By Sade Gardner/Gleaner Staff Reporte—
French music collective L’Entourloop.—
Veteran French music collective L’Entourloop is offering ‘clarity in confusion’ – the English translation and name for their third album La Clarté dans la Confusion – amid the unique and unprecedented times faced worldwide over the last three years.
The elderly musicologists, King James and Sir Johnny, released the project last month. It showcases their “hip hop inna yardie style” signature, love affair with sound system and vinyl culture, mastery of samples, and injection of vintage film references. Among the 32 artistes featured across 20 tracks are Jamaicans Ken Boothe, Bounty Killer and Kabaka Pyramid.
“We are very happy to present a multitude of atmospheres and different generations of MCs,” the mysterious collective told The Gleaner. “It is important to enjoy ourselves, so we only collaborate with artistes for whom we appreciate their voices, lyrics and talents. We work with a lot of European artistes, a lot of Londoners, but we have established good connections between Jamaica and New York. We invite you to discover our third album on all platforms with some Jamaicans we love: Bounty Killer, Kabaka Pyramid and Ken Boothe.”
Bounty appears on Magistral with Bermuda’s Troy Berkley, a track reminiscent of the funky hip-hop beats of the ‘90s as the artistes toast back and forth about the perks of being kings in their arena, also a nod to L’Entourloop, who have been in the game since the 1960s. The pace is slower for Eternal Roses, which features Ken Boothe, and Lion in Bed, which rhythmically reimagines one-drop reggae fused with hip-hop, and lyrically hails the immortality of the soul. Kabaka Pyramid’s Rock Mi Nice is a sweet slapper and gentle reminder to let your hair down and not take everything so seriously.
POSITIVE MESSAGE
“It (the album) is a kind of wink to the complicated moments we lived these last years. It should be taken as a positive message under a tone of humor. We want it to evoke hope, and a little bit of derision, to evoke something better in our lives for the future. We also like to play on the contrast and the detour that represents a kind of duality which we use in our music,” L’Entourloop shared.
Prior to the album’s release, L’Entourloop released the visuals for track number three, Calling Dancers, featuring reggae artiste Alborosie and Swedish rapper Promoe. Filmed between Jamaica and France, the song positions dancers as needed revolutionaries for upward change in society, but also represents the ongoing theme of a wedded reggae and hip-hop.
“The idea was to mix hip-hop and reggae with MCs that we found legendary. It was a dream to have the chance to bring together these two artistes on one track …. We really hope that people will love, appreciate and understand the mix between hip-hop culture and reggae culture.”
L’Entourloop rose to prominence with songs like Dreader Than Dread, featuring Skarra Mucci (2013), and Back in Town, featuring Jamalski (2014). They’ve also distinguished themselves as remix lords, winning over lovers of Jamaican music with reworks of hits like Capleton’s Burn Dem Down. Their debut album, Chickens in Your Town, premiered in 2015 and was followed up with their sophomore LP, Le Savoir Faire, in 2017.
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