compilations of his singles and rhythms which persons can purchase in volumes.

He commented, "I thought that I'm very prolific with making singles and rhythms, so I figured compiling them into my own series would be a great idea. Instead of waiting on a company to license individual songs from me, and they're all quality songs, so it'll be nice for people to have them on a one compilation, sorta like a collectors item."

Labwork Volume 1 & 2 have singles that were released last year and this year, the upcoming volumes are expected to have exclusive singles.

COURTESY OF THE JAMAICA STAR