It's a rare one-rhythm album that can truly hold the listener's attention all the way through, but to be fair, that's not really what one-rhythm albums are meant to do. The idea is that a producer creates a good instrumental backing track ("rhythm" or "riddim" in reggae parlance) and invites a bunch of DJs and singers (but mostly DJs) to come up with lyrics and/or melody lines to go along with it. All of them are recorded onto a single album, and the listener or disc jockey will pick and choose from among them. What this means, of course, is that the rhythm had better be seriously hot. "Inspector Rhythm," created by
DJ Karim, is pretty good: it's built on a spare, old-school three-against-two stutter-step beat, which is embellished by a minimalistic bass and occasional washes of synthesizer chord. Being pretty good, it elicits pretty good performances from most of the chatters and singers in attendance:
Lady Saw brings her A game with the complex and brilliant "Champion," while
Bounty Killer is also predictably impressive with his very dark and brooding "Far We Come From." Most everyone else seems to be phoning it in:
Sizzla is his usual energetic self, but as he edges further and further over the line that separates consciousness from slackness, he's less and less interesting to listen to;
Elephant Man indulges his homophobia on "Real Gangsters"; and
Macka D makes her bedroom boundaries clear on "Nah Taste." Elsewhere,
Vybz Kartel weighs in twice, once with the slack but clever "Nah Switch" and once with the less slack but also less clever "Who?" Dr. Evil brings a humorous stuttering delivery to "We a Gangsta," and
Busy Signal brings a surprising level of rhythmic and lyrical sophistication to his horticulturally themed "My Highness." Everything else gets about a solid B. ~ Rick Anderson