Mutabaruka was among the earliest "dub" poets, a firebrand who repeatedly attacked the injustices and hypocrisy he saw both in Jamaica and the Western world at large. If anything, he sounds more strident and angry on this latest set of poems. The title track, with its embrace of the controversial melanin theory, will probably dismay those who find the link between genetics, color and behavior a tenuous one at best. The other numbers continue his tradition of unrelenting, pro-Jamaican, pan-African political fare. He does take a different tack on the last work, however; "Dance" is reminiscent of
The Last Poets or
Gil Scott-Heron, and for just a little while shows that he can talk about something besides cultural conflict and racial oppression. ~ Ron Wynn